Casino(1995)- Gamblers, Las Vegas and the Mob
Las Vegas- The name itself conjures up many images, of g
litzy neon lit hotels, of millionaires, of hotels with exotic names, and the most unforgettable image its casinos. Think Detroit, and the first image is that of cars, Think Los Angeles, and its Hollywood, think New York, and its the towering skyscrapers and Wall Street, and Las Vegas , the first image is that of its casinos. The World’s Entertainment capital, it is the Mecca for Baazigars all over the world to come and try their luck. Its a city that comes alive during night, as millionaires, and nouveau riche alike come to gamble away their money on its gambling tables. But what exactly goes on inside the casinos? Many have been fronts for the Mafia, to launder their illegal money.
Moving away from his favorite back la
nes and ghettoes of New York, Martin Scorcese, this time takes a look at what happens behind the glitzy casinos of Las Vegas in his 1995 movie Casino. Marty here bases the story on real life casino boss Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, who become Sam “Ace” Rothstein( Robert De Niro) in the movie, and his enforcer Antony ” TonyThe Ant” Spiltoro, who becomes Nicky Santoro(Joe Pesci) in the movie.
The movie starts off with Sam’s car being blown up, and then cuts back to 1973, where Sam a sports booki
e, is entrusted by his bosses, to oversee the operations of the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The casino is controlled by the Mob, who illegally skim off the profits made, before reporting their income to the authorities. Sam’s hands on style and his gambling background, ensures that the casino is quite profitable. His childhood friend Nicky, is also sent to protect Sam and their interests. In the mean while Sam falls for Ginger McKenna( Sharon Stone), a hooker.
However trouble arises when all casinos in Las Vegas ban Nicky for his violent behaviour and cheating, straining his relationship with Sam. Nicky starts his own outfit with help of Jack Hardy, Sal Fusco and Bernie Blue. He also owns a jewelrey business Gold Rush, and runs a restaurant with his brother Dominic( Philip Suriano) and his right hand man Frankie Marino( Frank Vincent). However thanks to Nicky’s reputation, he has the Feds after him, and tracking him down.
In the mean time Sam runs into his own set of problems, with the casino comming under media scrutiny. But worst of all with Ginger, relapsing into her old ways again, financially helping out her former pimp, Lester( James Woods), and the differences between Sam and Nicky get even worse. With Ginger and Sam’s marriage breaking down, she gets into an affair with Nicky.
Compared to Marty’s famed trilogy of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Casino has never really been rated as one of his best. I guess it has more to do with storyline, which is more like Mean Streets redux in Las Vegas. Like in Mean Streets, Casino also focusses on two friends, who have a fall out because of their differences. If Robert De Niro’s Sam is some what like Harvey Keitel’s Charlie in Mean Streets, Pesci’s Nicky is pretty much based on De Niro’s Johnny Boy character in Mean Streets. In both the movies we have the lead character having to suffer for the antics of his friend. Also Pesci’s hot headed, pyschopathic Nicky character is an extension of his Tommy de Vito character in Goodfellas.
Just as Goodfellas had that famous Billy Batts scene, in Casino too, we have that particularly violent scene where Nicky stabs a man in his neck, with a ball point pen, and then repeatedly punches him down. Also like in Goodfellas, Marty here makes use of multiple voice overs, here for a major part of the movie, the narration is done by Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, alternately.
For people who have seen Goodfellas, many of the elements in that movie, would be quite familiar in Casino. Though Casino however references Marty’s earlier movies, there are many aspects of it that make the movie an engaging watch. Marty’s strong area has been the way he depicts the relationships, and here it works in the way he shows it between Sam and Nicky.
The opening scene itself gives an insight into Sam’s character. As he says
When you love someone, you’ve gotta trust them. There’s no other way. You’ve got to give them the key to everything that’s yours.
Sam trusted Nicky as well as Ginger, and he was let down by both of them sadly. For Sam being the owner of the casino was something legitimate, it gave him a kind of respectability, which being a bookie never did. As he says
Anywhere else in the country, I was a bookie, a gambler, always lookin’ over my shoulder, hassled by cops, day and night. But here, I’m ‘Mr Sam Rothstein’. I’m not only legitimate, but running a casino.
In fact the voice overs of Sam and Nicky during the opening scenes, give an inkling of their personalities. As Nicky reveals, Sam was not just a mere gambler, as Nicky says he bet like a brain surgeon. While Sam made the plans and executed them, it was Nicky who did the dirty job of collecting money from people. The famous bar scene where Nicky gets into a rage and stabs a guy with a ball point pen, shows his character.
One of the best scenes in the movie is the show down between Sam and Nicky in the desert. Nicky accuses Sam of trying to order him out. Sam’s intentions were otherwise, he wanted Nicky to cool off or be low in another place for some time, as the Feds and authorities were hot on his tail. Nicky however feels Sam has used him up and just wants him out of the way now. Sam just wants to protect his friend, but ends up being misunderstood.
