‘Jiggly little number’ isn’t exactly how I would describe Danny Ocean… More like a well-mannered shark. – Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Hello to all of the classic people that are returning. I am glad you are back. I want to welcome any new visitors. Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on Ocean’s 11 (1960). You heard that right, the 1960 film, not any of those new ones.
This movie features the Rat Pack with a bunch of their associates. This film has a low 6.5 rating on iMDB.com[1]. As is so often seen on Rottentomatoes.com, the critics hated this movie, giving it 48 percent on the Tomatometer and a decent audience approval of 81 percent.[2]
In an August 11, 1960, review New YorkTimes film critic Bosley Crowther takes the film too seriously and misses the point, saying in part:
“A surprisingly nonchalant and flippant attitude toward crime—an attitude so amoral it roadblocks a lot of valid gags… Frank Sinatra, who is the power behind the picture, should have a couple of his merit badges taken away. The idea is that a bunch of fellows, Danny Ocean’s (Mr. Sinatra’s) breezy gang of wartime buddies and heroes, are assembled to do a little job of robbing five major casinos in Las Vegas on New Year’s Eve…They’re so clever and humorous about it and the casino people are such dopes. Well, why not? Wasn’t the crime team schooled together in a lot of Eighty-second Airborne Division “drops”? That’s the way it is: no dishonor, no moral misgivings, no sweat, outside of the normal, natural tension that occurs while the crime is being done… This is the flaw in the picture—this and the incidental fact that a wholesale holdup of Las Vegas would not be so easy as it is made to look. For the substance is generally amusing — indeed, very funny in spots—the dialogue is cleverly written and the roles are deftly and colorfully played…Young people are likely to find this more appropriate and bewitching than do their elders. The latter are likely to feel less gleeful in the presence of heroes who rob and steal.”[3]
Based on the abundance of the more recent Ocean remakes and sequels, I guess he was correct that the younger set would like it more.
Actors – Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Returning
Frank Sinatra played Danny Ocean. This fascinating actor and singer was first covered in the all-aces film, From Here to Eternity (1953).
Crooner Dean Martin played Sam Harmon. Martin was first covered in the incredible western The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).
Angie Dickinson had a small role as Beatrice Ocean, the wife of Danny Ocean. Dickinson was first covered in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966).
Richard Conte played electrician and convict Anthony Bergdorf. Conte was first covered in the excellent film, They Came to Cordura (1959).
Akim Tamiroff, with his thick accent, played Spyros Acebos, the planner of the heist. Tamiroff was first covered in The Buccaneer (1938).
Don ‘Red’ Barry was uncredited as McCoy. I never saw him. Barry was first covered in Frankenstein 1970 (1958)
Richard Boone was uncredited and unseen as the voice of the preacher. Boone was first covered in The Alamo (1960).
New
Cesar Romero played a retired gangster Duke Santos. Romero was born in New York City in 1907. His mother was a socialite, and his father was a Cuban diplomat. Romero began acting on Broadway in the 1920s.
This tall, handsome actor/dancer made his film debut in 1933. The following year, he had a small part in The Thin Man (1934). Romero continued making films, but beginning in the 1950s, he spent more time working on television. Of course, he is best remembered for his role as the Joker in “Batman” 1966.
With six decades of film work, Romero’s best-known films include The Little Princess (1939), Captain from Castile (1947), Lost Continent (1951), Vera Cruz (1954), Ocean’s Eleven (1960), The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), and a plethora of Cisco Kid films.
In addition to his acting career, Romero was known for his work as a dancer and choreographer. He worked with the biggest stars, such as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Romero died in 1994 at the age of 86.
Henry Silva played Roger Corneal. Silva was born in New York City in 1928 to Italian immigrants. Silva began acting on television in 1950 and was uncredited in his first film, Viva Zapata! (1952). Over five decades, Silva has had 139 film and television appearances.
His best-known films include Ocean’s Eleven (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), OMG Megaforce (1982), Code of Silence (1985), Above the Law (1988), The End of Violence (1997), Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). This Italian American often played Asian and Hispanic characters. Silva was also a prolific television actor. He died in 2020 at the age of 92.
