TCM's documentary is detailed but superficial; stuck with the foolish title it emphasizes what was perceived as cool about Dean Martin, including the alcohol and tobacco that killed him. He and Jerry Lewis made 17 films between 1949 and 1956, but Martin wanted to be taken seriously as an actor (though he was a terrific straight man) and Lewis wanted to direct his own films; Martin and Lewis's last two films were their best -- Artists and Models in 1955 and Hollywood or Bust in 1956 -- and they were the only ones directed by a top-notch director, Frank Tashlin. But after years of mediocre directors (producer Hal Wallis felt that the films made plenty of money without necessarily being well directed) Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were ready to move on, separately.
Martin hoped to be taken seriously as an actor in Edward Dmytryk's The Young Lions in 1957 but it didn't happen, though he went on to terrific roles in Vincente Minnelli's Some Came Running (1958) and Bells Are Ringing(1960) as well as Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo (1959). From then on he played mostly caricature versions of himself on televison, with the so-called Rat Pack in Los Vegas and, most effectively, in Billy Wilder's brilliant widescreen black-and-white Kiss Me, Stupid in 1964. Despite the onslaught of rock 'n roll Martin continued to make record albums in his smooth style and did "celebrity roasts" on tv until 1984. He died at the age of 78 in 1995.,
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