Snake Eyes (1998)

A shady police detective finds himself in the middle of a murder conspiracy at an important boxing match in an Atlantic City casino.

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Brian De Palma (story), David Koepp (story)

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Rick Santoro
Gary Sinise	...	Commander Kevin Dunne
John Heard	...	Gilbert Powell
Carla Gugino	...	Julia Costello
Stan Shaw	...	Lincoln Tyler
Kevin Dunn	...	Lou Logan
Michael Rispoli	...	Jimmy George
Joel Fabiani	...	Charles Kirkland
Luis Guzmán	...	Cyrus (as Luis Guzman)
David Anthony Higgins	...	Ned Campbell
Mike Starr	...	Walt McGahn
Tamara Tunie	...	Anthea
Chip Zien	...	Mickey Alter
Michaella Bassey	...	Tyler's Party Girl #2
Paul Joseph Bernardo	...	Casino Security #1

Storyline

Ricky Santoro is a flamboyant and corrupt Atlantic City cop with a dream: become so well connected that he can become mayor. In lieu of that, he'll settle for keeping his comfortable lifestyle. On the night of the heavyweight boxing championship, Rick becomes mixed up in the assassination of the Secretary of Defense, an assassination involving his best friend. Becoming the investigating officer in the case, Rick soon uncovers a conspiracy to kill the Secretary and a mysterious woman in white. The conspiracy was shocking, but not half as shocking as the identity of its mastermind.

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Plot Keywords:

long take | pantyhose | white pantyhose | character repeats someone else's dialogue | miniskirt | 

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Taglines:

Seeing is Deceiving

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Will Smith turned down the role of Commander Kevin Dunne to star in another conspiracy thriller that was also released that year, Enemy of the State (1998) which Smith starred as a lawyer whom finds himself hunted by NSA agents when he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy when he falls into possession of videotape containing footage of the assassination of a politician whom refused to support the Telecommunications Security and Privacy act.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 30 mins) Closing dialogue refers to alternate ending.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Anthea: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to a Powell pay-per-view television event! It's hard to believe, but tonight's heavyweight fight is the swan song for the grand old Atlantic City Arena, the final event to be held in this storied hall before it is gutted and completely renovated as part of Gilbert Powell's Millennium Hotel and Casino. I'm eager to go ringside along with 14,000 fight fans who have braved Hurricane Jezebel to...
Lou Logan: Cut! Cut! Anthea, they want you to call it a tropical ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The end credits scroll over a construction site scene (presumably the new casino), closing in tighter and tighter until the final shot is of a bright red jewel embedded in a concrete pillar that the workmen are installing. Most of the time the jewel is hidden under the hand of one of the workers. The ring was worn by the red-haired woman/Navy agent who was part of Commander Kevin Dunn's scheme.

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Connections

Referenced in Nostalgia Critic: Con Air (2020)

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Soundtracks

Shortest Route
Written by Teppo Pulli, Jani Muurinen, Kalle Taivainen, Olli Nurminen & Toni Stranium
Performed by Xysma
Courtesy of Release Records
By Arrangement with Rykodisc and Ocean Park Music Group

User Reviews

I Like This.....Which Surprises Me

Most people didn't like this movie, from what I have heard and read over the years. Some of my friends who saw it didn't like it either. For some reason, I did, and that was despite a few things I normally don't put up with (too much usages of the Lord's name in vain and the usual anti-military agenda.)

However, I found this a very fast-moving, involving story with Nicholas Cage playing an extremely interesting person: "Rick Santoro," a guy who acts like a complete crazy man at the beginning but slowly gets it together as the film goes on. Gary Sinise plays his normal corrupt role (this was before his CSI: New York days) and Carla Gugino was very easy on my eyes.

Brian DePalma directed this, so you know it's going to be stylishly shot, too. This looks really, really good on the recently-released Blu-Ray.

All the characters are interesting, actually. One complaint I agree with: the ending was a bit weak and detracts from the story. It's a rough film but edgy and interesting. Don't be discouraged reading a lot of negative reviews about this. It's good entertainment.

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 August 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Snake Eyes

Filming Locations:

Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$73,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,310,373, 9 August 1998

Gross USA:

$55,591,409

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$103,891,409

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, DeBart, Touchstone Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1