Dan's Papers - June 22, 2007 - Guy de Fraumeni's Hollywod in The Hamptons

Before heralding the arrival of the already celebrated, glamorous Ocean's Thirteen to these equally glamorous shores, I'd like to keep you up- to- date with my following the trail of local film festivals similar to our own Dan's Papers' "Movies Made Here" Film Festival now running over 10 years. The most recent is here, The North Carolina Jewish Film Festival held in Cary. It sold out 800 seats the first day. It presented short films, documentaries (One about Tony Kushner, the much honored playwright) and feature films. Next location St. Louis MO. Keep'em coming, gang.

In an early summer season of umpteen threequels Ocean's Thirteen appears to be the most happily received. I've tried to watch the original 1960 Ocean's Eleven starring the Frank Sinatra / Dean Martin Rat Pack but, no one shines in that listless Las Vegas Drag. Directed by multiple-Oscared Lewis Milestone, it is definitely not one of the milestones in his career. The Pack was doing its real work and carousing at night and, tired during the day, simply read off the movies dialogue whereas, today's George Clooney's pack, they are the fizz in director Steven Soderbergh's highly effervescent three-time winner. The gleaming, gorgeous cast of a colorful, misfit, ingenious bunch of swaggering, crooks stars Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. They are as color glowing as the entire fancy Vegas background and tricks, erasing any sense of credibility. Logic would only trip-up the action and fun.

Working the franchise for the third time around, the merry band of thieves led by Clooney's Danny Ocean, have come back to Las Vegas. Danny's old pal and mentor, Reuben Tishkoff, you remember the outsized Elliot Gould with the fat lips, and out front cigar stuck betwixt them well, he's in trouble again. As I remember he had lost his casino to a big time, meanly smart, winner-who-takes-all Benedict, slick Andy Garcia, in the first of this trilogy. The word remember keeps coming up - nostalgia is rampant here. Now, another glitz palace magnate, Willy Bank, played so orangey pink by Al Pacino, has unscrewed Reuben from his share in their casino and, Danny's wrecking crew will figure out a way to knock off Pacino's unbelievably well protected " The Bank". As Willy boasts, "I don't lose. People who bet against me lose". He is abetted by Ellen Barkin. The reunited, hot pair from Sea of Love (1989) keep the embers lit. The real love affair, Clooney and Pitt rekindle the sparks of the Robert Redford / Paul Newman days. Close behind in buddy rapport is the whole wild bunch: Damon's Linus, Don Cheadle's Basher, Casey Affleck's Virgil, Scott Caan's Turk, Bernie Mac's Frank, Shaobo, Qin's Yen and, old, old Carl Reiner's Saul being British-Yiddish for laughs.

Besides tons of laughs, tons of dollars are thrown around. You may remember, the gang had blacked out all of Vegas for the Benedict casino heist now, they will fake an earthquake by drilling below the gambling palaces with drills used for the Chunnel.That costs $36 million. Sending down Turk and Virgil to Mexico to "load" the dice made there ain't easy. Affleck behind a Frito Bandito mustache tried to get the workers to revolt and, getting magnetic metal dust into the hot liquid plastic isn't simple either. And, how do you get the tricky dice into Pacino's "Bank" that's as electronically well guarded as Paris Hilton's I.Q. The cons, big and small are innumerable. Thay build on each other and feed on each other. Brad Pitt's Rusty plays a hippy seismologist to install a secret camera. Damon has to seduce Pacino's right hand, Ms. Barkin. He does this with an aphrodisiac scent and, of all things, a rubber nose. Why not? If" The Bank" utilizes surveillance technology out of science fiction, how better to combat that than with a rubber nose? The Ocean's Thirteen boys are shamelessly proud of their zany skills, unbound camaraderie and loyalty like "doing it for Reuben", even if it takes months or years.

My sense is that they all have Clooney's serious side but need a flip, funny side for balance. It's worth "The Bank's" bank to see Clooney weeping crocodile tears over an Oprah show and, stuck with one of those Bandito mustaches. They all follow in line behind director Soderbergh who's gotten so good behind the camera (he's also the fine, inventively creative cinematographer, Peter Andrews, an alias) he's able to do a heavy sci-fi film, the 2002 Solaris, the miniscule Bubble in hi-definition digital and recently, his terribly self-indulgent The Good German. Fortunately, like his Ocean's films, they're all able to laugh at themselves. Ha-ha, hee-hee - laughing all the way to "The Bank."

Guy-Jean de Fraumeni is the producer/writer/director of award-winning European and American feature films. He has been a judge at Major Film and TV award competitions, including the Oscars, the Emmy's and various film festivals. Sarah Halsey assists him.