Warner Bros. | 1960 | 127 mins. | NR
The 1960’s version of the Rat Pack is the stuff of legend—Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford became the epitome of cool. On the 50th anniversary of the gangs biggest film success, Ocean’s 11, Warner Brothers has given it the high definition treatment. In the era of Camelot, Sinatra and the gang were the beneficiaries of a populace that enjoyed following their playboy ways and easygoing ‘ring a ding’ lifestyles. Though the members of the Rat Pack mentioned above have all died, many remain fascinated by them.
Blessed with a simple plot and never considered a classic, Ocean’s 11 is still a favorite film of many. A few days before New Year’s Eve, heist-master Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff) is in a panic because he’s become too well known by the police to successfully pull off any robberies himself. Therefore, Spyros hands the reins over to his wind-up merchant friend Danny Ocean (Sinatra) who assembles ten of his ex-Army buddies from the 82nd Airborne Division, to complete the heist. The actual robbery involves robbing the vaults of five illustrious Vegas casinos (Desert Inn, Sands, Flamingo, Sahara, Riviera) but hits problems when one of the gang’s stepfather Duke Santos (Cesar Romero) an underworld bigwig, exploits the situation to his own ends and begins to investigate the crime.
At times, Ocean’s 11 can be slow—particularly in the beginning when viewers get background information on all of the characters without really knowing what’s going on. The heist itself isn’t carefully thought through, and the “plan” is never really explained—I still don’t get how they were able to have two “inside guys” in each casino, plus Josh (Davis, Jr.) driving the getaway vehicle, plus Tony (Richard Conte) rigging the electrical work…with only eleven guys. And with all the characters running around, it’s hard to keep track of them all.
Nevermind though, weaknesses or not, Ocean’s 11 is a fun romp. Las Vegas was at the height of its glory; overflowing with class and style. Men wore the best suits and women donned some of the finest gowns. Fans of the Rat Pack (especially Dean Martin, who steals the show), will love it just because. As Dino himself might remark, “It’s swingin’ baby!”
What might surprise film buffs about this one is that Lewis Milestone directed it. Yes, this is the same man behind such war classics as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Halls of Montezuma (1950), Pork Chop Hill (1959), and A Walk in the Sun (1945), as well as comedies and dramas like The Front Page (1931) and The Red Pony (1948). Milestone probably thought his diverse background would give him something to bring to the table, but much of the time it looks like Sinatra and company were having fun winging it.With all that being said, if you’re looking for a fun romp, the original Ocean’s 11 provides a glimpse of a long past time and place when the Rat Pack ruled Las Vegas.
Warner Bros. use a VC-1 codec to transfer the movie to Blu-ray in its theatrical aspect ratio, 2.40:1. The color varies from rich and deep to slightly dull (likely due to age), with facial tones that range from a bit too dark to orangeish. Definition looks only about average for HD. WB left in the film’s natural print grain, and the picture quality is commendably clean, with practically no signs of age except a little noise during the opening credits.
The audio is nothing very special, with a 1.0 monaural, and not even its lossless DTS-HD Master Audio processing can do much more than reproduce it as audiences originally heard it. It is smooth and clear, but obviously it lacks much in the way of frequency range and dynamic response.
The Ocean’s 11 Blu-ray contains most of material found on WB’s special-edition DVD. We get an audio commentary by Frank Sinatra, Jr. and co-star Angie Dickinson that may be more fun to some than the film itself. Then, there’s a series of vignettes called “Las Vegas: Then and Now” about the casinos involved in the heist. At about three or four minutes each, these vignettes include reminiscences from former employees of the hotels, and they show what the clubs looked like fifty years ago and today. Next, there’s a four-minute excerpt from The Tonight Show with guest host Frank Sinatra and guest Angie Dickinson, who chat about making the film together. The quality of the video is poor, but the conversation is lively.
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