We see that he had trouble with the cards at some point, and called up a friend to help him out without letting any of the other guys know. Later on he gets arrested at the casino, and his fingerprints are all over the place. Then in the car he smiles knowingly, like this is exactly what it is supposed to be. How does him getting arrested fit in with the rest of the plan?
sharehe's supposed to get caught so they'll switch out the machines with the rigged ones. Since he didn't rig the machines in time, he had Roman (played by Eddie Izzard) rig the replacements and pose as the company's guy.
shareWhy the rush to change out the photos of his known associates then? Couldn't that have been prepared ahead of time?
shareThey could have if Livingston had told them what he and Roman were going to do, but he was too stubborn and proud to admit that he couldn't figure out how to rig the card shuffling machines. He nearly ruined the whole operation.
shareOi! Now that you say that, I remember him asking Roman to be discreet. Thanks.
They could have if Livingston had told them what he and Roman were going to do, but he was too stubborn and proud to admit that he couldn't figure out how to rig the card shuffling machines. He nearly ruined the whole operation.But the FBI agent who ran the fingerprints was Linus's father. Given the fact that he was in on the scam, wouldn't he have taken extra notice when he was called by Abigail Sponder, since he knew she was from the same hotel he was going to scam? That whole thing with fudging the photos of known associates was without a doubt the hokiest part of the whole film. share
Yeah I don't really get the fudging the photos. What about the names? Did they change them? I mean, it's not gonna take a correct photo ID if Bank sees the name "Danny Ocean" on the list.
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"I miss Giles."
Yes the names were changed. If you look closely at Virgil's laptop while he's changing Rusty's appearance you'll see the name Richard Andrade under Rusty's modified mugshot.
shareThe FBI didn't run the fingerprints. Bank's security people did it in-house. They mentioned early in the movie that Bank had hacked into the FBI to run his own fingerprints which was highly illegal.
shareThe FBI didn't run the fingerprints. Bank's security people did it in-house. They mentioned early in the movie that Bank had hacked into the FBI to run his own fingerprints which was highly illegal.Then why did Sponder call Caldwell in the first place if that were actually the case? share
She called him several days prior to opening night to check out some of the guests, like the chinese member of the team she thought might have been suspect.
shareShe called him several days prior to opening night to check out some of the guests, like the chinese member of the team she thought might have been suspect.OK. That clarifies that. But the whole fingerprint/known associates of Livingston thing still strikes me as hokey. share
Linus's father didnt scan the fingerprints.
Banks notified his casino employee to scan the shuffling machine because Livingston's fingerprints would be all over the machine. Banks's security scanned it.
Topic Starters question: "How does him getting arrested fit in with the rest of the plan?"
He needed to get arrested so that Bank would have all machines replaced with the fake ones. Note that he didnt really get arrested (but by Linus's dad who was part of the plan).
The fact that Livingston needed some help does not make him completely useless (e.g. he got a job into that company). Also remember that they did this for Ruben, it was not "just a job".
About the "known associates"-consequence: They simple did not expect Bank to get Livingston's fingerprints of the machine and run him through the database. So they improvised (letting Basher distract them while Virgil hacked the computer). Proof of this is part of a conversation underneath (just re-watch those few minutes and it will all become clear).
- Bank's gonna run the prints of the Shuffle machine.
- Damn, he's good. He'll get Livingston's ID and known associates.
- That's us.
- What do we have in place for this?
- Nothing. They'll scoop us all up and Bank will have the best night of his life.
- We can't let it get to Bank.
- I know what to do.
<And here Basher explains his improvised idea.>
I hope this answers your question. :-)
I got the impression that he was just going to modify the blackjack machines so that they would be "fixed", but he couldn't do this.
So, desperate, he phoned Roman Nagel, on the "down-low" from Danny and the guys. That's when plans changed. How much the other "twelve" knew is open to interpretation.
I guess the big question is, did Livingston know that was Linus' father when he got arrested or did he just get lucky his improvisation worked so well? Nobody else seemed overly concerned that Livingston was arrested. It almost made me think everybody else knew Linus' father was in on it.
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"Hello boys! I'm BAAACCCKKK!!!!"--Russell Casse, Independence Day
better question. wouldn't this new info warrant some urgent phone calls, and not just an email sent to his boss.
shareLivingston clearly smiles when he gets in the car, showing his confidence and relief that the plan is being carried through and the properly rigged machines will be placed in the casino.
I think that the "Don't tell the other guys" line was a red herring by Soderbergh\the writers to create some suspense because unlike the last 2 movies we get pretty much every detail of the plan beforehand, and the writers and director wanted to keep some surprises for us.
Being caught by Linus' Father was part of Livingstone's plan, as Bank brought in the new (rigged) machines, with Eddie Izzard.
However, things went awry when Bank ordered that the original machines be scanned for fingerprints. It's mentioned earlier that Bank had found some way to illegally hack into the FBI(?) fingerprint database. So, he could kind of conduct his own criminal investigation in this case, without having to go to the cops (which, let's face it, he would never willingly do).
This meant that he could quickly find out who the rest of Livingstone's associates were, and what they looked like. This was NOT part of the Ocean's 13 plan. So, they had to quickly find a way to distract Bank and photoshop their pics on his computer.
And it sure was lucky that 85-year old Saul found two hot 20 year old girls just standing around chatting and eagerly willing to jump into the stunt man’s trailer and bang him just so Basher could use the guy’s costume to distract Bank and complete that photoshopping effort. This was the dumbest and most contrived part of a movie filled with handy artifices