From the old film I definitely got a strong sense of "manliness" being a big player. It seemed at times that each character was an embodiment of some aspect of manliness: the father, the husband, the rough type, the muscly one, the player, the working man, they're all military guys, etc. Of course 60's values plays a role in that. It's almost a caricature of 60's social norms. Picking up and discarding dames, or the ol' "I was wrong about some little thing, better punch me in the fucking jaw, bud".

Machismo was definitely there in the newer film, but it was much more sly about it. It wasn't there in your face all the time. Rather, Daniel Ocean's machismo is on the line in the new film. His wife's been snatched away by some mill(bill?)ionaire, and he has to win her back. Ocean's marriage was in trouble in the original film, but it didn't seem like a big deal at all. It was a more of a 60's "women, ah fuck em" attitude.

The ending in the original felt very odd. They fail, then the movie just kinda ends. All the other plot lines just kind of go unsatisfied. What happens with Ocean's dueling women? What about whatshisface that was extorting the gang, does he just let it go?

The original also didn't bother to develop a bunch of the characters. We have 11 guys but I couldn't describe at least half of them. The newer film made a much better point of introducing and using the 11 characters, with each being unique and memorable.

For these reasons in particular I found the later movie to be a stronger film.