The Big Haul-With Frank Sinatra’s Ocean’s Eleven In Mind

 

 

 

DVD Review

By Zack James  

Ocean’s Eleven, starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and the rest of Frank’s Vegas “Rat Pack” cronies, 1960  

 

Sam Eaton had recently now that he was retired from the day to day operation of his print shop which his youngest son, Joseph was managing, gotten into the habit of spending his spare time watching some of the old films via Netflix that he had watched as a kid at the Majestic Theater in Carver on errant Saturday afternoons. In those days the matinee featured two films (with intermission to restock that dwindling supply of worn-out over-buttered and salted popcorn so he had a fair amount of catching up to do. The theater also played a number of re-runs of early films from the 1940s and early 1950s in retrospectives so he had a lot of material to re-watch. Although he had not been systematic about his revival archival searches he had tried to start from the earlier period and work his way forward. Recently he had hit on the early 1960s period, the period when he was watching such films as first runs and came across the original version of Ocean’s Eleven a film which was later remake (with sequels) with George Clooney in the lead. This film, perhaps above all others, was of personal interest to him since his father Eli had known Danny Ocean, had been in the 82^nd Airborne with him and the other guys portrayed in the film. So he watched the film with a rekindled interest, not all of it without sorrow.       

Sam had had to admit once again that Danny, Danny Ocean, was a piece of work, a guy with big ideas, big brain ideas anyway, although in deference to Sam’s father, Eli, who like I said had served with Danny in the 82^nd Airborne in the big one, in World War II if anybody was asking, he would not mention those attributes in his presence. See whenever Sam mentioned Danny and his big ideas previously the old man would turn red, would see red, knowing first of all that all that trudging through Europe trying to take the night-takers down with Danny, his platoon leader, didn’t rate him word one when Danny had his biggest idea ever, the big Vega heist, the big knock-over as he called it, the one that was to set every humping working-class guy who took part in the caper up for life, for big dough. So sure old Eli was sore, sore as hell, that a guy whom he had to carry back to the aid station on some gritty French back roads under heavy shell fire more than once, a guy who swore he would make it to the top, and take his buddies, his war buddies with him had given him the back of his hand. 

Worse, if anything could be worse, they had, Hollywood had, the film people had, made a movie out of Danny’s big idea once Danny, or a friend Danny’s had pitched the story to a bunch of producers at some Hollywood benefit and Sid Segal had expressed a lot of interest in producing the thing. To add insult to injury they called the film Ocean’s Eleven where all Danny’s war buddies got to take a bow, all except one Eli Eaton. Needless to say old Eli refused to see the film, refused to talk about the “damn thing” (his expression) to Sam after he had seen it and began to build in his mind that “piece of work” designation to add to the to the talk the few times he remembered Danny coming to the Eaton to Sam thought now feel Eli out home before he left for Vegas and fame. Sam knew his father had been very pensive after the last time Danny had shown up.

Yeah, Hollywood played it big, spent big money to get guys like Frank Sinatra who played Danny (although Sam though the casting was all wrong because not only was the real Danny a long tall guy with a bush full of blonde hair unlike Frank but he had a habit of looking you in the eye when he talked to you unlike Frank who had that side glance, side of the mouth way of talking every wise guy he had ever run into from his corner boys at Jack Slack’s bowling alley to the guys he had to pay “protection” money to in order to keep his bar from being leveled for non-payment of the “vig” as Fast Eddy, the collector like to call his weekly shakedown” which seemed to mean something shady was happening). The studio had brought in pal Dean Martin to play Little John ( a guy who Eli never liked, a guy who drank more booze than there were oceans, a guy who took a couple of bows for saving Danny’s bacon when some German Panzer was breathing down hell-fire on their position and he, rum brave, went swaddling through the lines to put it out of commission), Peter Lawford to play Pretty Boy, the platoon leader but everybody including, and maybe especially Pretty Boy, knew Danny was the real leader, Joey Bishop to play Big Omar the wheelman, Sammy Davis, Jr.  to play Diamond Ace, the demolition guy, the only Negro, today black guy, in the unit since that unit of the 82^nd was an Special Ops unit and bravery and cunning, not color was what cut the mustard although Eli, never having been around Negros in lily-white Caver where he hailed from (and where Sam had grown to manhood) never really got to know the guy, know him well. The rest of Danny’s eleven on that caper were played by other cronies of Sinatra’s from his then famous “Rat Pack” that he hung around with.       

