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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Ocean's 11 (1960)

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Rat Pack Attack

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Over the course of 30 years, director Lewis Milestone went from making one of the cinema's great classics, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), to this heist movie. Despite its high-rolling reputation, Ocean's 11 (1960) is actually a fairly sluggish and muted, if passably entertaining, affair.

In it, Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) leads his team of 82nd Airborne Division veterans in a plot to simultaneously rob five Las Vegas casinos by killing the town's electricity. Of course, everything goes haywire and leads up to a "twist" ending. You weren't a true member of the Rat Pack unless you were in this movie; the roster includes Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. Luscious Angie Dickinson plays Sinatra's honey and Akim Tamiroff (Touch of Evil) plays the man with the plan. Other stars and/or cameos include Richard Conte, Cesar Romero, Henry Silva, Buddy Lester, Norman Fell, Red Skelton, Shirley MacLaine and George Raft.

Even with its excessive running time, 128 minutes, none of this cast really gets a moment to shine. In reality, one suspects that the most memorable moments occurred off-camera.

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Trailer | Poster | Soundtrack

Starring: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Joey Bishop, Angie Dickinson, Akim Tamiroff, Richard Conte, Cesar Romero, Henry Silva, Buddy Lester, Norman Fell, Red Skelton, Shirley MacLaine, George Raft
Written by: Harry Brown, Charles Lederer
Directed by: Lewis Milestone
MPAA Rating: NR
Running Time: 127 minutes
Date: June 2, 2005