Review of Ocean's Eleven (1960) by Blake P — 17 Aug 2011

"Ocean's Eleven" is certainly what you could call a fun heist film. Danny Ocean (Sinatra) is a bored WWII army veteran, and decides it would be fun if he and his war pals (Martin, Davis, Conte, Lawford, Bishop) helped him rob 5 different casinos in Las Vegas-- at the same time.

Will they get away with it? This is not really an excellent film, but it's not average either. It's an 'in-between-er', if that's even a word. I've been curious about this movie for a while with all the hype about the recent remake (which I have not seen), so I thought, why not see the original.

Though this movie isn't really suspenseful, nor is it even that funny, it does entertain, and those two hours don't really even seem to be wasted. Over these past few years, I've learned that Frank Sinatra is in fact, an exceptional actor, and he gives one of his best performances here.

His role as Danny Ocean is witty and charming, and that exact character is a fun one. It might not be Oscar-worthy, but it really does stick in your head. Veteran director Lewis Milestone does a well-done job here though-- he takes the fun of Vegas and really packs it in, and makes the atmosphere a lot more inviting.

This is one of his best directing efforts in a whole. "Ocean's Eleven" was not as good as I was expecting, but it's not bad. P.S.: Look for an early Shirley McLaine in a funny cameo role.