Ocean's Eleven (1960)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
World War II veterans organize a complex, military-style heist to rob five Las Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve.
The story
World War II veterans Danny Ocean and Jimmy Foster recruit nine comrades from their unit in the 82nd Airborne Division to simultaneously rob five Las Vegas casinos: the Sahara, the Riviera, the Desert Inn, the Sands, and the Flamingo. The gang plans the elaborate New Year's Eve heist precisely like a military operation. To facilitate the theft, members take various roles, such as a sanitation worker and lounge entertainers. They coordinate a plan to cut the power to the Strip at midnight, allowing them to enter the money cages and swap the cash into bags. The operation is designed to be executed with precision, ensuring the men can blend back into the crowds once the lights return.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
World War II veterans Danny Ocean and Jimmy Foster recruit nine comrades from their unit in the 82nd Airborne Division to simultaneously rob five Las Vegas casinos: the Sahara, the Riviera, the Desert Inn, the Sands, and the Flamingo. The gang plans the elaborate New Year's Eve heist precisely like a military operation. They use a variety of tactics, including a sanitation worker to transport bags and a coordinated power outage at midnight to access the money cages. While the heist initially appears successful, the death of their electrician, Tony Bergdorf, triggers police suspicion. A reformed mobster named Duke Santos, who is engaged to Foster's mother, discovers the truth about the heist. He confronts the thieves and demands half of their take. The group hides the money in Bergdorf's coffin to smuggle it out, but the plan fails when the funeral director convinces Bergdorf's widow to hold the funeral in Las Vegas, resulting in the coffin and the hidden cash being cremated.
- First release year
- 1960
- Runtime (minutes)
- 127
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Lewis Milestone
- Writers
- Harry Brown · screenplay; Charles Lederer · screenplay; George Clayton Johnson · story; Jack Golden Russell · story
- Cast and characters
- Frank Sinatra · Danny Ocean; Dean Martin · Sam Harmon; Sammy Davis Jr. · Josh Howard; Peter Lawford · Jimmy Foster; Richard Conte · Tony Bergdorf; Joey Bishop · "Mushy" O'Connors; Henry Silva · Roger Corneal; Buddy Lester · Vince Massler; Richard Benedict · George "Curly" Steffans; Norman Fell · Peter Rheimer; Clem Harvey · Louis Jackson; Angie Dickinson · Beatrice Ocean
- Genres
- heist; action; comedy
- Themes
- Camaraderie; Military precision
- Tone and mood
- Comedy-melodrama; Amoral
- Premise and plot tags
- Heist; Rat Pack; Military
- Franchise connections
- Ocean's
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 47% · scale: percentage · review count: 34; Metacritic · score: 57 · scale: 100 · review count: 6
- Production trivia
- The film's closing shot features the cast walking away from the Sands Hotel marquee.; The Las Vegas portion was shot on location at the Flamingo, Sands, Desert Inn, Riviera, and Sahara hotels.; The animated title sequence was designed by Saul Bass.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…