Sammy Davis Jr. played heist man Josh Howard. Davis was born in 1925 in New York City. His parents were vaudevillians. So by now, you know he grew up performing on stage. By age five, Davis was already a talented tap dancer. In the 1930s, he was part of a vaudeville act.
As a 17-year-old, Davis entered the Army during World War II. Davis experienced horrible racism in the Army. He was eventually transferred to an entertainment unit.[4]
Davis was in a few shorts with his credited acting beginning in 1959. Davis was in show business for over six decades but was still primarily a singer and dancer. Davis was in a lot of television shows as well. Most memorable to me is his appearance on “All in the Family,” 1972, where he famously kissed Archie (Carroll O’Connor) on the cheek.
The films Davis is most remembered for include Porgy and Bess (1959), Ocean’s Eleven (1960), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964), Salt and Pepper (1968), The Cannonball Run (1981), and Cannonball Run II (1984).
He was a dedicated Civil Rights activist. Sadly, Davis died early at the age of 64 in 1990.
Peter Lawford played Jimmy Foster, a World War II veteran with a thick English accent and an American mother. They never explained how.
Lawford was born in London in 1923. His father was a renowned lawyer and World War I hero. Since his parents weren’t married when Lawford was born, the family decided to immigrate to America. A childhood injury to his arm kept Lawford out of World War II.
Lawford was in his first full-length film in 1938. When the war began in 1940, the number of actors selecting military duty created opportunities for handsome male leads. He continued to work in small bits through the war years, including a stint as an English soldier in my beloved Sahara (1943).
With a total of 122 films, Lawford is best known for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), Good News (1947), Exodus (1960), Ocean’s Eleven (1960), The Longest Day (1962), Advise & Consent (1962), and Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968). He was also very active on television.
At the height of his American popularity, he married the first of his four wives, Patricia Kennedy, of the political Kennedys. He is the uncle of reporter Maria Shriver, best known for being the wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in turn got the maid pregnant.
Lawford was associated with the Rat Pack, at the time led by Frank Sinatra. Remember that the Rat Pack was initially started and met at the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. During the 1970s, with his career virtually over, Lawford struggled with substance abuse. He died at the early age of 61 in 1984.
Story – Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
The movie begins with animated credits that introduce the actors by their numbers. This is followed by dancing dots that mix with the remaining credits. There is an excellent article about the title sequence at Artofthetitle.com. You should check it out, but only after you finish listening to this show.
During the Christmas season in New York City, ‘Mushy’ O’Connors (Joey Bishop) enters Drucker’s Hairdress for men. He checks under a couple of warm face towels until he finds Spyros Acebos (Akim Tamiroff). Acebos gets a callback from the Arizona operators saying that Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) are not answering.
In Arizona, Foster is getting a massage from a female as she fields phone calls saying he and Danny are not in. This is a node to Goldfinger (1964), where Bond got a massage from a blonde named Dink. Foster says he doesn’t answer the phone in December because one time he did, and they sent him to play outside at the Battle of the Bulge.
Spyros complains to ‘Mushy’ that if the others don’t take his plan more seriously, they will all end up in prison for 10 years. A little aside, I’ve seen Casino (1995), and prison is not what you get for ripping off the mob. Spyros feels he is being treated poorly despite having planned all the jobs.
Back out west, Danny joins Foster and his friend, and there is a friend for Danny there now. They talk about the job in front of the two ladies. Foster tells Danny that Vince Massler (Buddy Lester) doesn’t want in on the planned job. Danny throws the ladies out. He forces Foster to get up and start working.
Spyros takes Mushy along to his elegant mansion. Sam Harmon (Dean Martin) is flying in from Hawaii to join the group. Mushy says Sam was in the commandos with the others and saved Danny’s life. Sam is picked up at the airport by ‘Curly’ Steffans (Richard Benedict). Curly is part of the group. Sam is suspicious of Spyros.
Roger Corneal (Henry Silva) enters the Golden Gate Appliance Shop in San Francisco. He is looking for the former shop owner Anthony Bergdorf (Richard Conte), whom he served with in the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II. The new owner says Bergdorf is in San Quinten. He does have the address of his wife, Mrs. Bergdorf (Jean Willes). Corneal calls Mushy and Spyros to inform them that the electrician needed for the job is in prison.
