Casino (1995)

Five years after delivering one the mob genre's finest films in "GoodFellas", director Martin Scorsese reunited with screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi and several of the same actors - mainly Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci - to focus on another true-life crime story. This time he takes it away from the mean streets of New York and focuses on the deserts of Las Vegas. The results may be highly similar but they're just as impressive.
Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert DeNiro) is a smooth and ambitious type that moves out to Las Vegas to become the operator of the Tangiers Casino. Things go well for him until his volatile childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) arrives to get in on the action and Sam falls in love with conniving, unbalanced and untrustworthy, showgirl Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone). Before long, a cycle of drugs and violence ensues while Sam struggles to hold onto his casino license and the mob back home are less than happy with the results.
The hallmarks of Scorsese's style and structure - that were so prevalent in "GoodFellas" - are all on show again here. He has his usual reliable cast, delivering voiceover narrations that take us through the events and there is regular use of classic tracks from The Rolling Stones. His directorial techniques and are also on show; from flash-cuts to freeze-frames, crash zooms and montages. In other words, Scorsese is doing it all over again and it's these very techniques and stylistic flourishes that have drawn some criticism Casino's way for being too similar to his aforementioned crime classic. To some extent, I can understand these gripes. There is definitely a feeling of repetition and lack of originality in it's approach. The most obvious comparison being the casting of Joe Pesci. As good as Pesci is (and he is very good) it may have served Scorsese better to cast someone else in that role. The character is too similar to Pesci's Oscar winning Tommy DeVito. I'd liked to have seen (another Scorsese regular) Harvey Keitel, for example, just to mix things up a bit and he's proven beforehand that he's an actor that plays off DeNiro very well. That being said, there is an argument of 'if it ain't broke, dont fix it'. It does tread old ground and doesn't really bring anything fresh to the table but it's old ground that's worth treading again. Where Scorsese does succeed, is in his casting of DeNiro. In "Goodfellas", DeNiro was underused but here he delivers some solid work. He has a less showy role than those around him, making it easy to overlook just how effortless he is. He's rarely offscreen for the entire 3 hours of the film and shows an absolutely commanding reservation. Other great inclusions in the cast are a weasel like James Woods and a surprisingly outstanding Sharon Stone. She takes a back seat in the early stages but when she properly enters the fray, she delivers a very powerful and layered performance and the convincing catalyst for the unravelling of the characters' indulgent lifestyles. She was rightfully Oscar nominated for her work here and very unlucky not to win. It's a testament to these committed performances and Scorsese's expertise that this film still manages to stand alone as a very fine piece of cinema in it's own right. Added to which, the lavish production design by Dante Ferretti and Robert Richardson's sublime cinematography bring the whole glitz, glamour and corruption of Las Vegas to fruition.
An enthralling and intimate portrayal of the decline of the mob in the 1970's. It may not be as tightly constructed as "GoodFellas" but how many film's are or ever will be? If this is the only criticism that can be appointed to Casino then there's no point criticising at all. Another fine addition to Scorsese's canon.

Mark Walker