Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I bought this along with the remake. What a great combo!
Rating: 
Summary: The Rat Pack in Hack
Review: This movie has two things going for it: first, it has the Rat Pack involved in a Las Vegas crime caper, which means it glows with a certain glamourous intrigue; second, it's more a character study than a technical how-to treatise, which means it's better than the recent remake. The picture's problem is that it's dated in a way that doesn't hold up well. Its Playboyistic slickness, which came to pass for sophistication in many sixties flicks, imparts an aura of parody that bloats the pacing and results in a plodding, strained storyline. Had the film been done ten years earlier, it might have been made as noir, and the Rat Pack could have been great in that genre! (Sinatra, for one, proved such mettle in Suddenly and Manchurian Candidate). Nonetheless, the movie does have its noirish moments, and Rat Packers should be able to hang in there even when the ship seems to be sinking in slough.
Rating:
Summary: Sinatra, D. Martin, Sammy at their best! This is Las Vegas
Review: Here it is folks! The original Ocean's 11 with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. all in their prime. Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop were also in the pack. Cast also includes Angie Dickinson, Shirley MacLaine, Caesar Romero, Henry Silva and Norman Fell. The best Las Vegas casino-heist movie ever made. You'll get the feel of Las Vegas watching this film. The music is outstanding and classic. I first saw this film on American Movie Classics cable network in 1997 and have been a fan ever since. In Special Features, DVD includes interviews with people who worked at The Flamingo, The Sands, The Desert Inn, The Riviera and The Sahara and tell you the way it was and is now. There is a Tonight Show clip with Frank Sinatra as guest host interviewing Angie Dickinson. This Tonight Show clip is sadly blurry to watch. If you've seen this 1960 version before, there is a very interesting audio commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickinson! This film is still the tops and the 2001 remake can't even compare.
Rating: 
Summary: A great "guy movie," but . . .
Review: I would have given this movie 5 stars because I like the Rat Pack, it is entertaining, and it does have a good story line with an interesting twist of an ending. Like other Rat Pack films, it must have been a fun-to-make movie for them, but it has some serious detractions. Like Gone With The Wind is a "gal movie", this is a "guy movie" with all the requisite adventure, gambling, money, smoking, drinking, and glamorous showgirls. Set in Las Vegas, it is a fantasy about eleven World War II veterans of the 82nd Airborne Division, led by Danny Ocean (Sinatra), who reunite to use their commando war experience to rob five casinos at once on New Year's Eve. Rather than focussing on "the mission," the story moves off track at times because of the four extraneous characters who make little or no contribution to the story. Ceasar Romero plays the fiancé to playboy Peter Lawford's very wealthy mother who provides him with some "spending money" when he runs a little low. Her part could just as easily have been reduced to a voice on the other end of a telephone call ("Mother, could you send me some more spending money?" "Alright, dear."). With her gone, Romero can go because after the heist, he deduces that the eleven commandos are the guilty ones when he learns that Lawford's ten army buddies are also in town. What a leap! He then tries to shake down the casinos by offering to find their stolen money for a 30% fee. This ends up going nowhere because of the surprise ending, so why not delete that character? The next is Angie Dickenson who plays Ocean's wife. They love each other, but have been kept apart for some strange reason that only women can figure out. Why their love problems couldn't wait the two days this story covers is not explained. Through the introduction of a complex male-female relationship, her character provides the sole purpose of maintaining female audience interest, as though all the handsome male entertainers weren't enough. I don't care what Frank Sinatra, Jr. says on the included extra naration, the worst character of the four by light years was played by Akim Tameroff. His only contribution to the story was that he thought up the idea for the heist. Far better would have been to have cool Danny Ocean think it up and eliminate Tameroff and all the irritating, exasperating nervousness and constant telephone ringing he brings. There are also some interesting cameo appearances by Red Skelton, George Raft, and Shirley MacClain (although I could not find her name in the credits). Skelton plays gambler who has exceeded his limit, is trying to cash a check to buy more chips, gets angry when refused, and has to be thrown out by casino security. This role damages his happy-go-lucky comedian memory. A minor observation is that the film's dialog seems a bit contrived at times by today's standards, but maybe you could say that's typical Rat Pack. After not having seen it since it came out, I did enjoy it, though. If I had it to buy over again, would I? Probably.
Rating:
Summary: Cool
Review: I saw both this original Rat Pack version and the more recent remake starring George Clooney playing Frank Sinatra's character and though I liked the remake I prefer this older movie and think it was more fun to watch and I just liked the characters better, sure the politically incorrect stereotypical Asian servent who keeps giggling is kind of annoying but he only appears briefly a few times and and can be overlooked and the rest of the movie is fine and I recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting Chance to See Rat Pack in Their Prime
Review: The 1960 "Ocean's 11" brings together the men who were romping through Las Vegas to the screen, where they plan to raid Vegas on New Year's Eve. The plot here is slightly different from the recent remake, but it gives you a chance to see Sinatra, Dino, Sammy, Peter, et al fooling around while at the prime of their careers. Hardly the most impressive picture any of them turned out, but this film has a certain magic to it. Not enough Angie Dickinson, and the DVD has some interesting extras. But the '80s VHS release was superior, packaged as an evening at the movies, complete with a Warner Bros. cartoon. Still, it is nice to see this film released again so fans who saw the remake can check out the original. After having seen the original, most fans will probably ask themselves why this, of all films, was chosen for a remake. Neither version is particularly remarkable in terms of performance or story. But this 1960 version at least gives you a chance to see Sinatra and Co in their prime.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated, silly, beyond camp and beyond PATIENCE!
