Friday, April 29, 2011

"Ocean's Eleven"

Having just returning from a few days in Las Vegas, I found it only fitting to watch the original version of "Ocean's Eleven" with Frank, Dean, Sammy, and the gang.



Frank and Peter Lawford are old army buddies who want to hit up 5 casinos for a million dollars each (oh boy!). They spend a lot of time working hard and getting the crew together.



Once the final group is gathered they fly to Vegas to prepare. Danny deals with his estranged sweet wife and his bitchy girlfriend along the way.






The plan is to heist the casinos right after midnight on New Years while everyone is singing. The time has come and the plan gets set into motion.




After the teeny tiny safes are broken into and the millions little bit of money shown in them are robbed, all is going well until one of the eleven bites the dust in the middle of the street. After some investigation, the boys are worried that they might be discovered and make a new plan to hide the evidence. Will they get their share? Will they get caught ad be put in the slammer?


My favorite part of the film is the uncredited cameo by Shirley MacLaine playing an adorable drunk gal who momentarily ruins the plan. Her part was shot in one day while in between filming "The Apartment" and she wasn't paid, she agreed to do the part to get to hang out with the Rat Pack. 


I had never seen this film but own the remake with George Clooney. It was fun to watch how out dated this film was compared to casinos now. No security, no cameras, only one metal trash can for each casino and everyone was so trusting. It almost made me laugh.

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