MOVIE REVIEWS

Though I had only seen Steven Soderbergh's remake, made shortly after Frank Sinatra died, in the interim I had achieved quite an appreciation of Sinatra's work, first as a game-changing jazz vocalist and, more recently, as an actor. I picked up the 4-pack of both Milestone's original and Soderbergh's trilogy, and, having both dedicated myself to some of Milestone's films and Sinatra's appearances, decided to give the Rat Pack's version a spin. The coolness and fun of the actors rubs off nicely on the proceedings, and it's extremely enjoyable to breathe in. Both Angie Dickinson and Shirley MacLaine are great fun too, as are the Vegas mainstays that make cameos. The extras on my DVD, especially Dickinson and Sinatra talking about making the film, years later when he guest-hosted The Tonight Show, were also splendid and mad my enjoyment even more profound. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks the remake is great. As fine as a filmmaker as Soderbergh is, it pales in comparison, because as fine as today's stars are, they just aren't The Rat Pack! Also, the ending is one of the greatest. I have always felt that comedy is the hardest genre to do, and it dates so badly, but this holds up quite nicely...

Whatever this movie is supposed to have in terms of charm, I missed it. We know what it's about. Ex GIs break into some Vegas businesses for a big heist. However, it is poorly communicated, and it was poorly communicated in the sixties when this was made. Perhaps it made some sense to people as far back as 1960, but I don't get it. Sinatra and the others are supposed to be "cool", but all they do is act like they have superiority complexes, and everyone else buys into it. This is usual for all the brat pack movies then and the brat pack movies today. It was actually worse with the old Ocean's Eleven. I was thoroughly bored with every scene, and didn't care one white about Sinatra and his group. Maybe Peter Lawford was okay, because he seemed bored by the whole "superiority" thing, too. And maybe Sammy Davis Jr. No one else. There were other heist movies. "Five Against the House" was the top one, and although I wasn't overly fond of it, that one still gets three times the rating I give this. Big deal. A 6/10 instead of 2/10. Maybe some of you will find some charm in this, but I didn't.