Casino (1995 film): Difference between revisions
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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===Critical response=== |
===Critical response=== |
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Upon its release, the film was heavily criticized for its intense violence. It received mostly positive reviews from critics |
Upon its release, the film was heavily criticized for its intense violence. It received mostly positive reviews from critics; however, their praise was more muted than it had been for the thematically similar ''[[Goodfellas]]'', released only five years earlier, with some reviews criticizing Scorsese for retreading familiar territory.<ref name=Charity>{{cite book |last=Charity |first=Tom |title=The Rough Guide to Film: Marin Scorsese |publisher=Penguin |date=July 5, 2016 |orig-year=1st pub. 2007 |pages=497 |isbn=978-1-84353-408-2}}</ref> [[Rotten Tomatoes]] gives the film an 80% approval rating based on 61 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title = Casino (1995) |url = http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1067987-casino/ |work = [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |accessdate = December 23, 2014 }}</ref> On Metacritic, the rating is 73 (generally favorable reviews) out of 100 based on 17 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title = Casino reviews |url = http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/casino |work = [[Metacritic]] |accessdate = July 10, 2010 }}</ref> The film's critical profile is increased in recent years, with several critics expressing that, in retrospect, they feel it to be a more accomplished and artistically mature work than the thematically similar ''Goodfellas''. <ref name=Charity>{{cite book |last=Charity |first=Tom |title=The Rough Guide to Film: Marin Scorsese |publisher=Penguin |date=July 5, 2016 |orig-year=1st pub. 2007 |pages=497 |isbn=978-1-84353-408-2}}</ref><ref name="Vargas-Cooper">{{cite news |title = Martin Scorsese's ''Casino'' |url = http://www.gq.com/story/canon-fodder-martin-scorsese-casino-goodfellas-review |work = [[Chicago Tribune]] |accessdate = July 5, 2016 |first=Natasha |last=Vargas-Cooper |date=November 10, 2011}}</ref> |
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===Awards=== |
===Awards=== |
Revision as of 17:21, 20 October 2016
Casino | |
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File:Casino poster.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Martin Scorsese |
Screenplay by |
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Produced by | Barbara De Fina |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Robert Richardson |
Edited by | Thelma Schoonmaker |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 178 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $40–50 million[1] |
Box office | $116.1 million[2][3] |
Casino is a 1995 American epic crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone. It is based on the non-fiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas[4] by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. The two previously collaborated on the hit film Goodfellas (1990).
The film marks the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, following Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), and Cape Fear (1991).
In Casino, De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a Jewish American top gambling handicapper who is called by the Italian Mob to oversee the day-to-day operations at the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. His character is based on Frank Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont, and Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s until the early 1980s. Pesci plays Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro, based on real-life Mob enforcer Anthony Spilotro, a made man. Nicky is sent to Vegas to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and the mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Ginger McKenna, Ace's scheming, self-absorbed wife, based on Geri McGee.
Casino was released on November 22, 1995, to a mostly positive critical response and was a box office success. Stone's performance was unanimously praised, earning her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Plot
In 1973, sports handicapper and mafia associate Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is sent to Las Vegas to run the Teamsters Union-funded Tangiers Casino on behalf of the Chicago Outfit, which secretly controls the Teamsters, while Philip Green (Kevin Pollak) serves as the mob's frontman. Taking advantage of gaming laws that allow him to work in a casino while his gaming licence is pending, Sam doubles the casino's profits, which are skimmed by the mafia before they are reported to income tax agencies. Impressed with his work, mafia boss Remo Gaggi (Pasquale Cajano), sends Sam's childhood friend and mob enforcer Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (Joe Pesci) and his associate Frank "Frankie" Marino (Frank Vincent) to protect Sam and the whole operation. Nicky's volatile temper soon gets him banned from every casino in Las Vegas, so he gathers his own crew and engages in independent shakedowns and burglaries instead.
