If there is an all time top-ten Vegas film list, then Martin Scorsese’s film Casino takes top ranks. Released in 1995, the film shaped serious waves, especially within the mobster film genre. Having previously directed Goodfellas, director Scorsese followed up its success with Casino; both films written by screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, who years earlier began working as a journalist with a profuse tendency to researching America’s top mobsters. In the book Wiseguy, Pileggi introduces the real life character of Tommy DeSimone, who in the books’ adaptation, Goodfellas, is portrayed by actor Joe Pesci.

Five years later and Pesci was again cast alongside fellow Goodfellas sidekick De Niro; both roles uncannily similar to those in Goodfellas, except this time it was the female lead of Ginger, played by Sharon Stone, that earned the actress her first Academy Award nomination. Although yielding the coveted award to Susan Sarandon’s chilling recital in the film Dead Man Walking, Stones performance will definitely be remembered as one of her best for many years to come.

Casino is a cinematographic wonder as far as the portrayal of Las Vegas is concerned. With some of the best casino scenes shot in Hollywood’s history, few other films have been capable of bringing the viewer in touching distance of the famous Gambler’s Paradise.

The plot itself is perhaps the most intriguing element in the film: narrated by both De Niro and Pesci, it gives the audience a personalized account of an unfolding story that turns putrid by the minute.

The film begins with Sam “Ace” Rothstein (De Niro) exiting a restaurant sometime in the eighties. As he gets into his car and starts the engine, the car explodes. The narration then begins as the protagonist takes us 10 years back to the time he ran the Tangiers Casino, an organized crime enterprise. Since Rothstein is an American Jew (referred to as ‘The Jew’ a number of times during the film), he is picked to manage the casino and hotel and mask any connections to the Italian mob. All is going perfectly well until the ‘bosses’ send goon Nicky Santoro (Pesci) to protect Rothstein throughout his dealings. After a number of mishaps based on his psychopathic personality, Santoro is placed in Vegas’ casino black book and is virtually banned from entering any of the city’s casinos. He is then forced to start his own business venture without asking for the mob’s go-ahead. He first starts legitimately, but ultimately loses headway and enters more familiar mobster activities such as burglary and extortion.

Meanwhile, Sam “Ace” Rothstein meets casino hustler and hooker Ginger McKenna (Stone), whom he marries; together they conceive a daughter. The film then follows a regressive succession of events, both for Sam, Ginger and Santoro. Ultimately Santoro falls victim to a hit – one of cinema’s most brutal of killings involving a number of metal baseball bats set in the middle of the Nevada dessert where he and his brother are buried whilst still alive – and Ginger to an overdose. Sam survives the car bomb assassination attempt and goes back to picking numbers and handicapping, his job before he gets elected to run Vegas’ casino empire.

Casino is a venture into well known and yet unsettling human traits. Greed, backstabbing and the need for aimless power are set as the canvass for a race to the top. This is a film that cannot be faulted by anyone professing to be a critic and a must see for those who regard themselves as true film fans. The performances are arguably some of the most captivating in the history of crime dramas and very much akin to those of the Godfather trilogy.

Author Bio: By Don Fillipe – A Self Proclaimed Gambling Journalist – For a modern Vegas experience, visit Crazy Vegas Online Casino.

Category: Recreation
Keywords: casino, casino movies, las vegas, vegas movies