The Rat Pack! Broads! Mobsters! Gambling! And then they went to work!
Leaving aside the superior Soderbergh version, the making of Lewis Milestone's 1960 Las Vegas heist caper would make a much more interesting movie than the knockabout comedy on offer here. Indeed, the double duties pulled by the principal cast during the shoot (playing two shows a night at The Sands) are evident in the sluggish pace, sleepy performances and narrative stitched together out of whatever scenes Sinatra showed up for.
Still, there are many incidental pleasures to be had, not least Sammy (cast as a garbage man, apparently because Sinatra was feeling spiteful) singing E-O-Eleven, Dean swinging the old Sahara lounge, Nelson Riddle's sizzling score and some neat hipster dialogue.
