Ocean's 11

This is a very special month because I will be looking at the entire “Ocean’s” series. Now the best way to start it off is with the 1960 original starring the Rat Pack, “Ocean’s 11.” TV Guide started their review off by saying, “A free-wheeling, uninhibited all-star romp, OCEAN'S ELEVEN set the pace for the "caper" films of the 1960s and 1970s.” Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and Dean Martin performed their club acts at night and worked on this Las Vegas setting of the film during the day, and the good time they were having evidently shows and jumps off the screen.

Spyros Acebos, played by Akim Tamiroff, gives the team a plan to rob five of Vegas’s casinos – the Sahara, the Flamingo, the Riviera, the Sands, and the Desert Inn – on New Year’s Eve. His plan calls for the team, all 82^nd Airborne Division veterans, with Danny Ocean, played by Sinatra, as their leader to use their military knowledge and commando timing to barge the casinos in the dark by switching off their electricity. In order to follow through, they have to blow a power tower outside the city. Then the back-up systems at the hotels will be dispensed with so the electrical powered doors to the safes will open up. Next, all of the cash will be taken and thrown into garbage cans outside the casino, where they will be picked up by a disposal truck driven by Josh Howard, played by Sammy Davis Jr.

While the team is planning the crime, the film gives us the chance to learn a bit about each member of this crew. Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) is the son of much-married Mrs. Restes (Ilka Chase), who is about to make Duke Santos (Cesar Romero), a local gangster, her fifth husband. Missing his wife, Beatrice Ocean, played by Sergeant Leann “Pepper” Anderson from Police Woman, Angie Dickinson, but knowing that she will just be an obstacle, Danny sends her a telegram saying they can’t get together. This, obviously, has her immediately come to Las Vegas, where she is an obstacle. When Adele Elkstrom, played by Patrice Wymore, an ex-girlfriend of Danny, also arrives, flares erupt. Beatrice wants Danny to go back to New York with her, and when he refuses but can’t explain why, she leaves.

The big night arrives. The robbery goes well, but things start to fall apart – as that always seem to happen in this type of movie. Tony Bergdorf, played by Richard Conte, has a heart attack and dies. Duke finds out about the team and demands half of the amount, making it impossible to the team to get the money out of town. They figure out that running the money in Tony’s coffin, believing that no one will ever look in there. What they don’t know, however, is Tony’s widow, Gracie, played by Jean Willes. She decides to have Tony cremated, and Danny and his team look on in shocked silence as all of the money (and their friend) goes up in smoke.

Peter Lawford started the idea of “Ocean’s 11” when he found the story which this was based on. Then he and Sinatra made a production company, with Martin also pitching in. George Raft and Red Skelton have small cameos, as does Shirley MacLaine, in an unbilled bit as a drunken person. TV Guide noted, “MacLaine was busy making THE APARTMENT and took off a day to fly to Las Vegas and appear in a scene with Martin that reputedly took less than 10 minutes to shoot.”

There are several other interesting small performances in the film, including from Hoot Gibson, Red Barry, and Louis Quinn (from 77 Sunset Strip”). Other Rat Pack members in this film include Joey Bishop, Henry Silva, Buddy Lester, Richard Benedict, Norman Fell, and Clem Harvey.

If you are fans of the Rat Pack, like I am, then you should see this movie. It wasn’t well-received, but it’s very nice to watch just to see the Rat Pack sit around and be themselves, which is what they were good at. Separately and together, the Rat Pack never failed to disappoint their fans. This is a very underrated film, and I highly recommend everyone go out and watch it because it’s worth it.

Look out next week when I start the more famous trilogy directed by Steven Soderbergh.