Casino (film)
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| Casino | |
 Theatrical movie poster |
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| Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Barbara De Fina |
| Written by | Book: Nicholas Pileggi Screenplay: Nicholas Pileggi Martin Scorsese |
| Narrated by | Robert De Niro Joe Pesci Frank Vincent |
| Starring | Robert De Niro Joe Pesci Sharon Stone Frank Vincent Don Rickles Pasquale Cajano James Woods Kevin Pollak Alan King |
| Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
| Editing by | Thelma Schoonmaker |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 22, 1995 |
| Running time | 178 min. |
| Country | USA  |
| Language | English French |
| Budget | $52,000,000 |
Casino is an Academy Award nominated 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a Jewish top gambling handicapper who is called by the Mob to oversee the day-to-day operations at the fictional Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The story is based on the late Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont and the Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s until the early 1980s.
Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, based on the real-life Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, an intimidating enforcer and psychopath. Nicky is sent by the Chicago Outfit to Vegas to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and that the casinos and mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Ace's wife, the self-obsessed, spoiled, devious and sly Ginger, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
When released, Casino had the most uses of the word "fuck" (422) in a feature length film[1], but was outdone two years later by the film Nil by Mouth [2] although it remains the highest number of uses of the word in an American film excluding documentaries. Casino has been considered a companion piece to Scorsese's earlier film, Goodfellas (1990), which also starred De Niro and Pesci, and was written by Pileggi and Scorsese.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Casino is the story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a talented sports handicapper who, in 1973, is recruited by Midwest mob bosses to manage the new Tangiers casino in Las Vegas. The bosses have set up the casino to "skim" profits (stealing a portion of the cash collected from gamers before the income is reported to the authorities), and want someone in charge who they can trust and who would make them the greatest amount of money.
Sam is so good at his job that he doubles the amount of money sent back home to his bosses. As he builds the Tangiers into one of the biggest casinos in Vegas, Sam meets and falls in love with Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), one of the most successful and respected hustlers in town, whose only missions in life are money and taking care of her old boyfriend, a small-time pimp and golf hustler named Lester Diamond (James Woods).
Because of Sam's success, the bosses send Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci), a mob enforcer and Sam's boyhood friend, to Vegas to protect Sam and the casino from rival gangsters. Sam is skeptical of the plan, especially since Nicky, who is well-known for his violent temper, makes it clear to Sam that he wants to set up his own money-making schemes independent of the bosses’ control.
Sam and Ginger have a daughter and get married, but only after Sam assures Ginger that she will be taken care of financially for the rest of her life no matter what happens. Ginger still stays in contact with Lester Diamond, however, which puts a severe strain on Ginger and Sam’s relationship. At one point Sam has Lester beaten up in front of Ginger, which leads to further resentment (and drinking) on her part.
While he performs his casino protection duties, Nicky sets up his own criminal operations in Vegas, including loan sharking, shaking down other criminals, and using his Vegas crew to cheat at casino card tables using hand signals.
When the police put him in the Black Book, which bans him from entering any casino in Nevada, Nicky brings in friends from back home and his brother Dominic to commit robberies all over the city. Nicky sets up some legitimate businesses like a restaurant and a jewelry store to spread some of his stolen money around, and sends his trusted lieutenant Frank Marino (Frank Vincent) back home with money for the bosses to keep them happy, since Nicky is supposed to only be protecting the casino.
Sam’s relationship with Nicky becomes strained because Nicky’s activities are starting to draw public attention to Sam's criminal past. In addition, Ginger is increasingly turning to Nicky as a confidante, which Sam sees as an intrusion on his personal life.
Sam fires an incompetent employee who is a relative of one of the county commissioners. The commissioner retaliates by arranging for Sam to be denied a casino license, which Sam needs to keep working at the Tangiers. In response, Sam begins appearing on television, challenging the commissioner to a public debate. The bosses do not like the attention Sam is drawing to himself, and make it known they want him to stop. Sam blames Nicky for causing so much trouble on the street that every criminal activity in the city is now being closely scrutinized. When Nicky finds out about Sam’s complaints about him to the bosses, he confronts Sam about it in a tense argument in the middle of the Great Basin Desert, damaging their relationship even more.
Meanwhile, the “skim” is starting to get lighter and lighter and the bosses realize that the people they put in to operate the skim are in turn stealing money from them. They assign Kansas City underboss Artie Piscano to make sure nobody “skims the skim”. Because Piscano is incredibly inept, this requires repeated trips to Vegas - none of which help stop the declining returns of the mob's Vegas operation.
