BEFORE: My 2nd film today, an extra heist film for the week. Why? Because I've got a real vacation coming up, and not only will I fall 2 weeks behind schedule, but I've done the cacluations, and if I continue at one film per day, my last film before going on break will be #1399. I'll never be able to relax while I'm away unless I can leave off at a nice, round number like #1400.
Character actor Norman Fell (Mr. Roper from "Three's Company") carries over from "Fitzwilly".
THE PLOT: Danny Ocean gathers a group of his World War II compatriots to pull off the ultimate Las Vegas heist. Together the eleven friends plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) (Movie #11)
AFTER: Well, "Fitzwilly" ended on Christmas Eve, and this film starts off on Christmas, with the heist scheduled for New Year's. That's an unexpected little coincidence.
I want to be careful here, and I don't want to hold this film accountable for resembling the other heist films, especially if it came first and the other ones are actually copying (sorry, paying tribute). Again, the plan is really clever, assuming that crossing a few wires in the electrical boxes of five casinos would actually produce the desired effect. In a way similar to "Fitzwilly", where the department store staff was convinced to just hand over the money, here we've got a situation where the casino staff is manipulated to unlock the money rooms - though they don't really realize that they're doing it.
Again, as with the other films, with a clever enough plan, the heist actually appears to be the "easy" part. The thieves came up with a great way to get the money out of the 5 casinos, by using a vehicle that no law officer would want to inspect closely. And again, something is bound to go wrong during the heist itself, and plans need to be adjusted. But the much harder parts of the plan include keeping quiet about the score, and getting the money out of town. That seems pretty standard, but this is one of the films that set that standard.
As for negatives, I think maybe Dean Martin was allowed to sing "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" a few too many times. Also, I'm not clear on their motivations for stealing from the casinos - they're veterans, I get that, but it's a bit of a leap from honorable soldiers to disreputable thieves. It wouldn't have hurt to drop in something about being unemployed veterans, or having a beef against the casinos, or something. One character was motivated to steal because he came from a rich family - how does that follow logically?
Also starring Frank Sinatra (last seen in "The Man with the Golden Arm"), Dean Martin (last seen in"Airport"), Sammy Davis Jr. (last seen in "Moon Over Parador"), Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson (last seen in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001)), Richard Conte (last seen in "Call Northside 777"), Joey Bishop, with cameos from Cesar Romero (last seen in "Around the World in 80 Days"), Shirley MacLaine (ditto), Red Skelton,
RATING: 5 out of 10 slot machines
No comments:
Post a Comment