“Casino” is an American crime film based on the 1995 nonfiction book “Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas” by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the film with Martin Scorsese.
Robert De Niro as “Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein”, a Jewish-American professional gambler who is good at analyzing betting odds and various tactics, hired by Italian gangsters to be in charge of the day-to-day operations and management of the Tangier Casino in Las Vegas its casino hotel.
Joe Pesci plays Nicky, who is sent by the gang to Las Vegas to protect Sam so that Sam can run the casino without worries.
Sharon Stone plays Jill, Sam’s greedy and selfish wife.
“Casino” describes in detail the details of the casino operation, the difficulties encountered by the protagonist at work, the involvement of gangsters and the casino, and the gradual disintegration of the protagonist’s interpersonal relationship and status as Las Vegas has changed over the years.
The three main characters based on true events all have their real-world counterparts.
Although adaptations of true events are very common in film history, this film once again confirms the saying that “reality is always more exaggerated than movies”.
“Casino” is not only a real character with corresponding characters, but also some exaggerated plots. After I watched the movie, I found out that it was actually a real event!
Think about it too, because these stories are often drawn from the real world, but I am still surprised that the plot that I thought was created by the movie actually happened!
The character played by Robert De Niro, based on Frank Lawrence Rosenthal, nicknamed “Southpaw” Rosenthal, is an American professional sports gambler, former Las Vegas casino director, and a partner in a criminal organization.
Frank Rosenthal, 39, came to Las Vegas and started as a floor manager at a “casino.” Six years later, he has become the de facto operator of the casino.
Although he never obtained an official license to operate a casino, Rosenthal once even owned four Las Vegas casinos at one point, and even the owners of the casinos had to obey his hired “employee.”
Anthony Spilotro, a gangster friend Rosenthal has known since childhood, is his helper.
Their two stories are the story of Robert De Niro’s Sam and Joe Pesci’s Nicky in “Casino”.
And Sharon Stone’s most exciting role in Gill’s acting career is Rosenthal’s wife Ginger McKenna.
Ginger McKenna was originally a senior call girl in Las Vegas, married Rosenthal and bore him two children (she originally had one).
Rosenthal wanted her to support his career and focus on taking care of the family’s children, but Ginger couldn’t stand it and became addicted to alcohol and drugs.
Rosenthal once sent a private detective to investigate his wife, but was shocked to realize that the object of Ginger’s affair was actually his friend Ant.
Then, their crazy life began:
They divorced in 1981.
In October 1982, a bomb was planted in Rosenthal’s car, nearly killing him. The culprit is still unknown.
In November 1982, Ginger, who had taken Rosenthal’s large amount of belongings, was found unconscious in a Los Angeles hotel from a drug overdose.
Three days later, her short life of forty-six years came to an end.
The cause of death was a mixture of cocaine, sedatives and alcohol in the body.
However, Ginger’s family believes she was murdered by the same group who planted the bomb in Rosenthal’s car.
But others believe that Rosenthal felt that Ginger hired someone to do the car bomb, so he took revenge on Ginger.
After the release of “Casino” in 1995, Frank Rosenthal, who was still alive, commented on the film:
“I’m not Bob [DeNiro] and he’s not Frank”
Actor of director Martin Scorsese
If you have seen a few movies of Hirokazu Koreeda, it should not be difficult to find that Hirokazu Koreeda likes to use several actors, and the main actors are so repetitive that they will confuse different movies.
Martin Scorsese also has the same habit. “Casino” is the eighth film that Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro have collaborated on. So far, they have collaborated on nine feature films and one short film. The latest (tenth) collaborative film is “Killers of the Flower Moon” is still in the filming stage, with an undetermined release date.
As for Joe Pesci, although not as many collaborations with Martin Scorsese as Robert De Niro, this is Joe Pesci’s third film with the director (four films in total).
And Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci can be said to be golden partners, and the two have worked together in a total of six films.
The amazing number of cooperation between the three makes the mutual understanding visible in the movie.
A classic not to be missed
“Casino” is a complex and multi-layered film. It takes less than three hours to describe the stories of the three people in detail and to create distinctive characters. It also has to grasp the involvement of various interest groups. And the ending is complete indeed, I really only have to admire the director’s skill!
Just as an audience, from the beginning to the end of the movie, you can really only watch the movie with the concentration of the exam. If you are not careful, you will miss the details of the story. It is really hard to imagine how the director can handle all kinds of details and not pay attention. Loss of mastery of the general direction.
Sometimes watching an old movie is to see an atmosphere, a different way of filming, and appreciate the kind of film that has no special effects, so it may be a little bright, but it is a good film created by dialogue or excellent plot.
“Casino” is completely a masterpiece that can be called a masterpiece even if it is released now. The plot arrangement and the processing of the shots really cannot be achieved by equipment or special effects technology. It is really hard to imagine that “Casino” is already fast. Movies from ten years ago.
There are no gorgeous special effects, no majestic big scenes, and no exciting pursuits and fights. Just relying on narration, dialogue and plot arrangement, combined with the acting skills of the actors, makes people watch it all the time. It is completely a movie not to be missed. Movie.