Sam meets and falls in love with a hustler and former prostitute, Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone). They conceive a daughter and marry, but their marriage is proven difficult by Ginger's strong independence and love for her former boyfriend, con artist-turned pimp Lester Diamond (James Woods), who is ordered beaten severely by Sam and Nicky after they catch him conning Ginger out of some money. Ginger subsequently turns to alcohol. Meanwhile, Sam makes an enemy in county commissioner Pat Webb (L. Q. Jones) for firing his brother-in-law Don Ward (John Bloom) for incompetence. When Sam refuses to reinstate him, Webb pulls Sam's licence from the backlog, forcing him to face a hearing for his gaming licence while secretly arranging for the board to deny Sam. Sam blames the incident on Nicky's recklessness and the two argue furiously in the desert after Sam attempts to tell Nicky to leave Las Vegas.
The casino counters begin stealing some money for themselves, prompting the Midwest mafia bosses to put Artie Piscano (Vinny Vella) of the Kansas City mafia in charge of overseeing the transactions. Piscano is hopelessly inept. Incapable of finding the thieves, he instead keeps tabs of everything he knows about Vegas in a private notebook, and rants about it in his grocery store, unaware that the FBI have bugged the store as part of investigations completely unrelated to Vegas. Piscano's detailed complaints - complete with names - spurs the FBI to begin investigating the casino. Meanwhile, Sam finally seeks divorce from Ginger, tired of her alcoholism. She then kidnaps their daughter, Amy, taking her to Los Angeles, and plans to flee to Europe with Lester. Sam convinces her to come back with Amy, and then scolds her for stealing his money and kidnapping their daughter. After he overhears Ginger talking on the phone about killing him, he kicks her out of the house, but soon relents knowing if he gives Ginger money he would never see her again. Ginger then approaches Nicky for help in getting her valuables from their shared vault in the bank, and the two start an affair. Sam discovers this after finding Amy tied to her bed by Ginger, who is with Nicky at his restaurant. Sam disowns Ginger, and so does Nicky. A furious and drunk Ginger crashes her car into Sam's driveway, making a scene and retrieves the key to their deposit box after distracting the attending police. Though she succeeds in taking her share of the money from the bank, she is arrested by the FBI for aiding and abetting Sam.
The FBI move in and close the casino. Green decides to cooperate with the authorities. Piscano dies of a heart attack upon seeing federal agents discover his notebook. Nicky flees Las Vegas before he can be caught. The FBI approach Sam for help, but he turns them down. The aging bosses are arrested and put on trial, but decide to eliminate anyone involved in the scheme to stop them from testifying and prolonging their coming sentences, among them three casino executives, Teamsters head Andy Stone (Alan King) and money courier John Nance. Ginger flees to Los Angeles and ultimately dies penniless of a drug overdose in a motel. Sam himself is almost killed in a car bomb, and suspects Nicky was behind it. Before Sam can take revenge, Nicky and his brother Dominick are ambushed by Frankie and their own crew and savagely beaten and buried alive in a cornfield, the bosses having had enough of Nicky's behaviour and offering his crew clemency in exchange for the murder (the bosses also suspected Nicky's role in Sam's car bombing.)
With the mob now out of power, the old casinos are demolished and purchased by big corporations, who build new and gaudier attractions, which Sam laments are not the same as when the mafia was in control. Sam subsequently retires to San Diego and continues to live as a sports handicapper for the mob, in his own words, ending up "right back where I started". He closes the film with the words, "and that's that".