In a way Sam’s tale is quite tragic. He wants to help out his best friend, but his friend feels otherwise. He loves Ginger dearly, showers all the riches he has on her, gives her a life which she could never dream off. And he trusts Ginger hoping she would reform after marriage. But sadly he is again let down here. Ginger keeps going back to her pimp, who is a real slime bag and worst of all gets into an affair with his best friend Nicky. In mob circles, having your wife sleep with another guy is the worst disgrace that can happen to you. Ginger also lapses back into drugs, ill treats their daugther, forcing Sam to throw her out. For me one of the strong points of the movie was the way Marty works out the relationship between Sam, Nicky and Ginger. You feel for Sam, and empathize with his plight, as he is continously let down by every one he trusts.
The movie also offers an excellent insight into the casino industry. Especially in the opening scenes, and the way the camera tracks the casinos, the players, the men running with them, with the voice overs. And most important how the mob controls the casinos. The holes in the desert giving an indication of where people who fall afoul of the mob are burried up. One of my favorite shots is where the camera tracks the money in the counting room, as its poured into the conveyor belt, and then coins are sorted and placed on a rack. As Ace sums it up “We r the only winners, the players dont stand a chance.” Marty again using the tracking and panning shots to reveal the interiors of the counting room, giving you the feel of being there. The movie also shows the links between the union bosses, senators, businessmen and the Mafia. The tactics used by the Mafia bosses to fool the authorites as in changing Ace’s designation from Casino Executive to Food and Beverages Chairman to make it look more legitimate. Another great scene is where we see a craps game being played, and Ace explains the hierarchy of box men, supervised by floor men, supervised by pit bosses, supervised by shift bosses, in turn supervised by casino manager, who finally reports to Ace. What we see here is a typical corporate structure put in place.
Casino also has some great performances. Joe Pesci, repeats his Goodfellas act, but does a good job as usual. Sharon Stone does well, as the bitchy, selfish Ginger, who uses Ace for her own personal needs, but some how felt her performance was not so great as to be nominated for an Oscar. And it beats me how the Academy missed nominating Robert de Niro’s performance, it is one of his best for sure, as Sam, the casino boss, who is let down by the people whom he trusts and who has to bear the consequences of their actions, De Niro is just brilliant as usual.
Though reminiscient of Mean Streets and Goodfellas, and not Marty’s best one, i would still reccomend this movie, for the inside look it offers of the casino world, as also the performances of De Niro, Stone, Pesci and the relationship between them.
Tags: Casino, gangster movies, Joe Pesci, Las Vegas, Martin Scorcese, robert de niro, Sharon Stone
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Wow!! Power packed as usual Ratna… Way to go
)
Nice read as always Ratnakar…..besides, even a supposedly mediocre Scorcese movie is always worth watching
Avn, not sure if i can say Casino is mediocre, it had many briliant moments, but then Marty has raised the bar so high with Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, that we end up evaluating every movie on them.
Outstandingly written article Ratnakar.
“Marty again using the tracking and panning shots to reveal the interiors of the counting room, giving you the feel of being there”
Not only the film, but even many parts of your article took me inside the theatre. Keep churning out such good stuff dude!!
This is not a mediocre movie by any parameter…not even by Scorsese’s lofty standards……….the look and feel and the way the characters behaved reminded somewhat of Goodfellas…but I somehow felt that was intentional…DeNiro had a better role here than in Goodfellas which was more Ray Liotta’s movie.
Sougata dont think its mediocre, for me a rarely found any Marty movie meeting that standard. But having seen Mean Streets, just gave me a feeling of having seen this. But otherwise, still loved it, especially for his take on the gambling industry and Las Vegas.
brilliant movie. I can go on and on about this movie. lved everything about it.
gr8 write up as usual RS
Bipin, wud love to hear ur take on this movie. BTW u seem to be a big time fan of Robert De Niro, like me, considering u cracked my Fb Quiz, with a perfect 10.
Casino. We discussed this didn’t we? Anyways, who cares! Vegas. Scorsese. Opulence. The grand players. Deceit. Stone. The quintessential signature style. The unsettling epicurean emotion that follows every Scorsese film, when you feel a mix of guilt and enjoyment, you don’t know if you would pick the same choices the characters did, and then you are sucked into the whole glamor of it too deep to reflect your thoughts. That is Casino.
And ya, few more scenes – the last scene takes the glamor literally to the ground and buries it in the dirt and grime of it all, and the scene in the desert. And who can forget the (in)famous De Niro-Stone confrontation, only the master can do it with such aplomb. He makes you forget the hot diva of Basic Instinct and makes you hate the bitch she portrays, even if for a moment but he does. What a con!
Tushar, the insider view is what i loved about Casino the best. It was like being there. And yes the characters, Pesci, hot headed, De Niro, cool and calculated, and Stone totally bitchy. Sharon Stone was totally unrecognizable, in that show down with De Niro, i mean was this the same Sharon Stone of Basic Instinct i wondered. A total trailer trash, looser kinda role. Even her death is so grubby, nothing glam about it.
fine post…another one for ur fave marty
way to go…