Oceans 11 (1960)

 First off, I’d like to personally thank Zoe from The Sporadic Chronicles of a Beginning Blogger for inspiring me to watch all 4 “Ocean” movies.  Her concise reviews made me want to revisit this series myself.  If you don’t already follow her blog, I suggest you get over there right now (when u finish here 🙂 obviously) to check it out!  Thanks Zoe!

“Why waste those cute little tricks that the Army taught us just because it’s sort of peaceful now” – Danny Ocean

Number of Times Seen – at least 2  (26 Aug 2000 and 5 Feb 2014)

Brief Synopsis – A group of ex-soldiers plan a heist of numerous casinos in Las Vegas on New Years Eve.

My Take on it –  In the late 50’s and early 60’s no group of actors/performers were better known and more loved than the Rat Pack led by Frank Sinatra.

This movie brings them all together as former army buddies who decide to plan a heist of 5 Vegas casinos at midnight on New Years Eve.

The problem with this movie is the simplicity of the heist itself.  The idea just seems too easy and wouldn’t work at all.  When viewing the complexity of the story in the remake from 2001 with George Clooney, it’s just too hard to believe the plot of this particular heist would be possible.

This movie takes over an hour just to introduce us to the characters and the heist is so quick and simple that it feels like an afterthought and not the focal point of the movie,

In retrospect, this movie is just a showcase for The Rat Pack and just doesn’t really seem to translate very well to a modern viewing and was probably much better during its initial run in 1960 when viewers were much more pleased to see a film for it’s stars and not for it’s plot.

Bottom Line – This was probably much better when it first came out.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t age very well.  The remake from 2001 is much better.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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