Bringing back the Rat Pack

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack and associated friends decided to make a movie in 1960--one that capitalized on their collective fame and toyed with the public's perception of them as cool cat icons and Las Vegas legends in their own time. The result was "Ocean's 11," a movie that was arguably bettered by its remake 41 years later but which still serves as a fascinating document of an utterly dated era in gender politics. We hashed out this film's merits and misses last night at CineVerse and came away with the following conclusions:

WHAT DID YOU FIND UNEXPECTED, SURPRISING OR DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS MOVIE THAT VARIED FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

• Dean Martin and Sammy sing, but not Frank. As the most popular singer among the three, you’d expect a Sinatra song or two.
• This is a true ensemble character film that, despite top billing for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, doesn’t showcase them as much as you’d think. Peter Lawford has a stronger role than you’d expect—one that more crucial to the story than most of the others. Meanwhile, Sinatra, Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. don’t have as much screen time as many would anticipate.
• The story arguably isn’t as important as the event—the bringing together of all these Rat Pack talents in their natural habitat, Las Vegas. 
• Digital Fix reviewer Raphael Pour-Hashemi wrote: “The plot is secondary to the attitude of the film. This doesn't mean that they are both structurally weak, just that structure isn't the most important item.”
• The twist ending is cited by many as one they didn’t see coming—an unpredictable denouement that makes the film more memorable.
• This likely works best when enjoyed and appreciated in proper context: as a time capsule film that captures the Rat Pack and Old Vegas at their height. It serves as a love letter to both that today can be seen as dated.
• It can come across today as a vanity project—a self-indulgent and somewhat narcissistic vehicle for a group of overprivileged cool cats to make a buck at the box-office. 
• Detractors argue that there’s no memorable filmmaking here, no relevant themes or evergreen elements that resonate today. 
• There are also no strong female characters or love interests; Angie Dickinson’s part is minimal and unmemorable.

THEMES AT WORK IN OCEANS 11:

• The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
• The hedonistic playboy lifestyle pays off: boys will be boys and naughty male behavior is entertaining and should be celebrated. Today, that message can appear very outdated in the Me Too era.
• Filling and fitting assigned roles: consider how every character has a specialty in this ensemble cast, and sometimes those roles can be stereotypical and predictable, such as the token black comic relief sidekick, the ladies man, the vivacious old flame, the inside man, etc.

OTHER FILMS THAT OCEANS 11 BRINGS TO MIND:

• The 2001 remake and its sequels
• Heist films from the late 1950s and early 1960s, including The Ladykillers, Rififi, The Killing, Odds Against Tomorrow, The League of Gentlemen, Seven Thieves, The Pink Panther, and How to Steal a Million
• The Sting
• The Italian Job
• The Thomas Crown Affair
• The Great Escape

OTHER FILMS BY LEWIS MILESTONE:

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
• The Front Page (1931)
• Of Mice and Men (1939)
• The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
• Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)