Piscano - unhappy with having to pay out-of-pocket for his frequent trips to Las Vegas, and also suspicious of everyone there - violates his boss's explicit orders and begins keeping records of everything he knows, recording it in ledger books. It is Piscano's ineptitude which ultimately dooms the Mob's Vegas business. Not knowing that his Kansas City store has been bugged by Federal investigators, Piscano loudly complains about the entire operation - including specific details of the Mob's control of "The Tangiers", the names of those working for them and - fatally - the existence and nature of his books. Ironically, the Kansas City investigation had no connection to The Tangiers until assigned investigators began to cross-reference the information revealed in Piscano's rants.
Ginger again hooks up with Lester Diamond, this time under guise of a vacation to Los Angeles with her and Sam's daughter. Sam finds out about the trip and, once he tracks them down, arranges to have his daughter and (reluctantly) Ginger fly back to Vegas. Ginger wants to forget anything happened, but Sam is enraged not only that she took their daughter but by the knowledge that Ginger is having sex with Lester.
Ginger complains to Nicky about Sam's behavior. Nicky agrees to become Ginger's "sponsor" and the two begin having a full-blown affair. This immediately threatens Nicky, Ginger, and Sam’s lives because they would all be killed if the bosses ever found out what was going on.
One night Sam calls the house to speak to Ginger and no one answers. Sam gets home to find Ginger gone and his young daughter locked in her room and tied to her bed with pantyhose by her mother. The phone rings and it's Nicky calling. When Sam states that he's looking for Ginger, he tells him that she's at his restaurant with him. Sam goes to the restaurant and confronts Ginger about how she treated their daughter, threatening her lethally.
Once they get home, Ginger and Sam have another argument, and Ginger storms out. She goes back to the restaurant and tells Nicky to have Sam killed. When he refuses to kill his friend of more than 30 years, she becomes enraged and attacks him. He throws her out of the restaurant and later laments to Frank that he made a big mistake getting involved with her.
The next morning, Ginger turns up at the family home to collect her possessions. Getting access into the house, she steals the key to a safety deposit box full of cash and jewels Sam had set up for her as a condition for getting married, then drives to the bank to take the loot. Sam tries to stop her but is too late. As soon as she leaves the bank, Ginger is arrested by the FBI for aiding the mob. She is later released when she doesn’t tell them anything.
Ultimately, the FBI collects enough information to arrest all the players of the skimming operation, their case further strengthened by Artie Piscano's expense reports, which they find after searching his house. Piscano suffers a fatal heart attack as soon as the agents find the books.
The Tangiers shuts down, and most of Nicky’s crew (except for Nicky, who is warned in advance about the coming arrests) is taken into custody. The Midwest bosses are also arrested and taken to court. While in the courthouse, the bosses hold a meeting during a recess and decide to have anyone who knew anything about the skimming operation killed. The skim’s major participants are tracked down and executed by the bosses’ hitmen.
The film then returns to the point in time at which it opened - with Rothstein's Cadillac Eldorado exploding shortly after he starts it, the car apparently having been rigged to explode. When shown at the film's beginning, the explosion is abrupt, and it appears that Rothstein was killed in the explosion. Returning to that moment, it is revealed that Rothstein narrowly survived the blast due to the presence of a metal plate inserted in the car by GM to correct a design flaw. Sam suspects that it wasn’t the bosses who rigged his car to blow up, but Nicky, who had been considering killing Sam to cover up his affair with Ginger.
Nicky's crew is released from jail, and Nicky holds a meeting with them in an Indiana cornfield to arrange to send his brother Dominic back to Vegas. On orders from the bosses, Nicky’s crew turns on him and viciously beat him and his brother with baseball bats. The Santoro Brothers are buried alive in a freshly dug grave.
Ginger eventually dies of a drug overdose in a cheap hotel after falling in with a bad crowd, having spent almost all of the money she took from Sam. In a voice-over, it's implied that the mob gave Ginger a "hot dose" meant to kill her. Nevertheless, Sam has her autopsied twice.
The Tangiers and all the famous hotels of the Vegas strip are demolished and replaced by oversized 'family-friendly' resorts that have become the staple of the modern-day city, built by large corporations and financed with junk bonds. The new casinos are technologically impressive, but alienating. "In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport."
The final scene shows Sam, still making bets for the mob while watching sporting events on multiple televisions from his new home in San Diego. The film fades out as Sam takes his glasses off and looks straight at the camera, visibly aged but comfortable being back where he started.
