To catch a thief

To catch a thief


Updated 11:37pm (Mla time) Jan 16, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service



Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the January 17, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.


YEARS after Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack made it a box-office hit, "Ocean's Eleven," is still raking in money at the tills. A modernized remake and a sequel have been made, both of which have, like the original, an all-star cast. The newer versions have a lot of technological gizmos-laser fields, underground vaults and all that-to protect the millions of dollars earned by the Las Vegas casinos. But, somehow, I like the original better, not only because of Old Blue Eyes himself, but also because the plot was simpler.

The original "Ocean's Eleven" started out as a lark by the Rat Pack, who never thought that besides giving them something to do to relieve boredom, the movie would rake in a lot of money.

It so happened that Sinatra and the members of his Rat Pack (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, etc.) were performing at shows in different casinos in Las Vegas (this was how Sinatra is believed to have gotten hooked up with the Mafia).

Since the shows were at night, the gang was left with nothing to do during the day except twiddle their thumbs. To occupy themselves, Sinatra thought of making a movie at daytime, with the Rat Pack as members of the cast. The story had to be about Las Vegas casinos. So "Ocean's Eleven" was born.

The original movie was about a group of World War II veterans on vacation in Las Vegas. For want of anything to do (just like the Rat Pack), they thought of robbing several casinos simultaneously. Their former commanding officer, Danny Ocean (played by Sinatra) was the brains. The other members of the group take on jobs in the casinos, so they wouldn't have a hard time executing their plan, which they successfully did while electricity was cut off briefly after they blew up a transmission tower.

The hard part was how to take the loot out of Las Vegas, which was immediately sealed off by the police with roadblocks and checkpoints. Danny thought of hiding the money in the coffin of a gang member who had dropped dead of a heart attack and was to be buried in his hometown in California.

But the Movie Production Code then in force mandated that no movie should show that crime pays. So the gang must not be allowed to get away with the fruits of its crime. (That was the same reason the gold dust so painstakingly gathered by Humphrey Bogart and his cohorts in the classic "Treasure of Sierra Madre," was blown away by a dust storm.) So while they were waiting in the chapel for the coffin to be taken away, the widow of the deceased-without their knowing it-gave permission to have the corpse cremated right there. The loot was cremated along with the corpse.

The remake (with George Clooney as Danny Ocean) did not have this ironic and humorous ending. Ocean's eleven got away with the loot. It was a box-office hit anyway, largely because of the technological gizmos they had to overcome. So it was inevitable that a sequel would be made. That sequel is "Ocean's Twelve," now showing in movie houses.

The makers of the sequel must have realized that among the appeals of the original were its tongue-in-cheek humor and the lighthearted banter among the cast. So they did the same thing with the new version. The cast obviously was on a lark while making the movie, same as the Rat Pack when they made the original (which was so successful Sinatra made several other movies using the Rat Pack).

Also like the original, the producers packed the cast with stars (besides Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc.). Bruce Willis appeared in a cameo role-although his name does not appear in the credits-as did Shirley Maclaine and George Raft in the original. (Sinatra should have cast Humphrey Bogart, original founder of the Rat Pack, in the original, with Lauren Bacall as his gun moll-but was he already dead when the movie was made?)

And like the original, the sequel also ended with a twist, except that the twist was forced and appeared like a cop-out. After piling up problems for the gang early in the movie, it seemed that the writers did not know how to provide the solutions and to end the movie. So they resorted to a simple cliché.

To illustrate this point, I am sorry I have to reveal a part of the plot, but it is not important anyway for the enjoyment of the movie. To begin with, Danny's gang had to do another job because the Andy Garcia character, the casino owner they robbed in the remake, demanded that they return the loot, with interest, or else....

For a change of scenery, the locale was moved to Europe. And the caper was complicated by an experienced French detective hot on their heels and a crafty thief who challenged Danny to see who of them was the better thief.

Toward the end, all the gang members were arrested by the French police, largely through the efforts of Zeta-Jones. The other master thief told Clooney and Roberts how he stole the prize himself, proving he was the better thief. And here is the twist that made the ending look like a cop-out.

In a flashback, Danny was shown telling his rival that what the latter had stolen was a mere replica; and that he, Danny, had stolen the genuine prize by the simple and hackneyed expedient of switching backpacks with the courier, while his cohorts created a diversion by creating a rumble inside a train coach. Besides, Danny's gang had an informer in the person of Zeta-Jones' long-lost father. Compared to Danny's gang of twelve, the other thief was all alone, and yet he was able to steal the replica. So he was still the better thief.