One of my Absolute Favorites!!!

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2008)

Ranking along with my all time favourite films, Casino is based on the true story of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and Anthony "The Ant" Splitoro renamed Sam "Ace" Rothstein and Nicky Santoro for the film.
Playing Sam Rothstein is none other than Robert De Niro, supported by Sharon Stone as Ginger Rothstein, Sam's wife, and Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro, Sam's friend. There are many other familiar faces from Scorsese's film Goodfellas his prior mafia epic. Like Goodfellas this film is filled with the violence and seedy, yet classy environment of the underworld.
The basic plot is that Sam is a good handicapper who is given control of a new casino, the Tangiers, which is bankrolled by the Kansas City mafia. He moves out to Las Vegas to run the place, and he runs it very well, keeping out scam artists and cheaters. After a while, he becomes romantically involved with Ginger, a respected hustler who makes her rounds in Vegas, but has a troubled personality and history. He is later joined by his gangster pal Nicky Santoro, who moves out to Vegas with the intentions of conquering the city's criminal rackets.
Another good thing about the film is its soundtrack. Since the film takes place in the 1960s and 1970s, we are treated to all sorts of great music from classic artists. The soundtrack occupies two compact discs, giving you an idea of how much of a role the music plays in this movie.
This film also features what I consider one of the greatest opening credits sequences of all time. The camera rolls over waves of flashing lights, which represent the flashiness that Vegas is all about. The only complaint that I have about the beginning of the movie is the scene where a car explodes and a dummy is painfully visible in the front seat. Marty, how on earth could you have missed this?!
De Niro is fantastic (as usual) and really carries his role well. He plays a real tough guy, but at the same time we see how vulnerable he is. Despite his questionable background, he wants to play the casino straight and not get involved in any activities that could get him removed by the gaming board, easily one of his greatest roles.
This is also Sharon Stone's best performance, She plays the role of the drugged up wife very convincingly, with very real emotion. We watch with horror as she goes from being a classy hustler to a bored housewife with a severe drug problem with horrific consequences, Stone surprises in this film and was fully deserving of the Oscar nomination.
And of course there's Joe Pesci who gives out an amazing, hilarious yet completely disturbing performance as Nicky Santoro. At the beginning of the film, he is a lowly gangster, but by the end of the film he has created his own criminal empire and exhibits a lot of power in a scary way. His performance in this film is very similar to the one he gave in Goodfellas, with essentially the same explosive personality, although quite a bit darker, It's an incredible performance and ranks up there with his best.
The set locations are perfect for this film since all of the casino shots were taken inside of an actual Vegas casino. At the same time, the casino was convincingly reverted to the film's era, making us feel like we are in the early days of Vegas. It is definitely not the modern commercialized Las Vegas, but the older, frightening, yet classy Vegas where you don't try to rip off the casinos out of fear.
Scorsese uses a lot of shots with an interesting light effect, where bright light is shone brightly onto one or more actors in the shot. This creates a surreal appearance and makes the person look superior or even godlike. He also pulls some very interesting camera angles and uses special effects sparingly.
One of the things that Scorsese does really well is to explain everything to the viewer without ever making it boring. Right at the beginning of the movie, he explains who everyone is and how the casino was started. Throughout the movie, characters engage in narration to reveal their thoughts where we might otherwise be left guessing. I think this adds a nice touch and we feel as though we are inside the character's head as they give the narration.
Overall, this is one of my favourite films of all time and definitely one of my favourite Scorsese films. It is a true shame that he did not win an Academy Award for this achievement, since he clearly deserved it. I regard it as a must-see film.