King Of Cool (2021) If you're any kind of fan of classic films and TV from the 50's and 60's you do NOT want to miss this Turner Classic Movies documentary on the life of legendary singer-actor Dean Martin.
Filmmakers Ilan Arboleda and Tom Donahue approached Martin's life in show business as a formidable challenge, very much like the fictitious newsreel crew of "Citizen Kane", trying to unearth the essence of their subject.........who's well known by everybody......and never really known by anyone, even people supposedly the closest to him.
As popular and beloved as he was throughout his career, Dean Martin remained remote and unknowable. To casual co-workers, co-stars, lifelong friends and family members, Martin revealed little of himself. They only knew him pretty much the same way we the general public did......as that unflappable, too-cool-for-the-room, laid back tuxedo'd hipster, a cigarette in one hand, a glass of booze in the other.
As the film works its way chronologically through Martin's incredibly charmed life, it searches for the performer's "Rosebud", some artifact, individual or event that would somehow define him and wipe away the cloudy enigma of his public persona.
Do they find it? In the film's last few minutes, they think they do, but it's all a matter of opinion.
What we do know (and common showbiz knowledge since forever) is that Martin's marketed image as a boozy playboy was always nothing but a false construct created by himself and publicity gurus to give the public an easy to remember way to identify him in the showbiz universe. In reality, his greatest pleasure in life came from sitting quietly at home watching television.
For Martin completists, it's all here - his years as the underappreciated, gifted straight man to the manic comic Jerry Lewis (whose own goofball persona effectively hid his true nature as a mean-spirited, misanthropic egotist).....the ups and down of his acting career where he proved in films like "The Young Lions" and "Some Came Running" that he was a much better actor than he himself or others ever gave him credit for......and of course the 'Rat Pack' years alongside the mercurial Frank Sinatra.
All in all, a must see deep-dive into a classic icon of 20th century culture. You still may not get to the heart of Dean Martin, but the film's a fascinating trip worth taking. 4 stars (****)
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