About as good as it gets

Rating: 9/10 (13 July 2012)

I can't believe I've never reviewed this classic, but that's probably because it is a classic and therefore hard to do it justice in writing. Scorsese gives us an intimate look at 1970s' Las Vegas, when the mob ruled, and courtesy of Pillegi's novel. The plot centers on two childhood pals (DeNiro and Pesci), both "connected" and shipped out to Vegas. DeNiro's charismatic character Ace Rothstein runs a casino and hotel, while Pesci's strong-arm thug Nicky Santoro delights in causing old-fashioned mayhem. The difference in their approaches to Sin City will eventually cause them to be at odds with one another. Sharon Stone plays a grifter and prostitute whom DeNiro's character marries, to his eternal dismay, as she cannot shake her old ways. An almost unrecognizable James Woods plays her loser boyfriend. Everyone is at the height of their careers here. The dialogue is sharp, the editing first-rate, the vistas of a now-vanished version of Vegas truly astounding. There are moments when the dialogue is clearly being improvised, which gives the film a more natural feel -- even though I normally associate improvised dialogue with inexpensive indies, not a major Hollywood production. Along with Scorsese's "Goodfellas" and Mann's "Heat," a must-see.