New Year’s Eve Flashback: Ocean’s 11 (1960)

Among the cluster of memorable New Year’s Eve-centric films, only a few stand out. THE POSEIDEN ADVENTURE (1972) is the best, if not most morbid, while Henry Jaglom’s NEW YEAR’S DAY (1981) is the most sedate. Given a choice, I’d probably go for Woody Allen’s RADIO DAYS (1986) or the original OCEAN’S 11 (1960). While the most famous Rat Pack film is actually more character oriented than you might think — and what a cast of characters — with Sammy Davis Jr. stealing the whole show, if not the casino on their New Year’s Eve midnight caper. To kick off 2009 with hope, here’s Sammy’s memorable intro…

UPDATE: Well damn, the youtube censors move fast. So long Sammy! To round it off, here’s the very best scene in OCEAN’S 11, the swinging final shot of the Rat Pack walking off dejected, with Sammy Davis carrying all the emotional content of this wonderful sequence: