FAQ for
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

Ocean's 11 is a must-see for anything in Ocean's 13- the characters, the plot, the jokes- to make sense.

While it's not strictly necessary to see Ocean's 12 first, basic knowledge of the characters introduced in it would be useful. In fact, very useful...as there is a mention of at least one Ocean's 12 character and the appearance of at least two Ocean's 12 characters in Ocean's 13.

If you're going to spend 122 minutes (114 minutes if you live in Croatia) of your life watching this film, to really understand and enjoy the characters, the plot twists and the in-jokes, watch 11 and 12 first.

Would you watch Godfather 3 before you watched 1 and 2?

There are two changes in this movie. Tess (#12 from the last film).

Andy Garcia is brought in to finance the new drill and setup Bank at the gaming Expo. And Linus Caldwell's father, Robert Caldwell, is brought in to help finish the job.

She wanted to spend more time with her children.

In-movie explanation: Danny felt that the heist was a very personal thing, and didn't want to get either Isabel or Tess involved.

This question has been making its way around the message board. Reportedly, the nose is a not so subtle snub to the Weinsteins formerly of Miramax, who refused to allow Damon to wear a prosthetic nose for Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm on the basis that an A-list star should be easily identifiable. When Soderbergh heard this, he supposedly insisted that Damon should wear a prosthetic nose for O13. Another highly regarded theory is that the nose was playfully poking fun at Adrian Brody who has a significantly large nose. This also explains why the nose scenario was referred to as "The Brody".

According to other reviews, Linus applied a pheromone to his neck. Sponder's hormones reacted to the scent.

The people who fingerprinted Livingston's shuffler worked for Bank. Ocean's crew did not anticipate the fingerprinting, so they did not have an inside man to stop it. Thus, Virgil had to change the pictures to cover their oversight.

The game allowed Frank to have a permanent, validated position in the middle of the floor, which let him hand the rigged roulette balls to the pit boss and get them into play. He was also able to keep a subtle eye on the "Greco" and probably the casino as a whole.

There is no set answer for this, but the theories are numerous: honor among thieves, Banks has things to hide, the bad publicity, Banks wants personal revenge, etc.

If you ask me, Banks going to the police would be a bone-headed mistake.

There was some dialog early on in the movie concerning Banks pride and ego. This became more and more evident as the movie progressed. Banks portrayed this powerful self made millionaire. His character was the type that did not want to share accomplishments and/or any recognition, admit fault, etc. By going to the police, he would be admitting such. At the current time of Banks career (real time in the movie) he was supposedly (at least in the public eye, and certainly in his own mind, beyond all reproach) not in need of any help what so ever. There's no way Banks would admit guilt, loss, weakness, and uncertainty, especially to the authorities!

Also as mentioned in the movie, Banks had tapped in to the national fingerprinting database and the FBI systems... Yet another obvious reason he would not go to the police...

A few times in the movie someone mentions 'doing a Susan B. Anthony.' The ruse seems to be named after the silver dollar that people often mistakenly put into vending machines assuming they were quarters. Similarly, the boys set up two scenarios where people put a coin into a machine without realizing the value of their input. This, of course, is the rigging of the slots machines.

When they give Bank a second chance to do the right thing it's referred to as a Billy Martin. Billy Martin was a famous second baseman and manager. Martin was fired (or quit) as the manager of the New York Yankees in 1978. He was rehired as manager in 1980, given a second chance.

While there are always new and inventive ways people try to beat the casino and at times they actually do, the Oceans 13 set up took some creative license to make their plot work, least of which is to attempt to pull of a series of cheats within 7 minutes.

Here are some key differences between the movie casino and Las Vegas today:

1) The dice would not be made in Mexico. They are made in Las Vegas under the supervision of the casino. 2) Roulette balls do not get exchanged. 3) Unusually high bets such as $100k on snake eyes in craps have to be authorized by the casino manager.

As a side note: while slot machines still make the ching ching ching noise when they pay out, most slot machines located on Las Vegas Blvd no longer pay in or accept coins and therefore any coin left on top of a machine would probably be ignored.

While the producers of the movie took painstaking effort to use authentic tables, slot machines etc. the full interior of the hotel/ casino is actuality a Hollywood set. The building that is seen in the CGI composite of the aerial views of The Strip aka Las Vegas Blvd is superimposed on the SE corner of Harmon & Las Vegas Blvd currently the home of the Harley Davidson Café - a single story building with no resemblance to the Bank Casino.

When the dice are being spun, they're actually being tested for weight anomalies, i.e., are they "loaded dice" or not?

As Basher says in the beginning, the polymer is not metallic and it doesn't affect the weight, so the dice pass this test.

Does anybody know what this is?

Irwin Allen http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000740/ was known for his disaster movies in the 1970s. They involved large casts.

Ocean's exit strategy (how everyone was going to get away--with the money) was literally creating a disaster--the earthquake.