Rating: 
Summary: Giving Dino his due
Review: The seeds of 'youth culture' were planted in the 1950's with the emergence of rock and roll, but it was in the 1960's that it fully blossomed. The phrase 'generation gap' took its place in the language at that time, but some performers bridged it by appealing to a variety of age groups (Elvis and, I suppose, the Beatles). One of those performers was Dean Martin. I was too young to have more than a passing interest in the mop-tops from Liverpool, but was a fan of Elvis through his movies as much as his music. Yet, I always liked Dean Martin, and I wasn't the only one of my generation to tune in, every Thursday night at 10 p.m., to his NBC-TV show. 'Did you watch Dean Martin last night?' That question could often be heard at school the next day from kids whose closets were too crowded with blue jeans and T-shirts to accommodate a tuxedo. At the time, I snickered at Frank Sinatra whose scooby-doobie-dos made him seem only marginally more hip than Lawrence Welk. But Dean Martin was the genuine article. Nick Tosches's book about the man is the genuine article in its way, too: a big, exhaustively researched, and strongly written look at the culture that made Dean Martin the man that he was. But who was Dino? Tosches claims no one had the answer, and he quotes the second Mrs. Martin as saying 'He's either the most complex man imaginable or the simplest. There's either nothing under there or too much.' Tosches doesn't really seem to have a handle on the man either, except to suggest he was indifferent to everything. 'He simply no longer cared,' Tosches tells us at several points, adding that he never really did. Yet, many of the people he interviews portray a man who did care, but tried hard not to show it. Director Andrew V. McLaglen called him 'the most conscientious actor I've ever worked with.' But if Tosches fails to fully capture Martin's life (often choosing to imagine it instead), he does capture his times. Whether it's the Hollywood of the early 50's when Martin and Lewis ruled show business, or the Rat Pack era when Hollywood, Washington, and the mob formed an uneasy alliance, Tosches brings it alive in sharp, stunning prose. 'Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams' is a strange, even bizarre, book: a big 'literary' biography of a man whose own reading tastes allegedly ran to comic books, but it gives Dean Martin the due that others denied him. Because he didn't take himself seriously, it's often assumed that no one else should either. Tosches knows better, and so will those who read his book.
Rating: 
Summary: Dino, we hardly knew ye
Review: This is an excellent biography and chronicle of popular culture from the 40's to the present time. He also hits on why exactly the improbable combination of Martin and Lewis was so wildly popular in the early 50's. What prevents me from giving it a 5 is that there's way too much about the mob (which seemed to interest Tosches more than most of his readers) and that he was so intent on presenting Dean Martin as world-weary and indifferent, his subject sometimes lapses into a character of Tosches' creation rather than a real man. Traits that would contradict Tosches' idea are conveniently glossed over. How could someone who didn't give a damn about success maintain an audience for 4 decades? Look at how many times Madonna and Cher have had to reinvent themselves. Dean was a natural entertainer, but he certainly had ambition and strategy. Much is made throughout of Dean's aloofness and Tosches only offers glimpses of his good heart, generousity and loyalty since it would interfere with his own conception. Only someone of extreme good nature could have tolerated the ultra-difficult Jerry Lewis as a partner for ten years and I believe he did more for Jerry's career than Jerry did for his. Again, when Dean quits a picture for the sake of his friendship with Marilyn Monroe, Tosches only mentions it and moves on. One issue Tosches handles beautifully is how the hero of one decade can be anathema in the next. In middle age, Dean became a parody of himself, consorting with women younger than his daughters and hosting friars' club roasts for celebrities who by that time belonged in wax museums. Dean stopped performing in old age and his reclusiveness seemed like an act of grace compared to the alternative. I call it gracious because I happened to see Frank Sinatra perform in the 1989 "Ultimate Event' (which Dean wisely bailed out of) and can only profess great disappointment; Frank Sinatra was no longer Frank Sinatra. He was everybody's father or uncle, a frail, bald old man. Unfortunately, it takes death to resurrect these people, restore them to their former glory and show us what we took for granted. Dean was king of the crooners, bar none, with a gorgeous voice and an effortless style. Rest in peace, Dean. You earned it.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterful American Biography
Review: This is not just a good show business bio but a great American book than may just give the last word on our national obsession, fame. I always liked Dean more than Sinatra even as a kid and never knew why until Tosches revealed the reason to me. He wtites about Martin's attitude of "menefrigisma" or, roughly translated, "who gives a f---." This nihilistic view of life was both Dean's great strength and ultimate downfall. I've seldom read a more chilling, revealing book.
Rating:
Summary: Best bio on Dino but not a literary masterpiece
Review: To read the reviews when this book came out, you would think that this was a literary masterpiece and that Tosches turns Dino into a symbol of the emptiness of being a celebrity. This is the best bio on Dino - the man whose public image was that of a carefree, relaxed, swinging, lovable man's man and ladies man but who, privately, was a misanthrope who gave up on humanity, goals, his craft, and life years before he actually died. Tosches does a great job of research and no completer picture of the Martin and Lewis days is going to be had in the near future. The portrait of Dino - so lazy that he didn't even appear on his own celebrity roasts in the end (they edited in multiple reaction shots), drunk and spaced out on pills, using women like receptacles (women loved him until he bedded them and then they saw how empty he was), a slacker to the thousandth degree, vegging out in front of the tv watching westerns and waiting for death, is a sick one. And most likely true. I became intrigued by Dino because of his music revival in the last two years but am now so disenchanted that I may never buy another CD.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, pallie, this book's a kick in the head!
Review: Well written and informative bio of Dean Martin is hard to put down, but ultimately as confounding as its subject.Old Dino was one of the finest all-around talents we've ever had, but a mystery man to everyone. Why was this the case? How did it happen? Sadly, these questions are not answered, but, in all fairness to the author, Dean never let anyone into his confidence, sadly.Chiefly interesting for its exhaustive research of Martin's recordings, movie roles and stage appearances, but soars especially in detailing the star's glory years between 1947-1967. What a fine career indeed, too!Overall, not 100 proof successful, but 90 proof will have to do "until the real things comes along," pallie.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting book, copiously researched but sadly lacking.
Review: While copiously researched, Tosches does little to show us why or how Dean Martin became the distant, disenchanted, and uninvolved person he was. Perhaps this is the reason Tosches takes far too much liberty in donning the persona of Martin--to attempt to spice up and shock the reader with thoughts or words he claims were Martin's view of his world. Tosches would have done better to do a few more penetrating interviews of Martin's contemporaries, friends, and families to show us the real story here, rather than telling us his interpretation of it. Lacking too, were Martin's own words. While this is an unauthorized biography, certainly Martin gave more interviews than indicated in the text.
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