[edit] Cast
[edit] Development
The research for Casino began when Pileggi read a report from the Las Vegas Sun in 1980 about a domestic argument between Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, a casino figure and his wife, Geri McGee, a former topless dancer.[4] This gave him an idea to focus on a new book about the true story of mob infringement in Las Vegas during the 1970s, when filming of Goodfellas (the screenplay which he co-wrote with Scorsese) was coming to an end.[5] Pileggi decided to contact Scorsese about taking the helm of the project which would become known as Casino.[4] Scorsese expressed interest in the project calling this an "idea of success, no limits".[6] Although, he was keen to release the book and then concentrate on a film adaption, Scorsese encouraged him to "reverse the order".[7]
[edit] Screenplay
Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the script lasting for a total of five months, towards the end of 1994.[5] Real-life characters such as Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Geri, Anthony Spilotro and his brother were reshaped. Some characters were combined as well as parts of the story being set in Las Vegas instead of Chicago. A problem emerged when they were forced to refer Chicago as "back home" and use the words "adapted from a true story" instead of "based on a true story".[6] They also decided to change the script, so that the character of Sam "Ace" Rothstein only worked at the Tangiers Casino as a glimpse to highlight how far we went on the casino floor to the kitchen and the food.[6] According to Scorsese, the initial opening sequence was to feature the main character, Sam Rothstein, fighting with his estranged wife, Ginger, on the lawn on their house. Since the scene was too detailed, they changed the sequence to show the explosion of Sam's car and see him fly into the air before hovering over the flames in slow motion - like a soul about to go straight down in hell.[6]
[edit] Principal Photography
Filming took place in The Riviera Casino in Las Vegas to replicate the fictional Tangiers, during the night - which was once as late as 4:00 in the morning. According to the producer Barbara De Fina, there was no point building a set if the same cost was to use a real-life one.[6] The opening scene - Sam's car explosion - was shot three times with the latter one being used for the film from the real life account of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal of the way he managed to escape.[6] The precise details of the explosion were seen to suggest that you never forget these moments if you know how close you can come to being killed.[6] According to Martin Scorsese, "we (with Nicholas Pileggi) wanted to show the end of the old way".[6]
[edit] Differences between fact and fiction
- The scenes where Nicky stabs a man in the neck with a pen for insulting Sam and where Nicky gets drunk in the casino and hits Billy Sherbert in the face with a telephone are entirely fictional. On an interesting note, Nicky says to Sherbert, "What are you staring at, you bald-headed Jew prick?": this is one of Don Rickles' (Sherbert) trademark insults, although in this case, Joe Pesci (Nicky) says it to him rather than Rickles saying it to somebody else.
- The majority of the actual events took place in Kansas City, Missouri, even more so than Las Vegas. In the 1970s, the Kansas City mob was involved in a gangland war over control of the River Quay entertainment district, in which three buildings were bombed and several gangsters were killed. Police investigations into the mob took hold after Kansas City Boss Nick Civella was recorded discussing gambling bets on Super Bowl IV (where the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings). The gang war and investigation would lead to the end of mob control of the Stardust Casino, which was the basis for the film (although the Kansas City connections are minimized in the movie).
- The character of Frank Marino (played by Frank Vincent and based on Frank Cullotta) participates in the killing of the Santoro brothers. In reality, Frank Cullotta was not present and played no part in the beating of the Spilotro brothers (on whom the Santoro brothers were based), and only betrayed them by testifying against them about the M & M murders (as the 1962 murders of James Miraglia and Billy McCarthy in Chicago were called) when Anthony Spilotro ordered him killed over the phone, although Cullotta's testimony was not enough to convict Spilotro. Cullotta also has a cameo as Curly, one of Gaggi's hitmen near the end of the film.
- The character of John Nance, based on George Vandermark, is murdered in the film with two gunshots to the stomach and one to the head and left in open view. The real George Vandermark was murdered along with his drug addict son, Jeffrey, but his body was never found. Furthermore, Bill Allison (Nance's actor), is a former casino owner and served as a technical advisor for the film, along with Frank Cullotta (who plays Curly, Nance's killer).
- In the film Artie Piscano, based on Kansas City Underboss Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna, dies of a heart attack during an FBI raid on his home. In reality, DeLuna was arrested, tried and sentenced to 30 years. He did in fact keep extensive cryptic notes hidden in his basement which, together with wiretaps, connected all the dots the FBI needed. He was released from prison in 1998 and died in Kansas City in 2008, the penultimate surviving defendant. The last defendant was Rosenthal himself, who died of a heart attack in October 2008.
- The Tangiers Casino, based on the Stardust Resort & Casino, is shown to be demolished at the end of the movie, whereas in real life, the Stardust Casino was not demolished until March 2007. On an interesting note, bars from the Hoagy Carmichael song Stardust can be heard in the soundtrack.
- In the movie, Robert De Niro's character, Sam "Ace" Rothstein, juggles on television. However, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the real-life counterpart of Ace, says on his official website that he never did such a thing.
- The Spilotro Brothers were said to be brutally beaten with aluminum bats until they were unconscious in a basement in Bensenville, Illinois, and buried in a cornfield in Indiana according to testimony of Nick Calabrese in the Chicago Family Secrets Mob Trial.
