Ocean's Eleven (2001 film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ocean's Eleven
Directed by	Steven Soderbergh
Produced by	Jerry Weintraub
Written by	George C. Johnson Jack G. Russell Harry Brown Charles Lederer Scott Corwon Ted Griffin
Starring	George Clooney Brad Pitt Matt Damon Andy Garcia Julia Roberts Bernie Mac Don Cheadle Casey Affleck Scott Caan Elliott Gould Eddie Jemison with Shaobo Qin and Carl Reiner
Music by	David Holmes
Cinematography	Steven Soderbergh
Editing by	Stephen Mirrione
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	United States December 5, 2001 Canada December 7, 2001 Australia January 10, 2002 United Kingdom February 15, 2002
Running time	116 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$85,000,000
Gross revenue	$450,717,150
Followed by	Ocean's Twelve

Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast. The film was a success at the box office and with critics. Soderbergh directed two sequels, Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007. George Clooney stated in November 2007 that there will not be any additional sequels.^[1]

[edit] Plot

Shortly after being paroled from prison in New Jersey, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) breaks parole to visit Los Angeles, meeting up with Rusty (Brad Pitt), a former partner in his criminal schemes, to propose a new scheme he has in mind. The two head to Las Vegas to approach wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), with a plan to rob the vaults of the Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand casinos. At first Reuben is very reluctant, knowing himself how much security there is in every casino. Seeing this as a way to get back at his rival, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), owner of the 3 casinos, Reuben eventually finances the option. By Nevada Gaming Commission rules, the casinos must maintain adequate funds in their vaults to cover all bets, and during the busy casino night coinciding with the match, more than $150 million is expected to be stored in the Bellagio vault. Danny and Rusty begin to recruit former colleagues and other criminal masterminds into their group. The team plans and carries out a series of reconnaissance missions at the Bellagio to learn as much as possible about the security, the lay of the land and the routines and behaviors of the casino staff. At the same time, they recreate a perfect replica of the Bellagio vault to practice evasion of the vault's formidable security systems. During this planning phase, the team discovers that Danny's ex-wife, Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts), is currently Terry's lover. Rusty urges Danny to drop the plan, aware that Tess may warn Terry that something is afoot if she sees Danny, but Danny figures this into the plan.

On the night of the fight, the plan is put into effect. Danny himself goes to the casino in order to be seen by Terry, who, as he expects, has him locked up in a storeroom to be beaten up by one of his bouncers. The bouncer, however, is in Danny's pocket, and he allows Danny to escape through a ventilation shaft and meet with his team in the vault. The team activates a stolen pinch device to temporarily disable power from the city, allowing them to breach the vault undetected. As Terry tries to restore order in the casino after the power outage, Rusty anonymously calls him via a cell phone that Danny planted earlier in Tess's coat. He lets him know that his vaults are being robbed and that all the money will be blown up if Terry does not cooperate to load half the money from the vault into a van waiting outside. Terry observes video footage of the vault that confirms Rusty's demands, and concedes to help move the money, but orders his men to follow the van when it departs while also calling a S.W.A.T. team to attack the vault. The S.W.A.T. team's arrival causes a shootout and the explosion of the other half of the money. The S.W.A.T. assures the situation is secure and departs with their equipment, leaving Terry to contemplate the ruins.

Terry realises that the vault video feed was faked when he notices that the vault's marble-inlay floors are missing the Bellagio logos, which were only very recently installed in the vault. His men following the van find that it is being driven remotely, and is only filled with "fliers for hookers". A flashback reveals that Danny used his vault recreation to create the fake video feed. The rest of Danny's team posed as the S.W.A.T. team, and took all of vault money unchecked. Terry returns to the room where he left Danny, finding that Danny is still there, leaving Terry no way to connect him to the theft. Danny offers to assist Terry in finding the money on condition that he give up Tess, to which Terry agrees. However, the team routes the live security feed of this conversation to Tess's suite. Angry at being used by Benedict, she leaves him and returns to Danny. Danny is still arrested for violating parole, the police having been tipped off by Benedict, and spends some months in prison. When Danny is released, he is met by Rusty and Tess, and the three drive off, closely followed by Benedict's bodyguards.

[edit] Cast

Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, and Steven Soderbergh in December 2001

[edit] Ocean's Eleven

1. George Clooney as Danny Ocean
2. Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan
3. Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell
4. Bernie Mac as Frank Catton
5. Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr
6. Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy
7. Scott Caan as Turk Malloy
8. Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell
9. Shaobo Qin as "The Amazing" Yen
10. Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom
11. Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff

[edit] Others

• Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict
• Julia Roberts as Tess Ocean

[edit] Cameos

• Five television actors make cameos as themselves, being taught how to play poker by Rusty:
  • Holly Marie Combs
  • Topher Grace
  • Joshua Jackson
  • Barry Watson
  • Shane West
• Steven Soderbergh — one of the bank robbers with Basher
• Siegfried and Roy — themselves
• Wayne Newton — himself
• Henry Silva and Angie Dickinson — themselves (both appeared in the original)
• Wladimir Klitschko — himself
• Lennox Lewis — himself
• Jerry Weintraub — high-roller gambler^a[›]

[edit] Cons described

In the beginning of the film, when they begin to work on the plan for the casino heist, Rusty (Pitt) says to Danny (Clooney),

This list of cons was created by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Ted Griffin that described the type of people and cons needed to knock over the three casinos.^[2]

