Casino (1995 film)

Martin Scorsese in 2006, the director of the film

Casino is based on New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. The research for Casino began when news reporter and 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.[5] 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 (whose screenplay he co-wrote with Scorsese) was coming to an end.[6] 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. This skimming operation, when uncovered by the FBI, was the largest ever exposed.[7] A number of organized crime figures were convicted as a result of the skimming.[8]

Pileggi contacted Scorsese about taking the lead of the project, which became known as Casino.[5] 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.[6] Real-life characters were reshaped, such as Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Geri McGee, Anthony Spilotro, and Spilotro's brother Michael. Some characters were combined, and parts of the story were set in Kansas City 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] Real life mobster turned witness Frank Cullotta inspired the character Frank Marino (played by Frank Vincent),[11] served as a technical advisor for the film,[12] and also played an on-screen role as a hitman.[13][14]

They also decided to simplify the script, so that the character of Sam "Ace" Rothstein worked only 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 him flying into the air before hovering over the flames in slow motion—like a soul about to go straight down to hell.[9]

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] Saul Bass did the title sequence, which was his last work.[15] The total cost for the titles was a whopping $11,316, not including the fees for the Basses. Bass justified the cost to De Fina by noting that creating a continuous explosion from a second shot of an explosion demanded a lot of experimentation, as did getting the flight path of the body exactly right.[16] 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.[17]

The film was shot in the Super 35 format as it allowed the picture to be reformatted for television broadcast. Scorsese said, "I wish I could just shoot straight anamorphic, but the lenses we had in this situation were actually much more diversified. To a certain extent, shooting a film this way can make certain technical aspects more difficult, but to me, anything is better than panning and scanning on TV. We can re-frame just about every shot we did on this picture for video."[18]

Casino was released in theaters in the United States on November 22, 1995.

Casino opened in 1,616 theaters and grossed about $10 million in its opening weekend.[2] The film grossed $43 million domestically and $73 million internationally, for a total of $116 million worldwide,[19] on a $40–50 million budget.[1]

Sharon Stone (pictured in 2017) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film.

On its release, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, although their praise was more muted than it had been for the thematically similar Goodfellas, released only five years earlier, with some reviewers criticizing Scorsese for retreading familiar territory.[20] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 79% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Impressive ambition and bravura performances from an outstanding cast help Casino pay off in spite of a familiar narrative that may strike some viewers as a safe bet for director Martin Scorsese."[21] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."[22] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A+ to F.[23]

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four, stating that "Martin Scorsese's fascinating new film Casino knows a lot about the Mafia's relationship with Las Vegas. Like The Godfather it makes us feel like eavesdroppers in a secret place." He added, "Unlike his other Mafia movies (Mean Streets and Goodfellas), Scorsese's Casino is as concerned with history as with plot and character."[24]

Philip Thomas of the Empire praised the film while highlighting its similarities to Goodfellas. He gave the film five stars commenting "It may not be Scorsese's greatest work, but this guy feeling a little off-colour is still far, far better than most people on fighting-fit form. It only gets more impressive as time goes on."[25]

The film's critical profile has increased in years after its release, with several critics expressing that, in retrospect, they feel it is a more accomplished and artistically mature work than the thematically similar Goodfellas.[20][26]

1. "Contempt – Theme De Camille" by Georges Delerue
2. "Angelina/Zooma, Zooma Medley" by Louis Prima
3. "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Muddy Waters
4. "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers
5. "Nights in White Satin" by The Moody Blues
6. "How High the Moon" by Les Paul & Mary Ford
7. "Hurt" by Timi Yuro
8. "Ain't Got No Home" by Clarence 'Frogman' Henry
9. "Without You" by Nilsson
10. "Love Is the Drug" by Roxy Music
11. "I'm Sorry" by Brenda Lee
12. "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac
13. "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King
14. "Love Is Strange" by Mickey & Sylvia
15. "The 'In' Crowd" by Ramsey Lewis
16. "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael

1. "Walk on the Wild Side" by Jimmy Smith
2. "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" by Otis Redding
3. "I Ain't Superstitious" by Jeff Beck Group
4. "The Glory of Love" by The Velvetones
5. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by Devo
6. "What a Diff'rence a Day Made" by Dinah Washington
7. "Working in the Coal Mine" by Lee Dorsey
8. "The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals
9. "Toad" by Cream
10. "Who Can I Turn To?" by Tony Bennett
11. "Slippin' and Slidin'" by Little Richard
12. "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" by Dean Martin
13. "Compared to What" (Live) by Les McCann & Eddie Harris
14. "Basin Street Blues/When It's Sleepy Time Down South" by Louis Prima
15. "St. Matthew Passion (Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder)" by Johann Sebastian Bach (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Georg Solti)

• Thompson, David; Christie, Ian (1996). Scorsese on Scorsese. Faber and Faber. ISBN 978-0-571-22002-1.
• Evans, David (2006). De Niro: A Biography.