Cast
- Robert De Niro as Sam "Ace" Rothstein (based on Frank Rosenthal)
- Joe Pesci as Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro (based on Anthony Spilotro)
- Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna (based on Geri McGee)
- James Woods as Lester Diamond (based on Lenny Marmor[5])
- Frank Vincent as Frankie Marino (based on Frank Cullotta)
- Don Rickles as Billy Sherbert (based on Murray Ehrenberg)
- L. Q. Jones as Clark County Commissioner Pat Webb (based on Shannon Bybee)
- Kevin Pollak as Philip Green (based on Alan Glick)
- Alan King as Andy Stone (based on Allen Dorfman)
- Pasquale Cajano as Remo Gaggi (based on Joseph Aiuppa)
- John Bloom as Donald "Don" Ward
- Dick Smothers as Nevada State Senator Harrison Roberts (character based on former Nevada gaming commissioner and current US Senator Harry Reid)
- Philip Suriano as Dominick Santoro (based on Michael Spilotro)
- Bill Allison as John Nance (based on George Jay Vandermark)
- Vinny Vella as Artie Piscano (based on Carl DeLuna)
- Joseph Rigano as Vincent Borelli
- Nobu Matsuhisa as K. K. Ichikawa (based on Akio Kashiwagi)
- Richard Riehle as Charlie "Clean Face" Clark
- Frank Cullotta as Hitman
Production
Development
The research for Casino began when screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi read a 1980 report from the Las Vegas Sun about a domestic argument between Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, a casino figure, and his wife Geri McGee, a former topless dancer.[6] 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 was coming to an end (the screenplay which he co-wrote with Scorsese).[7] The fictional Tangiers resort reflected the story of the Stardust Resort and Casino, which had been bought by Argent Corporation in 1974 using loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. Argent was owned by Allen Glick, but the casino was believed to be controlled by various organized crime families from the Midwest. Over the next six years, Argent Corporation siphoned off between $7 and $15 million using rigged scales. When exposed by the FBI, this skimming operation was the largest ever exposed.[8] A number of organized crime figures were convicted as a result of the skimming.[citation needed]
Pileggi contacted Scorsese about taking the lead of the project, which became known as Casino.[6] Scorsese expressed interest, calling this an "idea of success, no limits".[9] Pileggi was keen to release the book and then concentrate on a film adaptation, but Scorsese encouraged him to "reverse the order".[10]
Scorsese and Pileggi collaborated on the script for five months, towards the end of 1994.[7] Real-life characters were reshaped, such as Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Geri, Anthony Spilotro, and his brother. Some characters were combined, and parts of the story were set in Las Vegas instead of Chicago. A problem emerged when they were forced to refer to Chicago as "back home" and use the words "adapted from a true story" instead of "based on a true story".[9] They also decided to simplify the script, so that the character of Sam "Ace" Rothstein only worked at the Tangiers Casino, in order to show a glimpse of the trials involved in operating a Mafia-run casino hotel without overwhelming the audience.[9] According to Scorsese, the initial opening sequence was to feature the main character, Sam Rothstein, fighting with his estranged wife Ginger on the lawn of their house. The scene was too detailed, so they changed the sequence to show the explosion of Sam's car and his flying into the air before hovering over the flames in slow motion—like a soul about to go straight down to hell.[9]
Principal photography
Filming took place at night in the Riviera casino in Las Vegas, with the nearby defunct Landmark Hotel as the entrance, to replicate the fictional Tangiers. According to the producer Barbara De Fina, there was no point in building a set if the cost were the same to use a real-life one.[9] The opening scene, with Sam's car exploding, was shot three times; the third take was used for the film.[9] When first submitted to the MPAA, the film received an NC-17 rating due to its depictions of violence. Several edits were made in order to reduce the rating to R.[11][12]
Release
Box office
The film grossed $42 million in North America and $116 million worldwide[2] on a $40–50 million budget.[1]
Reception
Critical response
Upon its release, the film was heavily criticized for its intense violence. It received mostly positive reviews from critics; however, their praise was more muted than it had been for the thematically similar Goodfellas, released only five years earlier, with some reviews criticizing Scorsese for retreading familiar territory.[13] Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 80% approval rating based on 61 reviews.[14] On Metacritic, the rating is 73 (generally favorable reviews) out of 100 based on 17 reviews.[15] The film's critical profile is increased in recent years, with several critics expressing that, in retrospect, they feel it to be a more accomplished and artistically mature work than the thematically similar Goodfellas. [13][16]
Awards
List of Accolades | |||
---|---|---|---|
Award / Festival | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Director | Martin Scorsese | Nominated |
Golden Globe Award[17] | Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Sharon Stone | Won |
