ARTE.TV – ON DEMAND – DOCUMENTARY
In one sentence, Elvis Presley finds the right words. In front of little Deana Martin, Dean’s daughter, he says to her: “They call me the king of rock’n’roll, but your dad really is the king of cool!” » One could dream of a more beautiful compliment for Dean Martin (1917-1995), born Dino Crocetti, son of a hairdresser and a seamstress from Abruzzo, raised in Steubenville (Ohio), and who, until the age of 6, did you not speak a word of english?
The king of American cool, capable of filling theaters, of pulverizing the television audience for ten years with his weekly show, of venerating Caruso and being dubbed by Sinatra, of making a career out of apparently making fun of everything, so it’s him. Handsome, sacred singer, good dancer, actor, prankster, seducer, of course. But, behind the success, there is a man “very complex”, as one of his wives said.
The interest of this documentary full of surprising archives, especially those of American television of the 50s and 60s, is precisely to go a little further than the portrait of a character so talented, hardworking and, obviously, so cool. With Dean Martin, there’s also alcohol and deep depression. “To be cool, you have to keep a part of the mystery, hide your game”, he said. Mission accomplished. No one, not even his beloved wives and children, really knows who is behind Mister Cool.
Hard work
His duet with Jerry Lewis, with whom, for ten years, he filled the halls and made his fortune, his crazy tours with the legendary Rat Pack (in the company of Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr), his numerous appearances, more or less successful, at the cinema, his weekly television program where the stars flock together, we talk about everything.
But behind the lightness of the great seducer still hovers a shadow. As if life were just a joke and only good golf, his great passion, could support all this circus.
Dean Martin has never been fooled. Before fame he worked in a coal mine, he was a croupier in the back room of a little frequented tobacco shop. He dreamed of being a boxer and became a crooner thanks to his hard work. From squalid rooms to gala evenings, he will have experienced it all. Las Vegas becomes his kingdom, but drama is never far away. Alcoholism, smoking, depression follow closely behind him.
In eighteen months, in the mid-sixties, he lost his parents and brother. In 1987, her son, a fighter pilot, was killed in an accident. Dean Martin, the great seducer, no longer even tries to deceive. Compulsive smoker, diagnosed with lung cancer. He refuses to have surgery, won’t give up smoking until age 76. Two years later, the king of cool disappears. Everyone loves someone…
Dean Martin: the king of cool, by Tom Donahue (USA, 2021, 53 mins). On Arte.tv until 17 March 2023.
