Ocean's Elevenses

directed by Lewis Milestone (1960) Steven Soderbergh (2001)

I figured it'd be a good idea to compare the 1960 original to the 2001 remake and as I settled in to watch the original, I felt good. The Saul Bass opening credits animation were swell and the whole thing had a smooth easy feel with all the characters seeming real comfortable with each other having chemistry and patter.  I got bored pretty quick though.  Jesus gawd all this breezy chatter, natty suits, drinking booze, smoking cigarettes, and gorgeous dames....how long is it going to take before we get to the action?  An hour of introducing all the damn actors is really stretching it, but I guess when you've got 11 guys to characterise it takes some time.

I recognised Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and was surprised at how small Sammy Davis Jr. was.  He reminded me of Prince in his song piece - which is also the theme song of the flick, and the main riff plays all throughout out.  And the Prince thang is more size wise and on a performance level, because Sammy and Prince don't really have the same kinda sound.

The other actors, I couldn't place except for the skull-faced Henry Silva. He's got a real distinctive look, and I know him even if it's only because he's so recognisable. I think he's best known as for his bad guy roles. There's also Norman Fell.  Mr Furley!!  And Shirley MacLaine makes a brief cameo as a drunk girl, Dean Martin gets to make out with - for crime's sake.  She did the film so she could hang out with her Rat Pack buddies - they would do their club acts at night then shoot in the early morning.  Much of the dialogue was just improvised as they were good buddies with close rapport.

One interesting bit of trivia - Sammy Davis Jr. wasn't allowed to stay in any of the Casinos he performed at because of racism.  It took sway and direct intervention from Sinatra to get the Casinos to put aside their no coloureds bullshit.

I liked the period details and style. I liked seeing the narrow ties and tight suits.  The women were all dressed sharp too,  with glamour dresses, especially in the burlesque scene, Honeyface has a gorgeous outfit. Overall folk are well dressed, probably because people dressed more formally in 1960, at least in this movie they did.


The movie is pretty dumb.  I didn't buy the whole caper, but it's got old school Vegas as the backdrop and that is totally intriguing.  Vegas just seems like a bunch of regular old nightclubs, except with one armed bandits and games tables.  You can marvel at just how much the place has changed.   I liked it okay.  The movie is fun, and the ending completely redeems the ridiculous story.

Now for the sequel...

I recognised every star in this one, because it's chock full of them, plus it's of my era.  And I recognised this Vegas too.  It's so much bigger and flashy gaudy, the scale so much more more more and beyond belief compared to the itty bitty little casinos of the past. Vegas is so a  star in this.  Yay for cross promotions!

Both films work well for Vegas promotion. 

Andy Garcia owns the vault servicing the 3 casinos targeted for robbery, MGM Grand, Mirage and The Bellagio.  I'm guessing The Bellagio was the newest at the time of the 2001 filming, and that's why it got the most product placement promotion.  I'm also guessing Garcia is a stand in for Steve Wynn.

The caper in this one is much more elaborate, more like a spy flick, all full of contraptions and gadgets.  It's far more ridiculous in its complexity.  The first caper was ridiculous too, but it's way outshone by the remake's shenanigans. 

I'm glad the Oceans 11, 2.0 was more a riff on the original concept than a straight up remake.  I was expecting the cast of criminals to be a bunch of Iraq veterans and that they weren't was refreshing.  It's often better if a film confounds expectations. Overall, I found the 2nd iteration to be more entertaining.  The original was slower, and went off on tangents, and musical numbers by Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr,  especially showcasing these stars, and as much as I enjoyed that, I liked that the sequel was more plot driven.  Both were fairly dismissive of women.  Julia Roberts gets a bigger part as Danny Ocean's, (George Clooney), wife than Angie Dickinson did as Sinatra's ex-Mrs. Ocean.  The one actor of the principle cast of 2.0 that I didn't recognise was Shaebo Qin.  He was recruited from The Peking Acrobats and doesn't act except for his roles in the Ocean's flicks.  I thought his ethnicity was played for laughs.  


They're both fun, but I think the 2nd one is a more entertaining heist.