Mob Vegas Classic

Rating: Null/10 (8 September 2004)

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** "Casino" is a graphic, realistic, and hilarious examination of a city controlled by corruption, violence, and avarice. The performances by Robert DeNiro as the tycoon scapegoat Sam (Ace) Rothstein, Joe Pesci as the wiseguy, menacing "big man on campus" Nicky Santoro, and Sharon Stone, as the emotionally disturbed, afflicted, and ballistic Ginger, among others, lend way to perhaps the most amusing and engaging story ever captured on film. I felt a great deal for these characters: their successes, troubles, and demises, as "no one stays on top forever", and I received an indelible conception of the operation of the mob in my residence of Las Vegas in the early 1980s. The script is fantastic: hilarious at times (this humor especially driven by the brilliant Joe Pesci, who can perform the most grotesque, audacious acts and still come across as hilarious), yet also serious and interesting, in examining down to the bare core the details of the mob underworld and its operation of casino empires. The direction by Martin Scorcese is definitely Oscar-worthy: rich, sincere, and relentless in focusing on various themes chronicling the volatile story. I especially appreciated the music, correlating with the film's themes most befittingly: light, heavy, dark, comical, etc. This film, besides being an engaging, amusing, and captivating tale about the body of the mob, is an excellent, and almost impeccable, production, wherein everything, from the direction, the acting, the screenplay, the music, and the editing, compliments whatever theme a scene is trying to achieve. Not for everyone, especially for those who might be allergic to obscenity (as this is perhaps the most profane film I've ever seen). Yet if you enjoy hardcore, serious, and comical stories about success, greed, and personal destruction, "Casino" fits the bill perfectly. For me, this is the best "mob" film ever, and a genuine classic in style, story, and deliverance. **** out of ****