Review of Ocean's Eleven (1960) by James B — 11 Mar 2011

2: The ending is certainly a bit unexpected for Hollywood - and it now seems to me has been copied in one form or another many times since - but it wasn't anything earth shattering. I guess Vegas was pretty pitiful back then; at least it was if this is an accurate depiction of the city.

I was definitely not terribly impressed with the production design of the hotels, either in terms of their exteriors or interiors. They are small, tacky, cheap, and entirely underwhelming. The private residence used as the gathering place for the team seems to be more spacious than the supposedly grand and wealthy hotels they're knocking off.

The story isn't very well laid out either. I suppose this may be done on purpose, but it takes us a long time to have the team introduced to us and an even longer period for the main story elements to become clear.

It's as if the production team simply thought the audience would be so overjoyed to see these guys in action that we wouldn't care about anything else. For me at least, they didn't quite pull off the trick.

I can see why the film is still being watched and discussed today, but, in my opinion, is not a classic. The recent remakes are far more entertaining and polished. Additionally, Clooney is a better Sinatra than Sinatra was.

It is an interesting piece of cinematic history, but is not on par with even the moderately entertaining films of the era. I do love Angie Dickinson, and much of the rest of the cast are creditable screen stars, but they didn't keep me enthralled.

In other words, I didn't have a problem taking a break from the film in order to go to sleep for the night. Adequate, but unimpressive.