Mrs. Bergdorf is working in an upscale dog grooming shop. She has an Ava Gardner look that is important to the movie’s backstory, so I will discuss it in the conclusion. Corneal goes to see Mrs. Bergdorf, AKA Gracie. Gracie says that Anthony will be getting out of prison early and will be released the next day. Corneal calls to let the sad Spyros know the good news.
Sam and Curly arrive at Spyros’ home.
At a burlesque club in Phoniex, a brunette dancer is on stage with a giant snake. Danny and Foster are at the bar watching. The emcee, Vince Massler (Buddy Lester), introduces the next dance, who is his wife. The music she dances to is the title song from The Tender Trap (1955), which starred Sinatra.
Vince joins his friends at the bar to discuss the planned heist. Foster convinces him that their army training will make the job easy. Vince doesn’t want to do the job because his wife is so beautiful. Just then, a drunk starts sexually heckling his wife, and Vince beats up two customers. When the manager (Al Silvani, Sinatra’s bodyguard and fight trainer to the stars) and the bartender go to throw Vince out, Danny and Foster take care of them. Now that Vince doesn’t have a job, he joins the operation. They give Vince a ticket and some money and tell him to report to Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.). Danny and Foster are still trying to locate Louis Jackson (Clem Harvey).
Spyros calls, and Danny answers, pretending to be Foster. Spyros rages about Danny being unreliable. Danny tells Spyros they are going to Salt Lake City to look for Jackson.
Anthony goes to a military school to see his son, as his wife will not let the newly released convict return home. The visit is short. Corneal is waiting outside for Anthony. Corneal explains that they need an electrician for the heist. Anthony balks on the job.
Anthony goes to a doctor and finds that it’s “The Big Casino,” and he doesn’t have much time left. Corneal asks him again, and Anthony decides to go along. He had promised his son he would take him to a game the following weekend. In movie terms, he is doomed. See The Wild Geese (1978), for example.
Mostly black workers sing and play a harmonic at a garbage truck lot. As Vince arrives, Josh belts out the song “Eee O Eleven,” rolling elevens in craps. Vince talks about his fears of the job, and Josh tells about his inability to play baseball after the war because of racial barriers. Josh received the Distinguished Service medal during the war.
Sam belts out the song “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” to a struck group of hotel maids. Danny’s wife, Beatrice Ocean (Angie Dickinson), arrives and is shocked to see Sam. Sam called Bea and said that Danny was dying. It was the only he could get Bea to come over. She doesn’t want her marriage to Danny to end. Danny comes in and tries to get Bea to stay with him. No dice.
Foster calls his mother Mrs. Restes (Ilka Chase). She is wealthy and adores her son. As they say, she is also keeping time with former gangster Duke Santos (Cesar Romero). Duke is out of the life but has connections, much like the real-life George Raft was reported. It has often been said that Raft helped gangster Bugsy Siegel get into the Flamingo Hotel.
Duke says that Foster is tapping her for money. Mrs. Restes has picked up Duke as boyfriend somewhere around the way. She invites him over to pick up the money. Sam is still worried about the project and Danny not having his head in the game because of the Bea issue. Foster has mother issues and can’t break away from his mother.
Danny comes back from the bar. Danny calls Spyros and pretends to be from the Los Angles morgue, implying that Danny and Foster were killed in a car wreck. Danny says he is Detective Lieutenant Brannigan, using the name of a police officer in the Sinatra film Guys and Dolls (1955).
Danny’s girlfriend, Adele Ekstrom (Patrice Wymore), comes in and accuses him of double timing her by seeing his wife. In real life, Wymore was the widow of recently deceased actor Errol Flynn. Danny gives Adele the verbal shove off. She throws a candy dish at him and leaves.
Spyros runs to a taxi to go to the morgue, but Danny, Foster, and Sam are in the taxi. The entire gang will be at Spyros’ house at 9:00.
Foster makes his appointment with his mother. He meets Duke coming down the stairs. Foster is pretty cold to Duke. He keeps poking Duke until it is sure they will be enemies. Duke gives a recitation on coming up as a criminal. He admires Foster for being in the 82nd Airborne Division. Foster gets the money and leaves.