- The place in the film where the bosses of the Chicago mob met to pick up and distribute their Las Vegas money was in a boarded up, out-of-business ARCO gas station on the southeast corner of Harlem Ave. and Division St. in Oak Park, IL.
- The "head in the vise" scene happens while Nicky is helping Sam in Vegas. In reality, the incident took place about 10 years before the setting of the film, and was the real reason why Spilotro became a made man.
[edit] Reception
While the movie was heavily criticized for its excessive violence, it garnered a mostly positive critical response. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 83% "fresh" rating.[8] On Metacritic, the rating is 73 (generally favourable reviews) out of 100 based on 17 reviews.
[edit] Awards
[edit] Academy Awards
[edit] Nominated
[edit] Golden Globes
[edit] Won
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama - Sharon Stone
[edit] Nominated
- Best Director - Motion Picture - Martin Scorsese
[edit] Soundtrack
| Casino: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | ||
|---|---|---|
_Soundtrack-Front.jpg) |
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| Soundtrack by Various Artists | ||
| Released | November 20, 1995 | |
| Genre | Soundtrack | |
| Label | MCA | |
[edit] Track listing
[edit] Disc one
- "Contempt - Theme De Camille" - Georges Delerue
- "Angelina/Zooma, Zooma Medley" - Louis Prima
- "Hoochie Coochie Man" - Muddy Waters
- "Nights in White Satin" - The Moody Blues
- "How High The Moon" - Les Paul & Mary Ford
- "Hurt" - Timi Yuro
- "Ain't Got No Home" - Clarence 'Frogman' Henry
- "Without You" - Nilsson
- "Love Is the Drug" - Roxy Music
- "I'm Sorry" - Brenda Lee
- "Go Your Own Way" - Fleetwood Mac
- "The Thrill Is Gone" - B.B. King
- "Love Is Strange" - Mickey & Sylvia
- "The 'In' Crowd" - Ramsey Lewis
- "Stardust" - Hoagy Carmichael
[edit] Disc two
- "Walk on the Wild Side" - Jimmy Smith
- "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" - Otis Redding
- "I Ain't Superstitious" - Jeff Beck Group
- "The Glory of Love" - The Velvetones
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - Devo
- "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" - Dinah Washington
- "Working in the Coal Mine" - Lee Dorsey
- "House of the Rising Sun" - The Animals
- "Those Were the Days" - Cream
- "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" - Tony Bennett
- "Slippin' and Slidin'" - Little Richard
- "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" - Dean Martin
- "Compared to What" - Les McCann & Eddie Harris
- "Basin Street Blues/When It's Sleepy Time Down South" - Louis Prima
- "St. Matthew Passion (Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder)" - Johann Sebastian Bach (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
[edit] Additional songs in the film
- "Moonglow / theme from Picnic" - Eddie DeLange/Irving Mills
- "Sing Sing Sing" - Louis Prima
- "7-11 (Mambo #5)" - The Gone All Stars
- "Long Long While" - The Rolling Stones
- "Heart of Stone" - The Rolling Stones
- "Nel blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" - Domenico Modugno
- "Takes Two to Tango" - Ray Charles & Betty Carter
- "Unforgettable" - Dinah Washington
- "I'll Take You There" - The Staple Singers
- "Love Me the Way I Love You" - Jerry Vale
- "Let's Start All Over" - The Paragons
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones
- "Sweet Virginia" - The Rolling Stones
- "Stella by Starlight" - Ray Charles
- "Sweet Dreams" - Emmylou Harris
- "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - The Rolling Stones
- "Toad" - Cream
- "Gimme Shelter" - The Rolling Stones
- "EEE-O Eleven" - Sammy Davis Jr.
- "I'll Walk Alone" - Don Cornell
- "Whip It" - Devo
- "Contempt-Theme de Camille" - Georges Delerue
- "I'm Confessing That I Love You" - Louis Prima & Keely Smith
- "Harbor Lights" - The Platters
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119792/trivia
- ^ Harry Reid is not boring. - By Chris Suellentrop - Slate Magazine
- ^ a b Baxter, John DeNiro: A Biography p.336.
- ^ a b Thompson, David and Christie, Ian Scorsese on Scorsese p.198.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Thompson, David and Christie, Ian Scorsese on Scorsese pp.200-204.
- ^ Baxter, John DeNiro: A Biography p.337.
- ^ Casino Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit] Bibliography
- Scorsese on Scorsese. Faber and Faber. 1996. ISBN 978-0571220021.
- Evans, David (2006). DeNiro: A Biography.
[edit] External links
- Casino at the Internet Movie Database
- Casino at Rotten Tomatoes
- Casino at Metacritic
- Casino at Allmovie
- Casino at the TCM Movie Database
- Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal Official Website
- Casino Website
- DeLuna released from prison after serving 14 years - April 22, 1998.
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