They spent the money, brought in the stars, big stars back in those days. Juiced up the story line some too to show just how big an idea Danny had that time. Sam had thought after seeing the film that if half of the big idea was true then he had been niggardly in his calling Danny a piece of work and should have called him a master criminal.

The caper was simplicity itself once Danny thought it through. Why not use the well-honed skills that they had picked up from that Special Ops unit and apply in to the task at hand, taking down the big Vegas casinos all in one swoop. No big bang, bang shoot them up getting your people killed and ordinary Vegas gambling patrons caught in the cross-fire. Take the operation and put it on a war footing with a plan and timing worked out just like in the old days when they were fighting against the night-takers except this time the big pay-out instead of that sixty bucks a month and cold rations that carried them through the war. Yeah, brilliant idea, hit the five big ones, the five big casinos on New Year’s Eve and roll off with millions from their banking rooms. (Sam had to laugh, would every time he thought about it in later years, that millions were big dough then but strictly walking around money these days and guys would probably not even bother to sign up for such chump change now).

Of course in the film there was certain snafus, a certain amount of resistance from the guys Danny hand-picked for the job. The caper needed guys on the inside to get access to the doors that led to the banking rooms, needed guys to put a check on security and needed guys, guy like Diamond Ace and Bronco to blow the transmission wires and put the neon glitter in the dark while the heist was on. But you know fifteen years out of uniform for most guys had made them a little soft, had atrophied their skills and so Danny, and through him Little John and Pretty Boy, had to put the squeeze on, especially for Electric Eddie who had to blow the electric boxes to get through the final doors to the streets of gold. Eddie had just gotten out stir, had finished up a nickel for a blown caper and so at first had nixed the deal, said no, said no too since his health was none too good. Big Omar tough showed him the error of his way, showed him a couple of ways and Eddie got on board. 

As everybody who saw the film knows, and everybody should keep in mind too Sam thought the caper succeeded like clockwork, like a military operation. What happened later after the dust settled should not take away from the glory of the idea and of its execution. Diamond Ace and Bronco blow the transmission wires, check, Eddie blew the fuse boxes, check, the inside guys got the doors to the banking rooms open, check, the money grabbers grabbed the dough and put it in satchels, check, put the dough in trash barrels, check, the trash collector, Diamond Ace doing double duty empties the trash cans into the dump truck, check, the dump truck goes to the dump where the trash is dumped and satchels retrieved, check. Beautiful.

Remember that all went like clock-work. Then Big Dom showed up to gum up works, Pretty Boy’s mother’s boyfriend and a “connected” guy who discovered how the heist got pulled off, and who did the pulling. Danny and the boys, and Sam thought rightfully so, did the heavy lifting and Big Dom did nada except figure out who pulled the caper. Still he had those connection, something to consider. So a battle of wits went on for a while between Danny and Big Dom. And Danny won, well, kind of won. Electric Eddie having been in stir for too long was a lunger, was a goner really, and died during the job (which is half of how Big Dom copped to guys behind the caper) and since he was to be buried in back wherever he came from Danny decided to place all the dough in Eddie’s casket to get it out of town. Get it away from Big Dom’s greedy hands Another brilliant idea, brilliant. Only it turned out that to save money Eddie somebody persuaded Eddie’s widow to have him go to ground was going in Vegas, actually to save even more money he was to be cremated. And he was. Yeah, that Danny was a piece of work though, a real piece of work.

Sam always thought about that film when he thought about Danny that last afternoon at the house, and when he thought about his father being so pensive too (and bitter forever after). He finally knew why Danny had passed on bringing Eli in, although Sam never mentioned it while his father was alive, but Eli had lost his nerve, would have been a liability on that big a caper for a guy who returned to his job as a booger, a guy who worked in the cranberry bogs when he was discharged from the service. Sam thought too when George Clooney did the remake of the Danny legend (and sequels) several years back that even with more bells and whistle and big blast technology his father still would not have made the cut.