Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

jacobs-greenwood Lewis Milestone produced and directed this original (and highly successful) heist picture which featured an all-star cast headlined by the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop as well as Angie Dickinson and Shirley MacLaine (the latter in an uncredited cameo). Its screenplay was written by Harry Brown and Charles Lederer from a story by George Clayton Johnson and Jack Golden Russell. Other that appear include Richard Conte, Cesar Romero, Patrice Wymore, Akim Tamiroff, Henry Silva, Norman Fell, Red Skelton (as himself) and George Raft.Sinatra plays Danny Ocean, a man addicted to danger and excitement which causes estrangement from wife Beatrice (Dickinson). His latest scheme is a grand plan to reunite his 82nd Airborne Army veteran friends – fifteen years after their acclaimed service in various World War II theaters of battle – to knock over the five main casinos (Hotel Flamingo, the Sands, Desert Inn, the Riviera, the Sahara) in Las Vegas during New Year's Eve.Among Ocean's eleven co-conspirators are Martin and Davis Jr. (who each sing a couple of songs), Lawford, Conte, Bishop, Silva and Fell; additionally there's Tamiroff, who doesn't participate in the robberies, but helped to plan and finance the operation. Lawford plays Jimmy Foster, whose soon-to-be fifth father-in-law, gangster Duke Santos (Romero), figures in the aftermath, hired by the coalition of casino managers – led by Raft's character – to find and return the stolen millions.There's a somewhat predictable twist ending.

talisencrw Though I had only seen Steven Soderbergh's remake, made shortly after Frank Sinatra died, in the interim I had achieved quite an appreciation of Sinatra's work, first as a game-changing jazz vocalist and, more recently, as an actor. I picked up the 4-pack of both Milestone's original and Soderbergh's trilogy, and, having both dedicated myself to some of Milestone's films and Sinatra's appearances, decided to give the Rat Pack's version a spin. The coolness and fun of the actors rubs off nicely on the proceedings, and it's extremely enjoyable to breathe in. Both Angie Dickinson and Shirley MacLaine are great fun too, as are the Vegas mainstays that make cameos. The extras on my DVD, especially Dickinson and Sinatra talking about making the film, years later when he guest-hosted The Tonight Show, were also splendid and mad my enjoyment even more profound. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks the remake is great. As fine as a filmmaker as Soderbergh is, it pales in comparison, because as fine as today's stars are, they just aren't The Rat Pack! Also, the ending is one of the greatest. I have always felt that comedy is the hardest genre to do, and it dates so badly, but this holds up quite nicely...

Python Hyena Ocean's 11 (1960): Dir: Lewis Milestone / Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson: Too many characters introduced too quickly that can likely cause confusion. Setup is inspiring and details a structure regarding eleven men planning and robbing five casinos on New Years Eve. The ending is priceless and director Lewis Milestone does a fine job at keeping viewers interested. However, the cast stumble about with little to do but follow a plan. Frank Sinatra plays Daniel Ocean who heads the scheme while screwing over any chance at true happiness. He is joined by Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and a whole slew of others who felt the need to get rich quick. Not one of these individuals come across as anything other than a famous person trying to make this overrated film more important than it is just by having their name stamped on it. It is a well crafted film in terms of production and direction, but too many characters leave for little development. There is a strong theme dealt with rather amusingly regarding how plans can easily go astray and not exactly turn out as hoped. That is perhaps why the ending is the best aspect of the film. That, and it allows viewers to exit this travesty. Production made out better than the role call of actors where it has become apparent that three is no longer a crowd, eleven is. Score: 6 / 10

dotdashdash Contrary to many other reviewers here who gave the film a poor rating, I'm not complaining about the plot. In fact, the plot of the film is not so bad, and certainly not weaker than that of the 2001 remake (which I liked much more than this original). It's just that this work doesn't develop the plot very well: The first half of the film is wasted on people talking other people into participating in the coup (which, in the end, they do, of course). The planning stage is virtually non-existent - Frank Sinatra simply pulls out a handkerchief with a "map" of Las Vegas and lays out the plan in detail, anticipating and refuting all possible objections. The preparation stage goes on smoothly, with the team's electrician simply walking into restricted areas of the casinos and re-wiring key electrics of the houses without being bothered by security. Too implausible for me to believe. Then the execution of the plan, which is almost a minor sub-sequence of the film to which the director did neither devote much time nor love for detail. The rest of the film is wasted on an overly extended plot about the gang trying to escape capture and get the money out of town. The setting of priorities could have been better, I dare say.Clearly the film draws some bonus points from its all-star cast, but it does not employ them very well. The dialogues are mostly wooden - even sequences where there would have been an opportunity to intersperse some witty lines are handled rather unlovingly and with dull, flat dialogues (there are some exceptions to this, such as a nice little sequence with Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine in a cameo as a drunken casino guest, but gems of this sort remain rare). The rat-pack stars don't even get much chance to display their talents in full, with only Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin getting one rather short song each.To me, it seems that this film was just another step in Frank Sinatra's ultimately unsuccessful attempts to establish a noteworthy film career. An opportunity wasted, since with a setting and a cast like this, something much better could have been produced.