Film Review: Ocean's Eleven (1960)

over 1 year ago

(source: tmdb.org)

History of cinema knows many films that provided more fun to the cast and crew on the set than for the audience on the screen. One of the most legendary examples is Ocean’s Eleven, 1960 action comedy directed by Lewis Milestone.

The plot is set in Las Vegas and begins when two friends and Second World War veterans - Danny Ocean (played by Frank Sinatra) and Jimmy Foster (played by Peter Lawford) – decide to rob five casinos. They gather nine more of their friends, with whom they served in 82nd Airborne Division, and begin to plan the heist that would require military precision. The idea is to infiltrate casinos either as entertainers or members of staff, cause city-wide power blackout at New Year’s Eve and use the confusion to collect money which is going to be hidden in garbage bags, later collected by Josh Howard (played by Sammy Davis Jr.) who works as city’s sanitation worker. The plan works despite Tony Bergdorf (played by Richard Conte), gang’s electrician, dying of heart attack during the heist. However, gang’s activities catch attention of Duke Santos (played by Cesar Romero), former gangster who wants to take the cut of the loot for himself.

Viewed simply as a heist film, Ocean’s Eleven is average at best and not that different from many other heist films Hollywood and other cinema industries would produce in 1960s. Large number of characters requires long exposition that makes the first part of the film very slow and boring. Some members of the cast are either overact, like Akim Tamiroff as gang’s mentor, or are completely wasted as Angie Dickinson. Even the exotic setting of Las Vegas, which was glamorous in 1960s, although not as glamorous as it is today, isn’t put to proper use. Use of music numbers, on the other hand, makes this film difficult to take seriously. What ultimately makes Ocean’s 11 is watchable is Frank Sinatra, singer who was at the time at the zenith of his popularity and also brought his friends from legendary Rat Pack (Davis, Lawford, Dean Martin and Joey Bishop) to the cast. They saw this film, shot on location in Las Vegas, as an excellent opportunity to mix work and play; they were either performing or partying in Las Vegas clubs at night while shooting film at day. This resulted in quite relaxed atmosphere on the set with veteran director Lewis Milestone more or less relinquishing authority to Sinatra and his friends who improvised many of their lines. Some of that relaxed atmosphere reflects on the screen and Ocean’s 11 ultimately works as feather-light entertainment that can be enjoyed even by viewers who aren’t fans of Blue Eye and the Rat Pack. However, it is an effective twist at the end (partly forced by the producers’ need to follow the antiquated censorship rules of MPAA Production Code) that results in one of the more memorable final scenes in 1960s cinema. However, even with such improvement, it isn’t that surprising that four decades later Steven Soderbergh with his Ocean’s Eleven made one of the rare Hollywood remakes better than the original.

RATING: 5/10 (++)