Ocean's Eleven (2001)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Steven Soderbergh

Writers (WGA):

George Clayton Johnson (1960 story) &
Jack Golden Russell (1960 story) ...

Release Date:

7 December 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Hollywood's A list stars come together to pull off the most daring heist Las Vegas has ever known...11 men, 3 casinos, 150 million dollars, 1 chance to pull it off.

Plot:

Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Boxing | Heist | Thief | Ex Wife

Awards:

3 wins & 17 nominations

Cast

George Clooney	...	Danny Ocean
Cecelia Ann Birt	...	Board Member #1 (voice) (as CeCeLia Birt)
Paul L. Nolan	...	Board Member #2 (voice)
Carol Florence	...	Board Member #3 (voice)
Lori Galinski	...	Blackjack Dealer
Bernie Mac	...	Frank Catton
Brad Pitt	...	Rusty Ryan
Mark Gantt	...	Bartender
Timothy Paul Perez	...	Security Guard
Elliott Gould	...	Reuben Tishkoff
Frank Patton	...	Lockbox Carrier
Casey Affleck	...	Virgil Malloy
Scott Caan	...	Turk Malloy
Eddie Jemison	...	Livingston Dell
Jorge R. Hernandez	...	FBI Man #1

Also Known As:

11 (USA) (promotional abbreviation)
O11 (USA) (informal short title)
Ocean's 11 (USA) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some language and sexual content.

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #38543) | Iceland:L | India:UA | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:MG6 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12 | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

999 N Patencio, Palm Springs, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

The prison Danny Ocean is paroled from - North Jersey State Prison - is actually East Jersey State Prison, formerly known as Rahway State Prison. This facility was the setting of Scared Straight! (1978). There is actually a Northern State Prison located across the highway from Newark (NJ) International Airport. Parole hearings at "Rahway State" are held in a conference room near the inmate dining hall. The area he was having his parole interview was in the "Drill Hall" (indoor gym/recreation area). The cell block that Danny was being escorted from is "3-Wing" - a regular, working cell block. The inmates were either confined to their cells or relocated to other areas of the prison for the filming. The "Officer" escorting Danny out of the cell block and securing the gate, was actually a Lieutenant, and at the time, was the coordinator of the "Scared Straight" program.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Linus gets out of the white van to go join the rest of the crew stealing the Pinch, the camera takes a shot including Linus walking towards the door and the rear right side of the van. In the reflection off the side of the van, 4 crew members are visible sitting down.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[At Parole Hearing]
Woman's Voice: Good Morning.
Danny: Morning.
Woman's Voice: Please state your name for the record.
Danny: Daniel Ocean.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 'Solaris': Behind the Planet (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Spanish Flea

a pleasant souffle of a film

Steven Soderbergh's remake of `Ocean's Eleven' is a stylish heist picture featuring some of the brightest stars in moviemaking today. The cast includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon from the A-list, as well as such established veterans as Andy Garcia, Elliot Gould and Carl Reiner in there playing along with them. Coming right off the heels of two highly acclaimed, award-laden serious dramas (`Traffic' and `Erin Brockovich'), it's understandable that Soderbergh might have been in the mood for something a little lighter in tone right about now. Well, he has certainly found it with this property, which sails along smoothly like a well-oiled machine, with no angst-filled messages or heavy-handed themes to gum up the works.

Taking the basic premise from the original 1960 film (which featured a who's-who of Hollywood stars of its own day), Soderbergh has updated it to reflect the advanced technological realities of the 21st Century. In this film, recently paroled Daniel Ocean (Clooney) has decided to mastermind the robbing of not one but three major Las Vegas casinos all owned by the nefarious Terry Benedict (Garcia). The rub is that Benedict has also recently added Ocean's ex-wife, Tess (Roberts), to his list of assets, which gives Ocean additional incentive to take Benedict for everything he's got. One of the amazing things is that the filmmakers use an actual casino as their target (the Bellagio) rather than devising a fictional one for their story's purpose. One might think it could give certain audience members the wrong ideas. Be that as it may, the director does a fine job exploiting the Vegas setting, taking us right into the heart of casino operations.

A film like `Ocean's Eleven' stands or falls on the charisma of its stars, the intricacy of its plotting and the plausibility of its actions. Luckily for the audience, the film pretty much succeeds on all three counts. Scenarist Ted Griffin does a fine job gathering together the men who will participate in the heist, allowing each a moment or two to define his character and to become part of the team. The details of the plan itself are explained in very clear terms so that we rarely feel as if we are not able to follow the action. There is even an inspired use of `Clair de Lune' near the end of the picture to lend an air of romanticism to the accomplishment, for who would deny that such large-scale thievery has often carried with it a certain element of idealism and romance? After all, look how many books and films have featured robbers as heroes. It perhaps explains why Tess can go from being a principled, law-abiding citizen at the beginning of the film to being an accomplice in crime at the end, all for the love of a man – and we cheer her for it.

Unlike in Soderbergh's other films, we do not find hidden depths lurking beneath the shining handsome surface of this movie, and we certainly carry no nutritious food for thought away with us from this film as we did from the others. In fact, `Ocean's Eleven' is all ABOUT shining handsome surface and it makes no pretension of being about anything else. It's cinematic junk food of the highest order, but, then, since when has junk food not been satisfying?