All the robbers except Jackson have shown up. Another man, Peter Rheimer (Norman Fell), has arrived, but we don’t have his backstory. The men talk about what they want to do with their money. Foster talks about buying votes and going into politics. This may reference the 1960 campaign of his real-life brother-in-law John F. Kennedy. Jackson finally shows up, and he has a cop with him. The cops were verifying that the cowboy was in the right place.
Foster begins the briefing. Foster was a lieutenant, and Danny was a sergeant during the war. The plan is to rob five Las Vegas casinos; the Desert Inn, the Riviera, the Sahara, the Sands, and the Flamingo. Five of the men are already working for one of the casinos. The robbery will take place on New Year as soon as “Auld Lang Syne” is sung. One minute and thirty-five seconds after midnight. Josh and Corneal will blow a high-voltage tower blacking out the Vegas strip. Anthony is tasked with opening the tellers’ cages to get access to the money.
The casino has auxiliary generators that come on after 20 seconds. The plan is for Anthony to cross the wires, and when the generators kick on, they will open the cage doors. Josh is responsible for getting the money out of the city. Spyros gives the group of veterans a rousing speech. Sam wants out because it has been 15 years since the war. He finally decides to go along. The gang will go to Las Vegas in two days.
Josh is working on a garbage truck to help case the casinos. Corneal spreads infrared paint to guide their path when the lights are out. Special glasses are required to see the prints. Sammy Davis Jr., who stood only 5 feet 5 inches tall, had to wear blocks on his shoes to reach the pedals of the garbage truck.
Anthony checks the circuit breaks in each casino with the help of the inside men. Comedian Red Skelton cuts off Danny as he tries in vain to get the cashier to take his check after he had previously threatened the cashier if he took another of his checks. The guards escort the man out.
Sam plays in one of the casinos to a group of adoring women as the others continue to set up the robbery. The group takes a break and goes bowling. Anthony will need almost two hours to rig the circuit breakers. They go over the job and assign someone to blow the towers.
Adele shows up at one of the casinos and confronts Danny. He sweet-talks her and leaves her a key to his room. Adele immediately calls Bea and tells her Danny is running around with other women. Bea tells her to get lost.
Revelers crowd the casinos on New Year’s Eve. Josh and Pete place the time-delayed explosives on the power transmission tower.
Anthony is at the Flamingo to fix the circuit box. Also at the club are Mrs. Restes, Duke, Adele, and her date. Foster has told his mother he is a Squaw Valley skiing, but Adele informs her that he is at this casino with Danny Ocean. Anthony continues his rounds of the casinos seeing the other members of the gang. At the Sands, there is a guard that is in the way. Danny rolls a $25 chip on the floor to get him to move. They continue to set the circuit breakers at the other casinos.
Sam is still singing the same song at Sahara. Anthony is stopped when a car pulls up with a dreadfully drunk girl, played uncredited by Shirley MacLaine. She was on a break from shooting The Apartment (1960). She uses the Dean Martin line, “I’m so drunk I don’t think I could lie down without holding on.”
Sam comes out of the casino and finds the drunk female in the way. Sam wishes her a Happy New Year, and the drunk girl says, I don’t know who you are. Sam responds who do I have to be. She says, “Ricky Nelson.” Sam comes back with, “I used to be Ricky Nelson, but now I’m Perry Como.” The singer and teen idol Ricky Nelson and Dean Martin were in Rio Bravo (1959). Early in his career, Martin was often called a Perry Como knockoff. When Sam and the girl kiss, Anthony makes it to the circuit breaker.
The casino entertainment counts down to midnight. The revelers sing “Auld Lang Syne.” As soon as they finish singing, the tower blows, and everyone is in the dark. Twenty seconds later, the backups kick in, and the teller cages open. The thieves begin using their infrared paint and glass to guide themselves in to steal the money.
Anthony is looking sick and struggling to do his part. The money is placed in bags and thrown outside in the trash. All of the robbers go back inside their respective casinos and mingle. Shortly, the lights come back on, and the party continues. Duke is one of the first non-casino people to hear that the casino has been robbed. The police get the calls and send cars to check the people as they leave the casinos. The robbery crew begins filtering outside. The police lock down all of the exits.
Anthony is walking across the street and falls dead from a heart attack.
