Groups, Teams, And Role Conflict in "Ocean's Eleven"

IN ’ ’

CEAN S E LEVEN LEVEN O CEAN

Shortly after being released from prison, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) breaks parole and travels to Los Angeles to meet up with his former partner in crime and close friend Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to propose a scheme he has in mind. The two head to Las Vegas to pitch the plan to wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould). The plan consists of robbing the Bellagio, The Mirage, and the MGM Grand casinos. Tishkoff's familiarity with casino security makes him very reluctant to get involved, but when he begins to think of it as a good way to get back at his rival, Terry Benedict (Andy García), who owns the three casinos, Tishkoff agrees to finance the operation. Because the casinos are required by the Nevada Gaming Commission to have enough cash on hand to cover all their patrons' bets, the three predict that, on the upcoming night of a highly anticipated boxing match, the Bellagio vault will contain more than $150 million. Ocean and Ryan recruit eight former colleagues and criminal specialists, including Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), a young and talented pick-pocket thief. Several of the team members carry out reconnaissance at the Bellagio to learn as much as possible about the security, the routines and behaviors of the casino staff, and the building itself. Others create a precise replica of the vault with which to practice maneuvering through its formidable security systems. During this planning phase, the team discovers that Ocean's ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), is Benedict's girlfriend. Ryan urges Ocean to give up on the plan, believing Ocean incapable of sound judgement while Tess is involved, but Ocean refuses. When the plan is put in motion, Ocean goes to the Bellagio in order to be seen by Benedict, who, as expected, has him locked in a storeroom to be beaten by a bouncer called Bruiser. Ocean, however, knows Bruiser, and he allows Ocean to leave through a ventilation shaft, to meet with his team in the vault. Linus Caldwell poses as a gaming commission agent, confronts Benedict on hiring Frank Catton as an ex-con, and in the process lifting the security code to the vault from Benedict. From there Caldwell and Catton staged a faux confrontation to allow Linus to slip away into the vault after the incident. Yen is smuggled into the vault by the Malloy brothers, to assist in triggering the explosive from the inside. Saul Bloom sneaks explosive into the casino vault by posing as an international arms dealer needing especially secure safekeeping for his valuables, and then stages a heart attack that was treated by Ryan posing as a doctor. The team activates a stolen pinch device to temporarily disrupt the casino's electrical power, allowing them to breach the vault undetected. As Benedict attempts to 1

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restore order following the power outage, Ryan anonymously calls him on a cell phone that Ocean had earlier planted in Tess's coat. Ryan tells him that the vaults are being raided, and that all the money will be destroyed if Benedict does not cooperate in loading half the money into a van waiting outside. Benedict observes video footage of the vault that confirms Ryan's claims, and complies in moving the money, but orders his men to follow the van after it departs, and calls a S.W.A.T. team to secure the vault. The S.W.A.T. team's arrival results in a shootout which causes the incineration of the half of the money left in the vault. After assuring Benedict that the casino is secure, the officers depart. Terry realizes that the vault video feed was faked when he notices that the floors shown in the video lacked Bellagio logos, which had only very recently been added to the floors in the vault. The men following the van discover that it is being driven remotely, and that, instead of money, it contains duffel bags full of flyers advertising prostitutes. A flashback reveals that Ocean had used the vault replica to create the fake video Benedict had seen; the rest of the team posed as S.W.A.T. officers, and took all of the money in the vault when responding to Benedict's call for police assistance. Benedict then returns to the room where he left Ocean and finds him still there, leaving him with no way to connect Ocean to the theft. Ocean offers to assist Benedict in finding the money on the condition that he give up Tess, to which Benedict agrees. It is then revealed that his team had routed live footage of this conversation to Tess's suite. Angry at being used by Benedict, she leaves him and returns to Ocean. Benedict tips off the police, who arrest Ocean for violating parole, and Ocean spends some months in prison. When he is released, he is met by Ryan and Tess, and the three drive off, closely followed by Benedict's bodyguards.i

A slightly kleptomanic, instinctive gentleman-thief from New York, who is the ringleader and idea man of the crew that robs three casinos in Ocean’s Eleven, a Fabergé egg in Ocean’s Twelve and award diamonds in Ocean’s Thirteen, in addition to conning a businessman into losing millions of dollars on the opening night of his new casino. Danny is played by George Clooney. -hand man, although it is more than implied in Rusty is Danny’s right -hand Twelve that Rusty is the logistical heart of all the crew’s operations, handling the details of the day-to-day operations while Danny is more big picture. Very often shown eating some kind of fast food, his skills are used more in the planning phase of the heists, although he takes on disguises in Eleven and Thirteen. Ironically, his former girlfriend Isabel is what gets the team in trouble in Twelve, despite Rusty condemning Danny’s efforts to win back an ex-wife in Eleven. Rusty is played by Brad Pitt. The son of a legendary con artist, Linus is one of two newcomers to Danny’s crew, recruited by Danny in person after demonstrating his pickpocket skills – which will be one of the essential parts of the elaborate heist. Throughout the trilogy, Linus repeatedly makes attempts to gain respect as a leader figure of the crew, almost to the point of obsession. At various times, he seems to succeed: he outsmarts Danny in Eleven by bringing new batteries for the explosives, and in Twelve gets a chance to run things when half the crew end up in prison. In Thirteen, he even takes on the challenge of wooing a woman, despite not being the charmer of the gang (which is mentioned to be Rusty), though he uses a "Gilroy," a chemical aid, for this trick, and likewise, all his positive attempts at gaining control are playfully backed down by Danny and Rusty, most notably in the meeting with Matsui in Twelve where they trick Linus into believing he offended Matsui with his Kashmir lyrics. Linus is played by Matt Damon. 2


