Oceans Eleven (Dir Steven Soderbergh, 2001).

Bellagio Casino and Hotel, 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

The overtly opulent Bellagio Hotel and Casino is treated in almost the same way as a character by Steven Soderbergh, director of Oceans Eleven. It’s a main player as both the target for the heist and as a location for almost all of the best scenes. It’s a clever choice, some Vegas hotels are more obviously showy, where as the Bellagio, modelled on a Swiss or Italian lakeside village, is supposed to retain a degree of class, whether you think this is true or not. This is a real location in that it’s hardly been dressed, and most of the scenes are shot where the dialogue says they are.

Most of the other locations in the film are also ‘real’, Terry Benedict goes to watch the fight at the MGM Grand (3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South) and the strip is the strip - so you can wander around Vegas and if you wear slightly orange tinted glasses (the film has a colour wash) you’ll think you’re walking around with Danny Ocean and the gang. The final playout caps the film off perfectly in front of the Bellagio’s perfectly kitchy ‘Dancing waters fountains’ as one by one the now more wealthy eleven walk off in different directions into their sunsets or equivalents… Obviously Vegas is full of memorable locations and it’s easy enough to find them - walking down the strip it’s like each building is screaming out to you hysterically with it’s colours, music and lights - and even better most places are trying to get you to come inside. (For real film trivia nerds, the town of Bellagio is next to Lake Como, across the water from the villa where Anakin Skywalker and Queen Armidala get friendly in Attack of the Clones.)

Written by  Film Fan.

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