Gangster Tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (12 January 2006)

In the 90's, Martin Scorsese directed two great rags to riches to rags again gangster movies. The first was 1990's "Goodfellas". The second was 1995's "Casino". Both movies are based on books by Nicolas Pileggi, and screenplays written both by Pileggi and Scorsese. The movie takes an excellent look inside the old Las Vegas when gangsters ran it. Robert De Niro is in top form as Ace, the main character that works his way up in Vegas. Joe Pesci is also excellent as Nicky, who seems to be a somewhat toned down version of his character Tommy from "Goodfellas". This is Pesci's best work to date. Sharon Stone, James Woods, Kevin Pollack, Alan King, Don Rickles, Frank Vincent, L.Q. Jones, and Dick Smothers round up the excellent support cast. The soundtrack to the movie is one of the best assembled. Robert Richardson, who did a majority of Oliver Stone films, does an excellent job at cinematography in his first Scorsese film. Scorsese regular Thelma Schoonmaker does another excellent job of film editing.
This film, along with "Goodfellas" and "Blow" deliver the time old theme of becoming powerful, and then losing it all. I've always believed these movies are excellent at showing this theme way better than some films, especially Brian De Palma's version of "Scarface" (even though Al Pacino is excellent). After you watch "Goodfellas" watch this film right away.