Review: I always wanted to see this film. In fact, I found an old paperback novel of the movie and enjoyed that but somehow this was the movie that got away from me. I wish it did! It has such a loooooooooooong build-up before it gets semi-interesting. The heist is fun, the lead actors are too-cool (for 1960), it was great to see a very young Shirley MacLaine in an unbilled cameo, and the surprise ending is great, but the dialogue and the pacing are awful. And the excuse for musical numbers is so false and stupid -- it was fine to have Dean Martin as a nightclub entertainer -- but Sammy Davis Jr. singing and dancing at the sanitation depot, and behind the wheel of the garbage truck WITH FULL NELSON RIDDLE ORCHESTRATION -- all this just slowed down the pacing?!?!?! And what was Red Skelton's reason for being in this film? (One guess: NONE!) It was really more Peter Lawford's film than Sinatra's as he had more face time and he was the first name in the cast list at the end of the film. Strictly a curiosity if you are going to see the remake which I am now watching and enjoying more.
Rating: 
Summary: Off.
Review: Movies like these remind me of why I so prefer the modern cinema to the vintage. The acting, the writing, the plotting, the cinematography, the ...well, the EVERYTHING. You may just call me a naive unappreciative whippersnapper, and to some extent I suppose I could concede it - but in this particular instance, I am firm. This movie's most redeeming quality, and likely the purpose of its success at all in this day and age, is the nostalgia of it; the sole fact that it's a blast from the past, and not a complex film, buoys it.Here are the reasons I found this movie to be a vapid lull: 1. The acting. Frankly (ha ha), I haven't experienced any of Frank Sinatra's other performances, and I'm willing to give them a try - but if this is any sort of barometer for his other works, I won't be doing much research. 2. The unresolved conflicts. So MANY unresolved conflicts - Jimmy's mother, for example. How to keep the theives' identities concealed, for example. The dead man's child and the missed football game, for example. 3. The plotting - it took nearly an hour of the characters running about all over the United States collecting one another before they finally arrived at the arranged meeting place and discussed the plan. What a pathetic excuse for character development - the only things revealed about the characters were literal; I couldn't have distinguished a prominent emotional personality if I had tried. 4. Which brings me to the characters themselves - dry, shoddy, and two-dimensional. You'd think that for a movie with eleven main characters, the authors would go out of their way to distinguish one from another; define them; give them redeemable personality. This, unfortunately, is not the case. The characters were slightly-differentiated replicas of each other, all styled the same, all talking the same, all dressing the same - all with that non-emotional 'hipness' about their person. 5. The elements of the 60's that were less 'cool' than others - such as the racist jokes (a character's stereotypical japanese servant), the assumption that every man must be married (and to a woman), etc. I cannot understand the popularity of this movie, other than for the so-called merits of Frank Sinatra - he may, for all I know, be a BRILLIANT actor, but if he is, this movie does not display this at all. Were the names attached to this movie severed, it would not attain a quarter of the popularity it has. Because frankly, that's all it is - names.
Rating:
Summary: Fun!
Review: Reading the reviews before me and having already seen the movie (it was the first thing I saw/heard Rat Pack-related, and I was hooked afterward), I'm going to dispel and argue a few things they have said.
First of all, if you're looking for anything other than something to relax to, go watch something else. Frank said before they even started production on this movie that they weren't out to win any awards; the goal was to simply have fun. I'll agree that "the 2001 remake has a better script and direction", but that wasn't what these boys aimed to do. "How can they even try to compare the new one to the old one?"
So true. I mean really, who, in their right mind, would try to compare ANYONE to Frank Sinatra? No one in the universe will ever come close again. Basically this movie and the new one are two totally different movies and I highly suggest you watch them as so. "I'm going to go out on a limb, and say that this movie will not appeal to younger viewers (40 and under), the same way that it appeals to their parents or grandparents."
Um. Excuse me? I'm 16 and I am a diehard fan of Frank, Dean, & Sammy. You can't get any cooler than them. "I didn't see the 'coolness' or 'swagger' that is associated with the Rat Pack. To me, they all looked the same, dressed the same, and acted the same."
That's just nuts. I don't know what else to say to that. Overall, I highly suggest this movie to anyone who's into late 50s-early 60s Vegas (honestly, I dearly wish that Vegas still looked like that), immense talent, and just having a good time.
This is not a "thinking" movie... if you want that, go watch "Frequency".
Rating:
Summary: Good Movie, Good Transfer
Review: This is a good movie and the DVD transfer is good. Nothing great. Nowhere in the same league as "Reservoir Dogs" or even "Pulp Fiction" (slightly different genre), in terms of story, soundtrack or transfer.
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