Ocean's 11 (1960) Review

"Hello, this is a recording, you've dialed the right number, now hang up and don't do it again."

-Danny Ocean

Former paratroopers, Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford), recruit nine other members of their old unit for a heist to rob five Las Vegas casinos on New Year's.  They have a solid plan and a solid team, but they haven't accounted for everything.  One of their members, Tony Berdorf (Richard Conte), has a terminal medical condition that threatens to disrupt the job, plus Jimmy's soon-to-be stepfather (Cesar Romero), and a spurned lover of Danny's (Patrice Wymore) threaten to blow their cover.  Will the 11 succeed with the heist?  Will they even make it out of Vegas?

What Works:

Like in the remake, the chemistry between the lead characters is fantastic.  Sinatra, Lawford, and Dean Martin especially, get along just like you'd expect old buddies too.  They are really convincing, and it feels like a group of friends planning a heist and you are along for the ride.  Their performances make the film fun.

I also really enjoy how much Danny messes with the man financing their operation, Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff).  I love all the jokes Danny plays on Spyros and how much he enjoys messing with his head.  Spyros only puts up with it because he knows how talented Danny is and the gags may be my favorite part of the movie.

One thing that this film does better than the original is give the individual characters motivation for doing the job besides generic greed.  In the remake, we really only ever get motivations for Gorge Clooney and Elliot Gould.  Everyone else is just a professional crook.  In this film, the characters are all ex-soldiers and they mostly need something more than greed as a motivator and we get that for a lot of them.  In fact, the first hour of the movie is mostly just building up the characters before they go to Vegas, which is much different from the remake, but I liked it.

Finally, while not overly flashy or complicated, I did enjoy the heist sequence.  There were some interesting shots, lighting, and editing to make it visually interesting to watch.  It's obviously nowhere near as good as the heist in the remake, but I enjoyed it all the same.

What Sucks:

The scenes of the 11 prepping for the heist were all pretty boring.  It was mostly just them scoping out the five casinos.  It really didn't lead to anything interesting, whereas in the remake, the prepping scenes were some of the best in the movie.

I also didn't really care for the 3rd act.  It felt too long.  The movie should have ended with the heist being completed, we really didn't need the Cesar Romero storyline at the end.  It's obvious why this was cut out of the remake.

I get that the Rat Pack is famous for singing, but we really didn't need so many music bits in this movie.  They didn't add anything to the plot and just felt like cheap showcasing for the various performers.

Also, the minor members of the 11 weren't interesting or memorable in the slightest.

Finally, the subplot with Danny's wife, Beatrice (Angie Dickinson), didn't go anywhere.  I liked the setup and I thought it could play out in an interesting manner, especially when Patrice Wymore got added to the mix, but the story didn't have a resolution, which was pretty disappointing.

Verdict:

Ocean's 11 is a fun movie that has a lot of flaws.  It's a great premise, with a solid lead cast, and has an interesting heist scene for its time.  I'm glad they choose to remake it, as this movie has a lot of flaws that needed fixing.  It's worth watching, but it's not anything special.

 6/10: Ok