Not A Mob Movie

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2020)

One thing I must warn you before going into this picture is that it is not a gangster picture, it is about the life of a man called Frank Rosenthal (Sam Rothstein) who is basically the owner of the casino. This film explores the life of running a casino and Joe Pesci steals the show every scene he is in, even if De Niro is the better actor.
Let me just start off my review by saying that if you go into this movie EXPECTING a "gangster" movie, you will be terribly disappointed, this story isn't about the mob, it's about what it's like to be the manager if a casino whilst having a friend INVOLVED in the mob. Robert De Niro gives (possibly) the greatest performance of the 90's, his character is so deeply interesting and his money-abusive wife Ginger Mckenna who has been with a pimp played by James Woods ever since she was 15. She asks for money and overuses it, De Niro decides to make her the only one accessible to his bank account and life savings.
Joe Pesci's character, Nicky Santoro, is part of the mob, and he asks Sam Rothstein if he could come to Las Vegas, it isn't long before he gets in the papers, the news articles write that if Nicky is ever seen in a casino, he will be taken to court, "Even if someone tripped over a ******* banana peel, they'd bring me in for it." Eventually, they end up having an argument in the desert about Sam telling Andy Stone that Nicky was bringing a lot of heat on him, being visible in his casinos and being known for whacking people.
The end result is that one of Nicky's best friends, Frank, ends up killing his brother, burying Nicky alive with wounds in his face from the strength of the bat. One of the greatest movies of the 1990's and one of Scorsese's greatest. Acting: 10/10 Story: 10/10 Direction: 10/10 Costume Design: 10/10