OCEAN'S ELEVEN (1960) ** It couldn't have sounded like too bad of an idea when first floated during one of those legendary nightly Rat Pack drinking sessions, but it didn't turn out well. When you try to launch this many characters, there aren't enough lines to go around. Consequently you need actors who can accelerate into character very quickly. Of all these guys, Sammy Davis Jr. is the only one up to it, and he shines even before he opens his mouth. Cesar Romero is the best of the rest, but he's still desperately trying to build as the film mercifully shuts down after a mere 128 minutes. Dean Martin looks pretty hip pouring a stiff one, and silly singing, but he and Frank Sinatra mainly stand around hoping to be admired. Even in fiction the Rat Pack has concentric rings of power-while the two centerpieces smile and yawn, Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop and Norman Fell(!) run around the outside like hamsters, doing things like being mama's boys and hotel workers. There's more singing than I'd like (but no Frank), not much plot, no particularly memorable performances, nothing funny or profound, etc. It's a fine film for those determined to worship the every move of Rat Packers, but not much for the rest of us. The remake, 40 years later, is so superior that the only things the two films really have in common are name and Las Vegas location.
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