From a laughably stupid premise, namely Deano as Charles Foster Kane, complete with...are you ready?...pasta fagioli as the key to unlocking his "mystery", this documentary actually manages to be kinda fun, maybe because its subject was the kind of guy who would have told film maker Tom Donahue where to stick his pasta fagioli. Lots of good stuff on the Martin/Lewis feud (my sympathies are ultimately with Martin at having to put up with a too controlling "genius") and some heart breaking stuff on Dean's later years. I thought there was way too much time spent on his variety show (like everything else about the guy in this film, hyper inflated) and the talking heads tended toward the hagiographical and over protective rather than the insightful and critical, but all in all I had a pretty good time watching this bio doc about a good singer, decent actor, and very good golfer for whom I have newfound respect since I learned (from this documentary) that, unlike his fawning pal Frank Sinatra, he refused to attend JFK's inauguration out of support for Sammy Davis who was not invited due to Kennedy family racism. B minus.
Review of King of Cool
