Ocean’s Eleven appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. The transfer came with a mix of problems but usually looked pretty good.
Sharpness became one of the more satisfying aspects of the picture. Yeah, wide shots lacked great clarity, and some mild edge haloes affected definition. Nonetheless, the movie showed generally nice delineation and satisfied most of the time.
Shimmering and jaggies remained minor, but print flaws were a consistent area of concern. Throughout the film, I noticed examples of specks, marks, lines, blotches and other defects. Though these weren’t extreme, they did create distractions, and the movie definitely could’ve used a better clean-up.
Colors were fairly good, though not outstanding. Given the Vegas setting, the movie could’ve offered more dynamic hues, while these tended to be a little flat. Nonetheless, the colors were usually pleasing; they weren’t as strong as I’d like, but they were nice. Blacks appeared dark and tight, while shadows showed good clarity. The source defects nearly made this a “C”-level transfer, but I liked enough of it to bolster it to “B-“.
As for the monaural soundtrack of Eleven, it worked just fine given its age and ambitions. Speech was the weakest link, though. The line consistently appeared intelligible enough, but the movie showed a lot of awkward dubbing; this made the mix less natural than I’d like.
Music lacked much heft, but the score and songs were acceptably lively and full. Effects also showed decent clarity. Those elements didn’t pack much of a punch, but they were fairly accurate and tight. No issues with source noise occurred. I thought the audio was good enough for a “B-“.
A few extras fill out the package. The most significant comes via an audio commentary from Frank Sinatra, Jr. and actor Angie Dickinson. She doesn’t pop up until her character appears onscreen, and she doesn’t offer a lot of info as the flick proceeds. Dickinson gives us a few notes about how she came onto the film as well as her thoughts about the Rat Packers.
Sinatra does most of the work here, and he makes this a decent discussion. He tells us about the original novel’s adaptation and story issues, cast and performances, Vegas of the period, sets and locations, music, and the film’s reception. I find it oddly disconcerting that he usually calls his dad “Sinatra”, and the track suffers from more dead air than I’d like, but the junior Frank delivers a reasonable amount of worthwhile info. He combines a film historian side with the immediacy of a “you are there” perspective and delivers a fairly enjoyable track.
An Interactive Map of Vegas gives us some short video snippets. These come for the Sands, the Desert Inn, the Flamingo, the Riviera and the Sahara. Each one lasts between one minute, 25 seconds and four minutes, 50 seconds for a total of 17 minutes, 10 seconds. Across these, we hear from dancer/dealer Joey Tomaszewski, cocktail waitresses Doreen Leonard and Patty Schmidtberger, showgirl Margo Tomaszewski, Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, and auditor Carmen A. Peterson. They provide some memories of Vegas circa the 1950s/1960s, thoughts about the Rat Packers, and changes to the town since then. A lot of this falls under the heading of general nostalgia, but we still find some interesting tales in these enjoyable featurettes.
(Note that those comments apply to all the clips except for the one about the Sahara. For reasons unknown, it doesn’t include remarks from current/former employees. Instead, it plays more like an ad for the hotel.)
A cool archival extra, we locate a clip from The Tonight Show With Guest Host Frank Sinatra. The piece lasts three minutes, 46 seconds; Sinatra chats with Dickinson here. They tell us a little about their experiences together in this short but enjoyable piece. (Note that their discussion gives away the movie’s ending, so don’t watch it until you’ve viewed the whole film.)
In addition to two Trailers, the disc includes Cast and Crew Filmographies. We find these for Sinatra, Dickinson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin and Peter Lawford.
On the list of “remakes that surpass the originals”, we’ll have to include the 2001 version of Ocean’s Eleven. The 1960 edition has a fun concept and some legends in its cast, but it’s downright dull and fails to deliver an enjoyable experience. The DVD provides decent to good picture and audio as well as some minor extras highlighted by a generally likable commentary. Ocean’s Eleven isn’t an awful movie, but it’s a fairly boring disappointment.