A flamboyant business kingpin, Reuben is an old school business tycoon who gets muscled out of his Vegas hotel by Terry Benedict, which is the reason he finances the expensive casino-caper. He appears to be pushed over again in Thirteen, when he is forced out of a partnership by Willy Bank, leading to a breakdown that ignites Ocean’s revenge plot against Bank. His cunning business instinct is proved however, by the fact that he was the only one to make money out of his take in the Bellagio-heist (on the stock market) rather than lose money. While his good heartedness may have cost him these two business ventures, it appears to be exactly his appeal amongst the thieves, who make very clear in Thirteen their appreciation, with Danny and Rusty going so far as to imply Reuben was a mentor to them. Tishkoff is played by Elliot Gould. Saul is an ulcerous old pro, who is brought out of retirement to play a crucial role in the casino-heist, playing “Lyman Zerga”, an arms dealer with a special delivery he needs to be located in the casino-vault. His presence ensures the team of a member watching the security cameras and getting the explosives into the vault. In Twelve, Saul initially refuses to go along with the pan-European caper, but ultimately shows up as a Swiss doctor in the Lookie-loo con. In Thirteen, Saul plays “Kensington Chubb”, a hotel reviewer. He is portrayed by Carl Reiner. Basher is the munitions expert of the team. Talking with a heavy cockney accent, often in rhyming slang, Basher is more in it for the thrills than for the money, even calling Rusty and Danny ‘proper villains’ as opposed to the fools h e unsuccessfully tries to rob a bank with in Eleven. He is brought in to create the blackout necessary for Danny and Linus to get down the elevator shaft in Eleven, and simulates an earthquake with a drilling machine in Thirteen. Basher is played by Don Cheadle. An old acquaintance of Danny and Rusty, Frank is an experienced card dealer who has left his mark in various Vegas casinos. He is the first to be recruited for the Bellagio-plan. He is shown to have an affinity for manicures, which even leads to his arrest in Twelve. His lack of participation in Twelve is made up for by his central role in the two casino-heists: first as the inside man at the Bellagio, later as a game host in Bank’s casino. The simulated quarrel with Linus’ NGC -persona results in the latter pick pocketing the vault codes out of Benedict's jacket. Frank is played by Bernie Mac. Although Ocean's 13 was the last in the series anyway, the producers of the franchise said that since Bernie Mac (Frank's portrayer) has passed away, they wouldn't want to do another film without him. Livingston is the tech-guy, a surveillance specialist who just as easily moonlights for the FBI. While a genius geniu s with computers, connections, cameras, etc., Livingston’s anxiety threatens the success of the Bellagio-heist. Despite his nervousness, he passes a polygraph test in Thirteen, although he fails to rig the card shuffling machines and secretly calls Roman Nagel for help. Livingston is played by Eddie Jemison. Living in Provo, Utah, the Malloy brothers —or "the Mormon twins" -- are brought in by Ocean for their talent to adapt to any character, willingness to do the small cons and for the transportation. The chemistry of the brothers consists of a constant state of arguing and bickering, which continues into their acts – often to their advantage. Their knowledge of remote control cars is used in Eleven. Virgil and Turk (named so after Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo from The Godfather) are played by Casey Affleck and Scott Caan, whose real-life father played Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. The Chinese acrobat Yen is the second of two newbies in the group, called a “grease man” by Danny and Rusty, brought in for his flexibility and short posture. He is the first to actually enter the heavily guarded en secured casino-vault, 3


brought into the underground backstage tunnels while confined in a money-cart cunningly delivered by the Malloy brothers, while being watched by Saul’s Lyman Zerga character. Once inside, Yen places the explosives from Zerga’s briefcase on the vault door, waiting for Danny and Linus to trigger it from the outside. His newfound wealth after the heist results in him inhabiting a huge Florida mansion, dressing up with a lot of bling. His specific skills are much less necessary in the subsequent heists, and in Thirteen his largest contribution is by posing as a “whale”. Yen, played by real life acrobat Qin Shaobo, doesn’t speak English but nevertheless understands understands every detail of the plans and is understood by the rest when speaking Mandarin. Benedict is the slick casino-owner of three Las Vegas casinos (Bellagio, MGM Grand Las Vegas and The Mirage). Having a romantic relationship with Tess Ocean makes him the perfect mark for Danny’s big plan. After the major heist, he he vows to get those responsible. It is not until he gets help from the mysterious “Night Fox” that he actually does, and reluctantly offers them two weeks to cough up all the money they owe him (plus interest) before hurting them. While still an antagonist of the team, he is recruited in Thirteen (and therefore possibly the twelfth member of the crew in this particular scheme) after Danny’s crew runs out of money halfway through the Bank-con. Fearing Willy Bank’s competition, Benedict agrees to back the operation financially, with his own demands – yet sets up the Night Fox to double cross the team. Terry’s ruthlessness, exemplified most by his choice for his lost vault money over Tess, is ironically opposed by his forced performance as a philanthropist on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Benedict is played by Andy García. ii

1. Where do you see the five stages of group formation taking place? 2. Which of the six of the characteristics of groups (pp. 239-44) do they exhibit? 3. What specific role(s) does each of the eleven members have? Does anyone have multiple roles? 4. Are there issues of role perception? 5. Does role conflict arise? If so, what kind is it and for which roles and individuals does it occur?

Write to [email protected] for to obtain a copy of the solution to this case. i ii

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean's_Eleven_(2001_film)#Plot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ocean's_Trilogy_characters#The_Eleven

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Groups, Teams, And Role Conflict in "Ocean's Eleven"

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