• Boesky - Saul playing Lyman Zerga. This is a reference to Ivan Boesky, a big-time trader on Wall Street who got caught committing securities fraud. The con is about a wealthy bankroller who has insider information.
• Jim Brown - the confrontation between Frank Catton and Linus Caldwell, staged to distract Terry Benedict so that Linus can lift the security codes to the vault. Named for the famous American football player Jim Brown.
• Miss Daisy - the SWAT vehicle used as the getaway car. From the film title Driving Miss Daisy.
• Two Jethros - the Malloy brothers. "Hillbilly gear-head types" hired to take care of Miss Daisy, distraction purposes, and for general two-man work.
• Leon Spinks - the disruption of the boxing match. This refers to the surprise victory of Leon Spinks over Muhammad Ali.
• Ella Fitzgerald - the looped tape of the robbery that is played over Benedict's security system. A reference to a 1970s commercial for Memorex, in which a recording of Ella Fitzgerald's voice breaks a glass and the question is posed to the viewer: "Is it live or is it Memorex?"

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical

The film received a rating of 80 percent at Rotten Tomatoes.^[3] People magazine called the film "pure fun from start to finish,"^[4] and included it in its end-of-year Best of Screen list.^[5] Newsweek said Ocean's Eleven "bounces along with finger-snapping high spirits," and said that while Soderbergh has "made deeper films, ...this carefree caper movie is nothing to sneeze at."^[6] Time magazine's reviewer Richard Corliss criticized the film, saying it "doesn't offer much."^[7]

[edit] Commercial

Ocean's Eleven had a budget of $85 million. On its opening weekend, it grossed an estimate of $38 million and was the top box office draw for the weekend. The film grossed $183,417,150 in the United States and grossed $267,300,000 overseas leaving a worldwide gross of $450,717,150 making the film a huge box office success. The film is the fifth highest grossing film of 2001.

[edit] Real life models

The inspiration for both Ocean's Eleven films is believed to be the famous, highly technical robbery of the Brink's Security building in Boston by a team of eleven, usually known as "the Brink's Job".

When Terry Benedict says "If you should be picked up next week buying a $100,000 sports car in Newport Beach, I'm going to be supremely disappointed." is a reference to the real-life 1994 kidnapping of Steve Wynn's daughter, Kevyn Wynn. One of the kidnappers was caught in Newport Beach a week after the incident trying to buy a Ferrari with cash.

[edit] Differences from the 1960 film

In the original 1960 film cast with the "Rat Pack," the crooks leave empty handed when their plan for dividing the money backfires and their "winnings" are cremated. However, in the 2001 version, presumably to allow for sequels, the job is successful with a total of $160 million stolen. As well, other than the title character, none of the robbers in the remake share names with those in the original, although they do exhibit some of their personality quirks. The use of highly experienced professional criminals in the heist also differs from the original film, in which the crew is made of 82nd Airborne veteran 'undetectable' amateurs. It's much more similar to The Sting than to the original Ocean's Eleven.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Film goofs

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)

• In reality, USD$160 million in 100-dollar bills would weigh 3,532 pounds (1,602 kilograms or 1.6 tons),^b[›] much more than the eight duffel bags depicted being carried by the SWAT-costumed thieves.
• To justify such a large amount of money being in the vault, the film cites a fictitious stipulation of the Nevada Gaming Commission that all casinos must have enough cash and coin to cover every chip in play. In reality, casinos remove excess cash from their vaults as quickly as possible. 
• Basher claims that the team's EMP would disable all electronics in the city for only a few minutes. In actuality, an EMP would permanently destroy every electronic device in the city, save those encased in a protective lead covering.
• On the DVD commentary, the makers of the film admitted that there is no way that the bags containing the flyers could have been in the vault.^[8]
• When the Malloy brothers are arguing in the "Balloon Boy" scene, the one lets go of the balloons. In a following shot, when the camera pans up to the security cam, the balloons' strings are at least 5 feet above his head, however, when the "conflict" is resolved, he merely reaches up to get them back.
• When Frank (Bernie Mac) is "negotiating" with Billy Tim Denham over vans, the number of pens in Denham's pocket changes from two to one.
• When Rusty (Brad Pitt) talks to Linus (Matt Damon) about the man who last cheated in the casino, Rusty is eating a prawn cocktail out of a shrimp cocktail glass, seconds later as Tess walks down the stairs it has changed to a blue and white plate. When the camera returns to the two men and Tess walks by, Rusty is once again holding the cocktail glass.

[edit] Notes

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (March 2009)

• Weintraub subsequently appears in Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen.
• The movie was parodied in the South Park episode "About Last Night...", in which various figures in the 2008 US presidential election attempt to steal the Hope Diamond, and the episode "Oceans 8... or 9" of the series Total Drama Action, in which the challenge was to bust a bank.
• Ocean's Eleven ranks 500th on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[9]
• Rusty is eating or drinking something in almost every scene.
• The names of the Malloy twins references The Godfather character Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo.
• The character of Danny Ocean is referenced in the 2007 film Superbad. Following Seth's failed shoplifting attempt, Fogell (aka McLovin) sarcastically inquires of Seth, "Where's all the stolen liquor, Danny Ocean? Did you hide it up your butt?"

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Ocean's Eleven

• Official website
• Ocean's Eleven at Allmovie
• Ocean's Eleven at Yahoo! Movies
• Ocean's Eleven at the Internet Movie Database
• Ocean's Eleven at Rotten Tomatoes