Sammy Davis Jr.

The Rat Pack legend whose charisma defined the original heist.

Sammy Davis Jr. appears in the 1960 film Ocean's 11 as Josh Howard, one of the eleven members of the heist crew recruited by Danny Ocean. The film is directed and produced by Lewis Milestone and stars five members of the Rat Pack, including Davis Jr. alongside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. In the film, Davis Jr.'s character takes a job as a sanitation worker driving a garbage truck as part of the elaborate New Year's Eve plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos: the Sahara, the Riviera, the Desert Inn, the Sands, and the Flamingo. The film premiered in Las Vegas on August 3, 1960, at the Sahara Hotel, and was released in the United States on August 10 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Quick Facts

Affiliation: The Rat Pack
First appears: Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Lore & Background

In the 1960 film Ocean's 11, Sammy Davis Jr. plays Josh Howard, a member of the heist crew recruited by Danny Ocean. The plot centers on eleven World War II veterans from the 82nd Airborne Division who plan to simultaneously rob five Las Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve. Davis Jr.'s character takes a job as a sanitation worker driving a garbage truck, which is used to collect the money bags dumped into hotel garbage bins after the heist. The plan involves blowing up a local electric power transmission tower at midnight, causing the Las Vegas Strip to go dark, and rewiring backup electrical systems to open cashier cages instead of powering emergency lights.

After the robbery, the garbage truck driven by Josh passes through the police blockade. The film's closing shot shows the Sands Hotel marquee listing the Rat Pack members' names as headliners (Sinatra, Martin, Davis Jr., Lawford, Bishop). The film received mixed reviews from critics and originated the Ocean's film series.

Reader's Guide

In the 1960 film Ocean's 11, Sammy Davis Jr. performs the song "EEE-O-11" midway through the film and again at the end during the end credits. The song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. The film also includes a performance of "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" by Dean Martin. The Las Vegas portion of the film was shot on location at the Flamingo, Sands, Desert Inn, Riviera, and Sahara hotels. According to Frank Sinatra Jr., the Rat Pack members were performing shows at 8pm and midnight during production, so much of the location footage was shot between 3am and dawn. The film was released on videocassette by Warner Home Video on February 9, 1983, as part of its "A Night At the Movies" series, and as a 50th-anniversary Blu-ray disc on November 9, 2010, with bonus features including commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickinson.