Customer Reviews

Martini Man: The Life of Dean Martin

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, perfect book...no, but I liked it much more than I disliked it, and here's why: The information was presented in a palatable, consistent manner. For example, the development of the Jerry Lewis partnership seemed reasonable in light of the aloof, distant qualities that Martin demonstrated from his early days 'til the end, and the interviews with Lewis, himself, seem to support the author's view. The glimpses into his personal life seem grounded in facts and substantiated by ex-wives and others who reinforce the insights. While the entire book was heavy on movie details, no apologies are really necessary since the accompanying musical information was appropriate and useful (if not equal to the film info.) The often understated details of the television program seem reasonable given Martin's apparent lack of interest in the medium (devoting roughly one day a week to a TV show represents a moderate--if not minimal--effort.) And when it's all said and done, the picture that Schoell paints of a charasmatic, easy-going talent who preferred a "night in" versus a "night out" sits just fine with me. I feel like I've seen an even, fair, and unbiased portrayal of an imperfect man's imperfect life. It was certainly worth my time.

This book isn't bad, but the great biography of Dean Martin is still to be written. Nonetheless, this book is a vast improvement over Nick Tosches' "Dino." While Tosches elected to write the fluffy, tabloid nonsense version of Martin's story, this is at least a traditional biography. Other reviewers are correct that entirely too much time is spent on Martin's films; much more detail should have been spent on his singing. In particular, I would like to see a biographer discuss the divide between Martin's earlier hits and his later ones. It seems to me that there is a lot to be said about the traditional tunes, such as "Memories Are Made of This" and "I'd Cry Like A Baby" and later ones, such as "One Cup of Happiness" and "Lay Some Happiness on Me." These later songs come long after the high tide of the Rat Pack (circa 1966). While Martin's life certainly is complicated, and he was a purposeful enigma, I think a biographer can do better than exhaustively discussing "Irma La Duce."˙

This book was pretty good. But it spent way too much time talking about his movies. It did fill me on on a few of the facts that I did'nt know, like Dean's arrest for having a gun in his car. He was for sure the best entertainer that ever walked the earth because he did'nt really do anything but be himself and get paid for it. I bet everyone would like to be able to do that for a living. What a cool guy he was. The stars today or really lacking, and it is sad that there will never really be anymore superstars like Dean Martin, how can you top his act? It had everything! Wine, women, song, films, TV, and he did it all by just not giving a crap and doing what he wanted. I really loved the stories about how he got by in the lean years before he made it big. He really was just a normal blue collar guy at heart, and probibly would have been just as happy if he continued to deal blackjack in some backroom the rest of his life. We miss you Dean, I hope you are knocking them dean in that big La$ Vega$ in the sky .

This is a nice, level-headed biography of the man and his work. It's short on fluff and long on detail. A bit too much attention, though, is paid to the movies, especially the terrible ones. All in all, a terrific character study. You'll learn a lot.

This book is a nice, basic look at Dean Martin's life. I am a Frank Sinatra fan and of course became interested in Dean as well. I watched several biographies of Dean Martin and so I had a good overview of his life. This book helped with some details, mostly his movies. The author talks a lot about Dean's movies and I found this helpful, but had I already known all of Dean's film roles I probably would have found it tiresome after a while. However, I'm glad I read the book. It was helpful on dates and smaller details that are glossed over in television biographies. I recommend this book for new Dean Martin fans. If you are a diehard Dino fan, this stuff won't be news to you. Its an easy read.

As a big Dean Martin fan I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable. It gives in-depth review of all of Dean's movies. The book also offers good insight on what was going on in Dean's personal life. The author denounces some frequently cited anecdotes and accusations about Dean and gives thoughtful explanations to support his statements. The author either interviewed people close to Dean or referenced interviews done by others. I wish he would have spent as much time detailing Dean's recording career as he did his films, but then the book would have been three times as big as it is. One thing I find odd about the discography that the author offers is that he doesn't consider "Everybody Loves Somebody" as one of Dean's "greatest songs". I found this book tremendously enjoyable and I think that any fan of Dean, Jerry, The Rat Pack or just someone who longs for the days before political correctness will enjoy.

Superbly written by William Schoell (the co-author of "The Rat Pack"), Martini Man: The Life Of Dean Martin is an informed and informative biography of the famous celebrity and entertainment legend Dean Martin (1917-1995). One result of this authoritative biography is to dispel the public image of Dean Martin as a ladies' man and hard drinker who casually used and tossed aside comrades, colleagues, associates, and ladyfriends alike. Martini Man also defends Dean Martin's memory against allegations that he was a "Mafia singer" claiming that Martin's contact with gangsters was inevitable and unavoidable as they owned the best clubs and most popular casinos of the day. Martini Man is an upbeat, detailed, thoroughly researched, and straightforwardly presented life story that is a "must read" for the dedicated legions of Dean Martin's fans.

I was anticipating a great book about Dean Martin as I was pleased with Schoell's work on The Rat Pack book he co-authored with Quirk. This book was highly disappointing. It delved way too much into details about the movies Dean made and the people involved in those movies. I was hoping that it would examine Dean's life, his attitudes, his relationship with the Rat Pack, mob and of course, all those women. The book, Living in the Dirty Business of Dreams. by Tosches is by far a better examination of Dean's life. Sorry Schoell but: Everybody don't love your writing sometimes. Ooooh, how's all these people get into my room?

I read this book thinking I'd pick up some interesting insights on Dean Martin, his partnership with Jerry Lewis, and his friendships with people such as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. While "Martini Man" does present some interesting information about the aforementioned subjects, too much of the book, as other reviewers have noted, contains endless movie reviews of Dean's movies. I mean, do we really need every plot turn of every movie Dean ever made? I think the reader would have preferred to read about Dean's relationships, and, while some of that is there, the bulk of the book seems devoted to detailed story descriptions of Dean's movies.
There is very little discussion about Dean's recordings, and his career as a singer. Dean, when he wanted to, could really sing, and it's a shame Schoell did not spend more time discussing Martin's music.

Martin was a primarily singer not an actor. However in this book his singing is relegated to third place. Endless information regarding his films makes you wonder if the writer harbours the desire to be a movie reviewer. Major points of interest are given a couple of lines while every film is given pages and pages. I was looking forward to this book but the lack of detail on anything other than film is disappointing.