Ocean’s Eleven

My family loves to watch movies. When we discover that a movie is a remake of an original we’ll track down the original and compare the two. As a genre, we like heist movies because they add an intellectual level to the story that elevates it above common thievery. There’s also the romantic notion of a group of well-funded specialists doing the impossible. Ocean’s Eleven is one such movie.

The 1960 version of Ocean’s Eleven starred a group of entertainers known as the Rat Pack. The Rat Pack, led by Frank Sinatra, were the darlings of Las Vegas and epitomized the good life of the era. Despite the box-office draw of the Rat Pack, Ocean’s Eleven was dismal. Poor dialog, a strange love affair between Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson that went nowhere, and the way the whole plan just fizzled into failure. Most heist movies were upscale affairs with precise timing, unbelievable gadgets, and a sense of flair that the average movie-goer could only dream of ever having. The 1960 Ocean’s Eleven had none of these.

The 2001 version of Ocean’s Eleven had all of these and a wonderfully eclectic group of characters that almost super-ceded the story itself. However, I have to wonder about the moral implications of the 2001 version in which the thieves win. Is this a harbinger of moral degradation in which the bad guy wins? The same moral switch was made between the two version of the Italian Job. The original had the bad guys losing, the latest version had the thieves winning.

It could be argued that a movie is just entertainment and for the short time of an hour or two we can temporarily suspend morality. Or maybe we can rationalize the situation by saying that Terry Benedict was a truly bad man and deserved what he got and the owners of the “gold bars with the Balinese dancer” were mafia so it wasn’t really stealing if you stole it from the mafia. Such is the ambiguous nature of film morality, you can always setup the situation and the script to justify just about anything.

No one in my family liked the original Ocean’s Eleven despite Frank Sinatra. It was just too flat and depressing. No cool gadgets. No split-second timing. The new version, superbly played by Clooney, Pitt, and excellent supporting characters had some real pizzaz, not only in the story but in the interaction between the characters themselves. So, well done was the 2001 version that the follow-on movies Ocean’s Twelve, and Ocean’s Thirteen were welcomed additions to the franchise.

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Sabrina vs Sabrina

There are two cinematic versions of Sabrina, a story about a chauffeur’s daughter that is courted by both sons of a wealthy family. I’ll call the 1954 version Sabrina One, stars Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. I’ll call the 1995 version Sabrina Two, stars Harrison Ford and Julia Ormond. I prefer the 1954 version whereas my wife prefers the 1995 version. Could it be because I find Audrey much more attractive than Julia while my wife find Harrison more attractive than Humphrey? Could be.

When Sabrina One was released, Bogart was 55. Harrison was 53 when Sabrina Two was released, so both men were about the same age. I’m no authority on a man’s attractiveness quotient but my opinion is that Bogie, as he’s affectionately known, did a better job. Bogart really did seem to be a cold-hearted businessman and ruled over his brother, staff, and parents. Ford, on the other hand just seemed like a suave gentleman flowing with the situation and doing his best to resolve the issues at hand. For example, when Audrey commented on the apparent coldness and solitary lifestyle, Bogart seemed genuinely hurt and saddened by a mysterious lost love. When Julia, cracked about Ford’s status as the only living heart donor, Ford seemed only irritated. Bogart certainly didn’t have Ford’s physical presence and good looks but he seemed harder and more commanding. As he succumbed to Audrey’s irresistible charms you could see the cracks appearing in his stone-like facade. I’m sorry to say, but with Ford, he appeared to me as a suave playboy, pretending to be a cold-hearted businessman.

Comparing Audrey and Julia is a little riskier. Audrey was 25 and Julia was 30 when their respective films were released. Looks aside, being much more subjective, I think Audrey did a better job at playing the part of an effervescent young woman made sophisticated by a 2 year stint in Paris. And Audrey’s French is much better. When happy, Audrey seemed truly giddy. When sailing, she seemed to genuinely accept the much older Bogart with a complex combination of respect, admiration, and sympathy over Bogart’s aborted romance and suicide attempt. Julia, well, what can I say. I just couldn’t believe her as a teen nor as a sophisticated young woman familiar with the Parisian lifestyle.

In the fifties, it was still quite acceptable, even plausible, for a young woman of 25 to fall for an older man of 50. Now-a-days, I don’t think the same is true. In fact, it seems to me that most people have a difficult time appreciating anyone of the opposite sex when there is an age difference of more than a few years. So, Sabrina One wins my vote for the best actors and most plausible circumstances. Watch them both and we’ll compare notes.

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Movie Going

Some of my fondest childhood memories center on going to the movies. For me, going to a movie is an event that includes more than just watching the movie itself. Maybe, everybody feels the same. I don’t know everybody, just myself.

As a child, my uncle Tony would come over to try to coax one or both of my parents into going to a movie with him. I could always tell when they were up to something and I always lobbied hard and strong to go. Sometimes I won. Sometimes I didn’t. Besides the movie itself, there was the fun of the drive and the discussion that followed. Through my teenage years, almost every date involved a movie. Now that I’m grown and have a family of my own we share movies as part of the gluing and assembling of a corporate family memory.

During my childhood, my family didn’t have very many traditions. Other than Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve we had no real reason to be together and those two holidays were never as pleasant as they should have been. Once I had children of my own I became determined to build at least a couple of traditions that would help bond us. Over the years, now I can say decades, we have always had pizza and a movie on Friday night. When my son went away to college, no matter how busy our schedule, he knew he could always get in touch with us on Friday night. His girlfriend, turned fiance, turned wife was quickly included and indoctrinated into the Friday night movie bonding experience.

We do more than just watch a movie, we congregate. Unlike a critic we look for life lessons, examples, counter-examples, and references to other movies. We’ve traveled throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada, Mexico, and Europe so we have a running contest to see who will be the first to say, “I’ve been there.” whenever an applicable location comes on the screen. I usually win We also try to spot when an actor or actress has been in another movie. My wife usually wins that one. I have only one rule, while the movie is running we let it be itself. It is its own reality and makes its own rules. Dissection is saved as a post-movie activity. If we find the movie is a remake we’ll get the original and watch it. The goal of the event is not to watch a movie but to give us something to share.

I never compare a movie to a book. They are two completely different mediums of expression. Each so rich that I believe they deserve their own categories. I see no value in comparing one with the other. But, hey, that’s just my opinion. Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series gave me six exciting stories instead of 3 originals and 3 re-makes in a different medium.

The next time you have a chance to watch a movie, I hope you’ll watch it with someone and turn it into an event to remember. Maybe, you too can build a tradition that will last a lifetime.

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