Ocean's 11 (1960)

Before the slick, George Clooney-led trilogy, there was the original Ocean's 11 which starred Frank Sinatra and was released in 1960. This also featured a number of other crooners from the day including Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr., and has become largely forgotten today. Few make reference to the Clooney films and even fewer make reference to this while Ocean's 8, well..., yeah this isn't the most active of franchises. Nonetheless, I found myself a copy of the original on DVD and wanted to see how this stacks up today. 

Directed by Lewis Milestone, the story follows a group of old army buddies from WW2 reunite to rob five casinos in Las Vegas over a single night simultaneously but robbing is only one part of the mission and getting the money out of the city proves to be a whole other challenge.

It's certainly fair to say that this is a very light-hearted film which doesn't ask too much of its audience and offers an entertaining ride even if it takes a little while to get going. The real treat is seeing Sinatra, Martin and Davis Jr. onscreen together as they plan to rob the city where they were in reality entertaining audiences. Milestone also brings plenty of charm and entertainment to the story as the reach of the law starts to encroach on the gang and it's in the latter half when things get tense where I found the film to be at its strongest.

Any fan of Sinatra and that era of music will surely find plenty to enjoy here, and any newcomers will also find some entertainment in the heist and the ensuing hijinks. Clooney's version comes with a lot more moving parts in the story, Steven Soderbergh's slick visual style and the crew are more widely distinguished but there is a neat simplicity to this one that makes it so hard to critique. The cast are also great, particularly Cesar Romero, and it ends on such a high that I can easily recommend it for two hours in old Las Vegas.