When Casino was released in theaters in 1995, it was definitely a breath of fresh air for the gangster genre. For starters, it didn’t take place on the streets of New York City which was a welcome departure given how many times we had seen it already. It’s always interesting to see movies or read books in the gangster genre that take place in locales you wouldn’t expect such as Kansas City. The plot itself was incredible and the fact that it was a true story made it all the more intriguing. Casino really gave the viewer an inside look at how much of a stronghold the Mafia had on Las Vegas and how they used union pension funds to purchase a casino on the Las Vegas strip. One of the film’s main strengths was the acting. There wasn’t a single performance that wasn’t absolutely phenomenal. Robert Deniro was fantastic as the no-nonsense, chain-smoking, gambling guru and head of the Tangiers, Sam “Ace” Rothstein. Besides delivering some funny lines and wearing some of the most abominable suits ever tailored, it was almost amusing to see Deniro not be the tough guy. He was connected up the wazoo but for once he wasn’t this fearsome character and at times he was actually in fear of others. Sharon Stone also delivered a great performance as broken woman, Ginger. Through her acting you could just feel that Ginger had been through too much to ever be “normal” and the torture she put Sam through was just painful. As great as Deniro and Sharon Stone were, Joe Pesci really stole the show as psychopathic mob boss Nicky Santoro who was based on real life gangster Tony Spilotro. Casino really gave Pesci the chance to show his chops in an epic three hour film and he did his job and then some. Pesci’s characters, while always great, always saw him portraying something of a caricature even as Tommy in Goodfellas which was also put together by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorcese. In Casino, we got to see Pesci play a serious guy, the boss. That isn’t to say that famous Joe Pesci humor didn’t come out as some of his voice overs were hilarious, especially given that they were delivered in that distinct Midwestern gangster accent. He truly put it over in spades and made every scene so memorable. Only Joe Pesci could make you kind of chuckle at a scene where he’s repeatedly stabbing a guy in the neck with a pen or popping a man’s eye out with a vice. It wasn’t just the main players that made this movie great. Even the supporting cast including Frank Vincent, Don Rickles, and Pasquale Cajano as Remo Gaggi were phenomenal. They gave the movie depth and that’s what I think made Casino a stand out film. In my opinion, despite having the same creators, Casino blows Goodfellas out of the water although Casino did have a lot more to work with in terms of storyline. It encapsulated everything a movie is supposed to be. We saw so many sides to every different character and it made these people who were totally not relatable, relatable. After the Godfather Part 1 & 2, Casino ranks very high in terms of gangster flicks. And let’s not forget the film’s conclusion which was full of some of the most brutal scenes ever including Nicky and his brother being beaten nearly to death with bats and then buried alive. Nicky dying horribly and Sam surviving by the skin of his teeth was the only way this movie could have ended. Casino is a classic film if there ever was one.
Article By: Jon DaBove