Later, Josh drives a garbage truck to each casino and picks the bags of money out of the trash. The trash truck is let through the roadblock. Josh hides all of the money at the dump.
Spyros is happy when he reads in the newspaper about the heist going off without a hitch.
In a great cameo, George Raft appears as casino manager Jack Strager. He meets with the other owners/managers and talks about the pressure they are getting from their partners. Read the mafia. All five men agree that they can make a settlement deal. Duke comes to the meeting and says he can use his connections to determine who pulled off the robbery. Duke settles for 30 percent of the money. They all agree.
The sheriff gets a report on Anthony and finds out that he received a Silver Star during the war. Strager calls the sheriff and asks him to cooperate with Duke. The sheriff and Duke meet, and the sheriff doesn’t have any information. None of Duke’s contacts have any information.
The sheriff’s department calls saying they have contacted Anthony’s wife, who has not seen him since he went to prison. She does plan on having the body shipped to San Francisco. The sheriff tells Duke that Anthony was in the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.
Duke goes to the mortuary and gives the funeral director a large sum of money to let him know if anyone is interested in Anthony’s body.
Mrs. Restes meets with Duke, and she makes a call to her son Foster. She says Danny is in town with some other 82nd guys. Duke makes the connection and knows who pulled the crime. Duke tells Restes that Foster and his friends pulled the job.
Duke goes to meet with Danny and Sam. He reveals that he knows that they pulled the job. Duke asks for half of the money. Duke gives the crew until 1:00 pm the next day to give him an answer. Foster goes to see his mother, and she is crying and super mad. She chews him out for the robbery.
Under Sam’s leadership, he, Foster, and Danny take a garbage truck driven by Josh to the dump where the money is hidden. The three white robbers paint their faces with shoe polish to blend in. I’m going to maintain that this is camouflage paint and not an incident of blackface.
The four men take the money to the funeral home, lift Anthony’s body, and load it into the coffin with the money. They send $10,000 to Anthony’s widow.
The robbers wait as Anthony’s wife arrives to claim the body. They figure it will go out by train before noon. The funeral director convinces Mrs. Bergdorf to have her husband buried locally. Since he was a veteran, local American Legion members came in to help. The other ten members of the gang arrive at the funeral.
The funeral director calls Duke and tells him that a large group of men has come for the funeral. He also tells Duke that he found a $10,000 money band by the coffin. Duke shows up in the back of the funeral.
The preacher is not shown, but it is the voice of actors Richard Boone. This was the second time that a reading of the 23rd Psalm was included at the end of a Sinatra/Martin film. The other film is Some Came Running (1959).
Duke and the gang wait to get the money. They all hear a loud noise and are told that Anthony’s body is being cremated.
The group walks the strip in sadness. A sad version of “Eee O Eleven,” sung by Sammy David Jr. is played as the actors walk by their names on a Las Vegas marquee.
Conclusion – Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
Jean Willes played Mrs. Bergdorf, wife of Anthnoy Bergdorf. To me, she looks very similar to Ava Gardner. Gardner had a spotty marriage to Sinatra. Following their separation, Lawford started dating Gardner. This cause a major rift between the two men. The men had to reconcile to make this film.
Sammy Davis Jr., a “Rat Pack” member from the Bogart and Becall days, was also on the outs with Sinatra before this film. Even during the making of this movie, Davis was required to stay in a segregated hotel. At some point, Sinatra confronted the casino owners, helping to break the Las Vegas color barrier.
Lawford bought the rights to this story after he was told about it by film director Gilbert Kay. Kay heard the polt from a gas station attendant. Did any money change hands? When Lawford told Sinatra about the film, the latter allegedly said, “Forget the movie. Let’s pull the job.”[5] [6]
World-Famous Short Summary – The lord giveth, and the lord taketh away.
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Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054135/
[2] Ocean’s Eleven – Rotten Tomatoes
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1960/08/11/archives/the-screen-oceans-11sinatra-heads-flippant-team-of-crime.html
[4] https://www.familyphile.com/celebrity-veterans/2018/9/1/sammy-davis-jr-wwii-us-army-1944
[5] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054135/trivia/
[6] Ocean’s 11 – Wikipedia
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