--- title: "Ocean's Eleven: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960" critics_score: 49 critics_reviews: 8 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ocean's Eleven (1960): what the critics said Critics' score 49 from 8 reviews: 2 positive, 2 mixed, 4 negative. The reviews lean negative, and even the critics who enjoy the film do so with reservations. Where praise gathers, it gathers around the heist itself, which several find well staged, and around the film as a record of an unpolished, half-built Las Vegas caught in William Daniels’ Panavision photography. Nelson Riddle’s score and the musical turns from Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin are counted as incidental pleasures rather than reasons to watch. The complaints are consistent: a slack pace, leads who seem to be coasting, and a tone that cannot decide between heist picture and musical comedy. More than one critic notes that the cast were playing Vegas shows at night while filming by day, and thinks it shows. The spread is wide, from Radio Times, which calls it a great and underrated caper, to Collider, which says it is mainly worth seeing to appreciate how the remake improves on it. The 1959 and 1960 notices are among the harshest; the film has never had much of a reputation to lose. ## Radio Times — Tony Sloman Rating 4/5. This is one of the great (and most critically underrated) caper movies, superbly cast with the Rat Pack and directed in glossy Panavision by veteran Lewis Milestone, who keeps a tight lid on the antics; the ending is utterly brilliant. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-hm25z9/oceans-eleven/) ## The Times — Kevin Maher Rating ★★★★☆. 4 May 2018. The critic finds the original Rat Pack caper eminently entertaining and fascinating in its details, such as the characters' shared army veteran status and Sinatra's striking orange mohair jumper. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/article/film-review-oceans-11-1960-wld53pglx) ## The AV Club — Craig D. Lindsey Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2021. The 1960 Ocean’s Eleven is a smart-assed, Technicolor Rat Pack heist that peters out over two hours with a downbeat ending and piles on cameos and musical numbers. It remains a fascinating artifact for its glimpse of an unpolished, still-developing Las Vegas. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/decades-before-george-clooney-pulled-a-big-heist-sinat-1846898565) ## Time Out — ATu Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. The Rat Pack antics (with guest spots) become rather hard to bear, and the film was made as an extended advertisement for the Clan's Vegas shows; the heist itself, though, is a superb piece of movie-making. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/oceans-11-1) ## Empire — Colin Kennedy Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The 1960 film is a knockabout comedy undermined by its sluggish pace and sleepy performances, which stem from the principal cast's double duties performing in Las Vegas shows. It offers incidental pleasures in Sammy Davis Jr's singing, Dean Martin's lounge act, Nelson Riddle's score, hipster dialogue, and William Daniels' cinematography capturing old Vegas. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/ocean-eleven-2-review/) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 11 August 1960. The picture maintains a surprisingly nonchalant and flippant attitude toward crime that undercuts many gags. Lewis Milestone's direction fits the centripetal script focused on Sinatra and his gang, though elders may find the amoral heroes less appealing than younger viewers do. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1960/08/11/archives/the-screen-oceans-11sinatra-heads-flippant-team-of-crime.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1959. The film is a no-nonsense heist story about ex-war buddies robbing Vegas hotels but often feels like it is one wisecrack from becoming a musical comedy. It suffers from a contrived script, uncertain tone, and stars essentially playing themselves, though the pace improves once the scheme begins. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1959/film/reviews/ocean-s-eleven-2-1200419655/) ## Collider Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 March 2022. The original Ocean's Eleven is a mishmash of tones with unengaged leads and dated humor that has not aged well. It is primarily worth watching as an example of Old Hollywood star indulgence and to appreciate how the remake surpasses it. [Read the review](https://collider.com/oceans-11-movies-ranked-worst-to-best/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/oceans-eleven-1960.md