Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Danny Ocean gathers a group of his World War II compatriots to pull off the ultimate Las Vegas heist. Together the eleven friends plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night.

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

Harry Brown (screenplay), Charles Lederer (screenplay),

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Sinatra	...	Danny Ocean
Dean Martin	...	Sam Harmon
Sammy Davis Jr.	...	Josh Howard
Peter Lawford	...	Jimmy Foster
Angie Dickinson	...	Beatrice Ocean
Richard Conte	...	Anthony Bergdorf
Cesar Romero	...	Duke Santos
Patrice Wymore	...	Adele Ekstrom
Joey Bishop	...	'Mushy' O'Connors
Akim Tamiroff	...	Spyros Acebos
Henry Silva	...	Roger Corneal
Ilka Chase	...	Mrs. Restes
Buddy Lester	...	Vince Massler
Richard Benedict	...	'Curly' Steffans
Jean Willes	...	Mrs. Bergdorf

Storyline

Eleven friends who know each other from World War II service plan to rob five of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night. They develop a master plan but after the whole thing is over, something goes wrong...

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Plot Keywords:

casino | heart attack | money | robbery | new year's eve | 

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Taglines:

Nobody else would have dared it because nobody else would have the nerve! Just Danny Ocean and his 11 pals - the crazy night they blew all the lights in Las Vegas!...

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 August 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frankie und seine Spießgesellen

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,800,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dorchester, Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

During Dean Martin's scene with Shirley MacLane, after she calls him "Ricky Nelson", Martin replies "I used to be Ricky Nelson but now I'm Perry Como." In real life, early in his singing career, music critics used to derisively refer to Martin as a knock off of Perry Como. In addition, Martin had just done "Rio Bravo" co-starring Ricky Nelson.

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Goofs

When the main characters' voices are heard on the telephone, at various points, the voices we hear on the phone are of people other than the principal actors.

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Quotes

Duke Santos: [to Danny and Sam] I know you won't try anything cute. Fifty percent of something is better than one hundred percent of nothin'.

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Connections

Referenced in Extras: Ben Stiller (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Mother Machree"
(uncredited)
Music by Chauncy Olcott and Ernest R. Ball (1910)
Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young
Parody version sung by Dean martin about Ilka Chase.

User Reviews

Good old fashioned well humoured heist flick

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!