The cast is packed with A-list celebrities The original film served as the inspiration for the modern-day version. Ocean’s Eleven is actually a remake of a film with the same name that was released in 1960 and starred members of the Rat Pack, including Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. The film is a remake of a 1960s Rat Pack film Says Kaplan: “The Sands was built in 1953, but 1960 was the year Las Vegas popped.The movie Ocean’s Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh, is a thrilling heist film that was released in It follows the story of Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) as he assembles a team of skilled criminals to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously. And the Rat Pack’s stomping grounds exploded. 10, 1960, release, THR said it was among Warners’ most profitable films ever.

The Hollywood Reporter was less harsh in its appraisal, noting in its review that while the script at times had “the weakness of a gambler’s alibi,” the film’s “values far outweigh its faults.” Audiences lapped Ocean’s up. “Sinatra would show up at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, do 20 minutes of work and then start drinking,” says James Kaplan, author of Sinatra: The Chairman, adding that the film is a product of Sinatra’s “megalomania” and is “soul-sinking to watch.” Lewis Milestone, a major director during the 1930s on such films as All Quiet on the Western Front and The Front Page, signed on, only to see his star take over. The Desert Inn, Sahara, Riviera, Flamingo and Sands (of which Sinatra was part-owner) all signed off on the project, which shot on location in January and February of 1960. The plot, which involved the detonation of an electrical tower, had casino operators nervous - might that actually work? - but the publicity proved irresistible. Sinatra cast the movie with members of his hard-drinking entourage who billed themselves then not as the Rat Pack but “The Summit.” Sinatra caught wind of it and brought it to Jack Warner, who liked it enough to order a script and offer the singer-actor a salary of $700,000 ($6 million today) to star.

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