No other movie has so thoroughly captured the opulence and seedy underbelly of Las Vegas. While many movies show only the partying and weekend getaways, Casino digs deep. It exposes the city’s long ties with organized crime and reveals an intricate web of corruption that stretched from the casinos to politicians, Teamsters unions, Chicago mob, and the Midwest mafia based out of Kansas City.
The movie owes much to Nicholas Pileggi’s book, which is both an excellent read and a rich source of material for a film. But Scorsese and his cast elevate the film to a higher level. Sharon Stone gives the best performance of her career, and demonstrates that she is more than just a pretty face with a lot of sex appeal. Her portrayal of Ginger McKenna is both feisty and calculating, and she holds the viewer’s attention throughout.
Robert De Niro is just as good here as he was in Goodfellas, but the most striking performance in the film comes from Joe Pesci. His Nicky Santoro is a ruthless and sexy sociopath, but he also brings a sense of real humanity to the role.
Beneath the glamour of flashing lights and free cocktails, casinos are rigged to slowly drain their patrons of cash. This is why physicists have been able to beat them using advanced mathematics and probability theory; but it’s still in the best interest of most people to stay away.
