11 a la media noche

The picture talks about the biggest robbery of all . Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff) pulls off a scheme introducing the plans for a new business venture : simultaneously burgle five casinos in Las Vegas as Sahara , Flamingo , Golden Nugget , Riveira and Desert Inn . He agrees with Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) backed by a motley and eclectic gang to execute it , formed by 11 pals ( Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Richard Conte , Norman Fell, Richard Benedict..). The crew back in action , now veterans , after fighting in Second World War at 82nd Airbone division as paratroopers . We wouldn't call it a special group just Danny Ocean and his buddies , the night they blew up all the light , shutting off the electricity in Las Vegas . Millions dollars are taken from the casinos . But the elaborated plan itself goes wrong . They encounter complications when an investigator (Cesar Romero) discovers the tracks . This adaptation achieves one of the greatest entertainments of the history of motion pictures . We never met a band like Ocean's eleven .

From the beginning until the end the comedy and giggles along with moderated action are continuous . Besides , it has got an intelligent script and an extraordinary final surprise . Significant portions of the movie interactions between major characters were ad-libbed . The actors playing the leading roles all knew each other well and improvised dialogue as well as or better than the script . For comic relief in charge of the various relationships among several characters and their numerous jokes . Splendid songs by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr and sensitive ending song by Frank Sinatra . Appears uncredited Shirley McLayne in an agreeable comic performance , Red Skelton and George Raft as invited actors . Superb and stunning musical score by Nelson Riddle (author of Batman TV music). Enjoyable and glossy cinematography by William H. Daniels (Greta Garbo's usual photographer). Director Lewis Milestone's masterpiece of the amusement and entertainment . The movie was remade by a funny and stylish remake with George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh and several sequels . Rating : Good and nice . Worthwhile watching.

Not the best, But if your a devoted Rat Packer.........It's a fun time and great to see them all in the Vegas of past.. when Vegas WAS VEGAS!! It was still great to see the likes of Donald O'Connor and Red Skelton as the headliners and see the elegant lounges where thery would all perform,up close and personal not for 100-300 feet away. You could walk up to them after a performance and actually chat with them as they left the stage. Everyone was dressed in suits,tuxedos, and formal dresses, wearing furs and everyone smoking. If you remember the the days of no cell phones, using the operator to make long distance calls, no computers, walkmans, cassette and 8 tracks tapes, then this is one movie you should love.

The exception of what rule? The Rule that says (at least as listed in most books) that the original (movie) is better than the remake. Well here comes this movie, to show you, that that isn't the case. A shame then, because the stellar cast (after all you get to see the Rat Pack at work here!) promises so much more, than you actually will get out of it!

Although it seems to be more the fault of the script than the cast, I can assure you that I did watch this movie before I watched the remake (which is crucial, to not be afflicted by the impact of the movie) and it just doesn't sustain the comparison with the remake! That's how I felt!

Ocean's 11 never tries to be brilliant and is only sometimes good. The thin plot is a set up for the "boys" to look sharp (and they sometimes do), sing songs (which they do well) and to show off 1960 Las Vegas (which by today's standards looks pretty shabby).

This is a second rate heist story with a few gangsters thrown in. But after all, we have Sinatra and company. You can see that the excellent film, The Rat Pack, was very right on. Sinatra is his arrogant self. Martin is relaxed, Lawford is suave and the singing by Sammy Davis Jr. is great.

Ocean's 11 is a snap shot of what was "cool" in the ultimate era of coolness. It's all here, the clubs, the Marilyn Monroe look a likes, the flashy clothes and lots of money. It's better than imitations such as Swingers since Ocean's 11 is the source. Of course it includes the legendary bad treatment of women and African Americans. The actresses are either add-ons or pathetic martyrs (Angie Dickinson). As for Sammy, he puts up with the garbage man part, a racial slur (all in good fun of course!) and the self centeredness of these guys. I just admire him because he had to do it, so he could perform.

Back to the "fun". The boys get to be clever, then there's a surprise ending and finally we see them shuffle hung over in front of a casino. Every few years I check out Ocean's 11 not just to watch this silly movie but also to see the rats (or brats?) and chuckle (and wince) at an amazing time in the USA, baby.

What a difference a few decades make. When this movie was made, these were the coolest guys in the world for anyone over 25. They were cool because they thought so themselves and everyone believed them.

At least we did then. Now we see not only a particularly bad caper movie, we see how uncool these guys really were. Frank was merely a selfish bully, the skinny kind who paid others to rough people up.

So we see many stories here. We see the caper story.

We see the story about 5 guys who pretended to matter and did for a while, long enough to make lots of money and have a lot of sex.

But there's a bigger story here, one that this movie evokes more than any other I know. Its the story of America, the America defined by entertainers, the one the French New Wave thought was real. You can research it quickly by seeing "The Ocean's Eleven Story," a poorly made documentary, but one that hits most of the buttons.

These guys, at this time, were behind making the Mob bigger than they ever had been before. They married the Mob with presidential politics, even pimping to the president. This was where Marilyn's suicide was made inevitable. And Mob hits on Castro, and the embarrassment of the FBI by RFK, and subsequent rage by Frank at being jettisoned.

There is suicide and assassination behind their misogynistic prancing, their assumption that all they had to do was show up, and we would swoon.

This is an important film, if you think film is important.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.