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Storyline
This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas--it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970's and '80's are revealed. Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino, while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw--Ace falls in love with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs and violence.
Written by
Tad Dibbern <DIBBERN_D@a1.mscf.upenn.edu>
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Motion Picture Rating
(MPAA)
Rated R for strong brutal violence, pervasive strong language, drug use and some sexuality
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Did You Know?
Goofs
In the scene when Nicky and Frank collect from the bookie Frank points and says "smarten up," but his lips don't move.
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Quotes
[
first lines]
Ace Rothstein:
[
voice-over]
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. Otherwise, what's the point? And for a while, I believed, that's the kind of love I had.
[
Ace's car explodes]
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Crazy Credits
SPOILER: Nicky is about to finish his narration, he's cut short by the mobsters wanting to whack him.
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Soundtracks
Boogaloo Down Broadway
Written by Jesse James
Performed by
The Fantastic Johnny C
Courtesy of Phil - L.A. of Soul Records
Published by Dandelion Music
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A complex, multilayered, beautifully directed film, Martin Scorsese's Casino is a masterpiece of destruction and betrayal. Few films take so many chances and succeed so wonderfully. It takes some of the basic formulas that were found in Goodfellas and applies them to another type of story - while Goodfellas' view was ground-level, telling the story of the "blue collar" gangsters of NYC, this film tells the story of the guys who controlled those guys. And it's fascinating to watch these people run Las Vegas, control the flow of money, and then fall from the heights of power due to lust, hubris, and greed. An amazing film that will hopefully get the recognition it deserves in the years to come.