L'inconnu de Las Vegas

I haven't seen the new remake of this movie yet, but they have some pretty big shoes to fill. Technically Ocean's Eleven may not be a great film, but whatever minor plot shortcomings that exist are made up for in spades by immeasurable style.

I'm not going to explain the plot, as I'm sure that 50 other people already have. It's been a while since I've watched an older movie, so I found the loose-yet-confident chemistry and acting of the brat pack members to be very refreshing. They seemed so natural around each other, which is no surprise considering that they were buddies in real life. Sammy Davis Jr. was his usual charismatic self (why didn't he take off with the money??), Dean Martin seemed to be playing himself, a bit tipsy and sweaty with a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other, as he does in most of his films, and Frank Sinatra was also good as the understated womanizing organizer. However, I thought that Cesar Romero (known for his manic portayal of the Joker in the 60's Batman tv series) really stole the show right out from under the overly confident brat pack...I found his performance to be very commanding and impressive. A nice surprise to see comedian Red Skelton and Norm Fell (Three's Company's Mr. Roper!) in there as well!

A few things hilariously go unexplained, like how they all managed to get casino jobs virtually overnnight, but it hardly seemed to matter. You know this movie is basically just a vehicle for the brat pack, and it's pure entertainment to just watch all these legends hamming it up, especially during the couple of musical interludes where you get to hear Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. croon a few really catchy songs, like E-O Eleven!

At the same time it's also a window into another era, a time of larger than life Hollywood stars. Another thing that really jumped out at me was how unabashedly politically incorrect this movie is, showcasing a dramatically different mentality than what we see in movies today. Ocean's Eleven is a pure guy flick, where all the women are no more than window dressing and are treated as such by the male characters. As dated as the macho attitude of the film may seem nowadays (and even already by late 60's standards), I found it to be a fascinating glimpse into the past when guys were guys and women were umm, dames! As ironic as it is, I found seeing this old movie without the typical modern day contrived politically correct preaching to be very refreshing, and somehow strangely rebellious!

I first saw this movie when I was a little kid. Being a big Sinatra fan and a lover of 60's and 70's movies I watched it again last night. I remembered loving it as a kid but now I have to say that this movie stinks.

Sure it looks all 60's cool and has Sinatra, Martin, and Davis but honestly it was Cesar Romero who stole the show. Romero housed every member of the rat pack. This guy was on a different level from the rest of the cast and it showed. Sinatra was phoning it in as was Martin. The only guys even trying to act were Davis and Lawford. After the film was over I had a new found respect for Cesar Romero.

Okay now that I've crapped on the acting which was mediocre with the exception of Cesar R. I really have to crap on the writing, but this is more like something after eating five black bean burritos with chiles and a quart of Mexican tap water.

Who is the Greek guy? Why is he even in the film? It looks like Sinatra has the thing planned out what did this guy do? I guess he was there for comic relief but not only was he annoying but his purpose is never really explained. Why would the 11 cut him in, he didn't do anything.

Next, you mean to tell me that there is no security in the money room at a casino. I mean basically these guys turn off the lights and only have to subdue one or two money counters before getting to the safe at each casino. I can suspend my disbelief as much as the next guy but you'd have to be brain dead to buy into this part of the story.

Finally, the Ocean's 11 gang are spread out from Phoenix to Salt Lake, to San Francisco and Los Angeles. The gang descends on Vegas to pull the heist but then as a matter of coincidence everybody's mistress, mom and fiancé also decide to go to Vegas for the New Year's festivities, to throw a monkey wrench in the heist and put Cesar Romero on the case. The script is weak. Decent story but the execution is lame from the get go.

After seeing so many rave reviews for this flick I just had to chime in. Giving it a 9 out of 10 because this "isn't supposed to be a good movie" is a sorry excuse. So is the lame excuse "hey these guys are just being themselves and goofing off like they do when the cameras aren't rolling." To my eyes the Rat Pack weren't having fun. They looked bored and like they were all mailing it in. Looks more like they had a contractual obligation to make this flick and they didn't put any effort into it. Like I said the only guys trying were Sammy Davis Jr, and the scene stealing Cesar Romero.

As a heist film this movie stinks. Rating 1/10 Good premise, that's it. Acting stinks for the most part: 3/10 (Cesar gets an 11/10.) Script: 0/10 Style Points: 8/10 pretty cool display of 60's cool. Needed more exteriors and cars to bring it to 10/10 the sets were cheap too.

Overall a 4/10 for me. Sinatra and gang normally cool but are borderline lame in this movie and it's the script that should have been put in that casket with Richard Conte, not the mony.

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.

This version of 'Ocean's 11' hardly needed a plot, did it? Just an extended ad for the Rat Pack's Vegas shows and the enormous ego of Frank Sinatra, here strutting his stuff as Danny Ocean, leading his war chums in a plan to rob numerous casinos in one night.

So we get Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop (did they play characters in this? can anybody remember who?) and a fun romp to the pay off - still getting referenced in films being made today. George Clooney's remake was nowhere near as much fun. There's music in this movie, of course (with that cast you'd be disappointed if not), plus appearances from Angie Dickinson, Shirley MacLaine (uncredited but noticeable), Cesar Romero, and Errol Flynn's widow Patrice Wymore.

This really is a lightweight lark if you're in the mood. Is it a good film? Probably not. Is it good entertainment? Absolutely.

I remember back in the day when the commercials were out for Ocean's Eleven it was described as the heist of all time. It wasn't exactly that, but there is a spirit of camaraderie that is present through out the film.

Frank Sinatra had signed a picture deal with Warner Brothers and was beginning a long term commitment to the Sands in Las Vegas. What better way than to combine everything at once. A film on location in Las Vegas.

So Frank got his pallies together and they filmed Ocean's Eleven in between shows at the Sands. They also managed to get into another film, several of the principal players in Ocean's Eleven did guest shots in Pepe while at the Sands.

Ocean's Eleven has a lighthearted insouciance about it, a group of former Airborne Rangers get together in Las Vegas for a heist of the big casinos carried on with military precision. Why waste all that good airborne training now that they're civilians.

Sinatra doesn't sing in this, I can't imagine why he didn't give himself a song here, but Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. did sing two numbers suited to their talents.

Ocean's Eleven marked the first time that Richard Conte worked in a Sinatra film. He became a Sinatra retainer in his later years, appearing in several Sinatra films. They parted when Conte appeared in The Godfather against Frank's wishes.

After Ocean's Eleven came Sergeants Three with the main cast members appearing again. After that the Rat Pack broke up with these guys going their own way, though many of them did have joint projects together over the years. The quality of the films went down hill, except for Robin and the Seven Hoods. That was a musical and not something to be done in your spare time.

The remake of Ocean's Eleven that George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and several other name players of today did was a far more serious film. Good in its own way, but just not the same.