Academy Award | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Sharon Stone | Nominated |
Guys Choice 2016 | Guy Movie Hall of Fame | Casino | Won |
American Film Institute lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated[18]
- AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Gangster Film[19]
Soundtrack
Untitled | |
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Disc 1
- "Contempt – Theme De Camille" by Georges Delerue
- "Angelina/Zooma, Zooma Medley" by Louis Prima
- "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Muddy Waters
- "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers
- "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues
- "How High The Moon" by Les Paul & Mary Ford
- "Hurt" by Timi Yuro
- "Ain't Got No Home" by Clarence 'Frogman' Henry
- "Without You" by Nilsson
- "Love Is the Drug" by Roxy Music
- "I'm Sorry" by Brenda Lee
- "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac
- "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King
- "Love Is Strange" by Mickey & Sylvia
- "The 'In' Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis
- "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael
Disc 2
- "Walk on the Wild Side" by Jimmy Smith
- "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" by Otis Redding
- "I Ain't Superstitious" by Jeff Beck Group
- "The Glory of Love" by The Velvetones
- "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by Devo
- "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" by Dinah Washington
- "Working in the Coal Mine" by Lee Dorsey
- "The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals
- "Toad" by Cream
- "Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)" by Tony Bennett
- "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Little Richard
- "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" by Dean Martin
- "Compared to What" (Live) by Les McCann & Eddie Harris
- "Basin Street Blues/When It's Sleepy Time Down South" by Louis Prima
- "St. Matthew Passion (Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder)" by Johann Sebastian Bach (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Georg Solti)
References
- ^ a b Army Archerd (1995-11-13). "Scorsese puts faith in preview auds". Variety. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
- ^ a b Scott Foundas Chief Film Critic @foundasonfilm (2013-05-07). "Andrew Garfield to Star in Martin Scorsese's 'Silence' (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
- ^ "Casino (1995)". Box Office Mojo. 1996-01-19. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
- ^ Pileggi, Nicholas (1995). Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (First ed.). Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-80832-3.
- ^ Nicholas Pileggi. Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. p. 261.
- ^ a b Baxter, John. De Niro: A Biography. p. 336.
- ^ a b Scorsese on Scorsese. p. 198.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (help) - ^ Levitan, Corey (2008-03-02). "Top 10 scandals: gritty city". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - ^ a b c d e f Scorsese on Scorsese. pp. 200–204.
{{cite book}}
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ignored (help) - ^ Baxter, John. De Niro: A Biography. p. 337.
- ^ Bona, Damien Inside Oscar 2
- ^ Dretzka, Gary (November 9, 1995). "Casino Wins Appeal For R Film Rating". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
- ^ a b Charity, Tom (July 5, 2016) [1st pub. 2007]. The Rough Guide to Film: Marin Scorsese. Penguin. p. 497. ISBN 978-1-84353-408-2.
- ^ "Casino (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
- ^ "Casino reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
- ^ Vargas-Cooper, Natasha (November 10, 2011). "Martin Scorsese's Casino". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 5, 2016.
- ^ "Golden Globe Awards for 'Sharon Stone'". goldenglobes.com. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
- ^ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- ^ "AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-04-12.
- ^ http://www.allmusic.com/album/casino-original-soundtrack-mw0000177467
Bibliography
- Thompson, David; Christie, Ian (1996). Scorsese on Scorsese. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22002-1.
- Evans, David (2006). De Niro: A Biography.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Casino at IMDb
- Casino at the TCM Movie Database
- Casino at AllMovie
- Casino at Box Office Mojo
- Casino at Rotten Tomatoes
- Casino at Metacritic
- 1995 films
- 1990s crime drama films
- American films
- American crime drama films
- American epic films
- English-language films
- Adultery in films
- Fiction narrated by a dead person
- Films about drugs
- Films about Italian-American organized crime
- Films about the Chicago Outfit
- Gambling films
- Gangster films
- Heist films
- Films about psychopaths
- Universal Pictures films
- Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe-winning performance
- Films directed by Martin Scorsese
- Films based on non-fiction books about organized crime
- Films set in California
- Films set in the Las Vegas Valley
- Films set in Missouri
- Films set in 1973
- Films set in 1980
- Films set in 1983
- Films based on actual events
- Films about Jewish-American organized crime
- Films shot in San Diego
- Obscenity controversies in film