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I watched the original Ocean's Eleven flick today, with commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr. in the background.
That was an unexpectedly entertaining experience. Frank Jr. has such a recall of Las Vegas in 1959, when the movie was shot. And he identified most of the character actors as to how they got into the movie.
He lamented the lack of recognition awarded to the screenplay. Now that I'm undergoing sort of a self-education course focusing on dialogue, I'd have to say that I agree with him. The writing was lean, tight and all right.
Ocean's 11 Feature
- Eleven friends who know each other from World War II service plan to rob five of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night. They develop a master plan but after the whole thing is over, something goes wrong. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR Age: 883929007530 UPC: 883929007530 Manufacturer No: 1000036680
Ocean's 11 Overview
Eleven friends who know each other from World War II service plan to rob five of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night. They develop a master plan but after the whole thing is over something goes wrong...Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/CLASSICS UPC: 883929007530 Manufacturer No: 1000036680
Paddling through Ocean's Eleven with precious little to show for it - Ingrid Heyn - Melbourne, Australia
I hadn't seen this film until last night, at a friend's place. I understand it has been remade with George Clooney and Julia Roberts (I haven't seen that version yet either).
Perhaps I've been spoiled by seeing such good quality "heist" films or series; BBC's "Hustle", for instance, or the remake of "The Italian Job", "Inside Man", "A Fish called Wanda"... These are works using character development, superb scripts and wonderful acting under some very, very good directing indeed.
There were some fabulous classic "heist" films as well; "Bob le flambeur", Kubrick's "The Killing", "Rififi", "The Asphalt Jungle", the 1955 "The Ladykillers".
In comparison, I thought the original "Ocean's Eleven" made a very poor showing. The first half of the film seems to have little purpose other than to give the rat pack some interaction, some not-very-funny lines, an opportunity for childish behaviour, and some of the worst dialogue I've ever heard. I found it very boring - and I'm normally very forgiving of films of this era. I love great snappy dialogue and scene-scetting. But this wasn't great snappy dialogue at all. The pace was unbelievably tedious. If the objective were to give the characters motivation for their plot to pull off the casino heist, it could have been done much more powerfully and convincingly in a tenth of the time.
The actual heist itself is fine (not superb - the cinematography and lighting were nothing spectacular, but it worked); if the entire film had been of this quality, it might even have deserved its classic status. But it quickly descended into credulity-stretching tedium again; the discovery made by a major criminal seeking to protect his status in Las Vegas by finding the thieves (who coincidentally happens to be newly engaged to the mother of one of the eleven men involved) about who pulled off the heist is, again, very poorly written, both in terms of plausibility and dialogue. The scenario offered an opportunity for dramatic tension which was simply... ignored.
The actors seemed largely to be bored by the film, and their acting lacked dramatic cohesion. Even had they acted brilliantly and even had the directing been better, though, I think the poor writing would have killed the film for me.
The "twist" ending was completely predictable as soon as the money was moved. I turned to my friend and said, "The [...] is going to be [...], isn't it?" (Trying not to offer spoilers...) She nodded; I'd guessed the "surprise" ending without any effort.
The final scene, though, was good. I enjoyed the pained look on the faces of the thieves. But a final nice scene doesn't save the movie.
In short, I was surprisingly disappointed. I'm going to watch the first series of "Hustle" again to wipe away the memory of this film.
In spite of this film's "classic" status, I can't recommend it.
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