In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.In Las Vegas, two best friends - a casino executive and a mafia enforcer - compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 11 nominations total
- Dominick Santoro
- (as Phillip Suriano)
What Scorsese Film Ranks Highest on IMDb?
What Scorsese Film Ranks Highest on IMDb?
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMost of the conversations between Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci were improvised. Martin Scorsese would tell them where to start and where to end. The rest was up to them.
- GoofsAfter the failed car bombing, Sam is put into the ambulance feet-first. People are loaded into ambulances head-first, since most of the monitoring equipment is in the front.
- Quotes
Ace Rothstein: [voice-over] In Vegas, everybody's gotta watch everybody else. Since the players are looking to beat the casino, the dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men. The shift bosses are watching the pit bosses. The casino manager is watching the shift bosses. I'm watching the casino manager. And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.
- Crazy credits"This is a fictional story with fictional characters adapted from a true story."
- Alternate versionsFinnish VHS release is cut by 1 minute. Notable cuts were:
- Tony Dogs being tortured with the vice
- Baseball bat killings
- ConnectionsFeatured in Cops (1994)
- SoundtracksMatthäuspassion BMV
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (uncredited)
Performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Georg Solti (as Sir Georg Solti)
Courtesy of the Decca Record Company Limited, London
by Arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Licensing
Casino spans three decades and chronicles the true story of a faction of the mob who ran Las Vegas casinos. Robert DeNiro plays Ace Rothstein, a fantastic bookie who is chosen to run the Tangiers hotel and casino. Along the way, he marries a drug-addicted con-artist trophy wife (Sharon Stone) and struggles with his friendship with loose-cannon Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci). Rothstein is a complicated figure in that he is not a heavy, yet he wields a lot of power due to the respect he has gained from his mob bosses back home.
Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci are both fantastic in their roles, and Sharon Stone actually turned out a non-irritating performance. As the viewer, you can't stand her, but that is the point. Scorcese's normal supporting cast are also involved in this film, including his great mother - even though she usually has incredibly minimal roles, they are always memorable.
Scorcese seems to have several different directing styles, and Casino follows in the tradition of Goodfellas as a pseudo-documentary. A lot of the exposition is revealed by the characters themselves in the form of voice-overs, and several scenes are filmed in documentarian fashion. The entire production however, is sleek and very quick. The use of music bears mentioning as well: Most Martin Scorcese films have an amazing soundtrack that adds to and enhances the scene. Being a child of the MTV age, I'm a sucker for good uses of music in films and Scorcese is a master. Scorcese doesn't just utilize the soundtrack, he makes it part of the storytelling - by the music, we chronologically know what time period we are witnessing, since one cannot rely on other factors, such as fashion alone. One of my favorite scenes in film which effectively involves music is actually from Casino - the very intense scene when the relationship between DeNiro, Stone and Pesci come to a head in the climax of the film. The pounding music cut throughout this scene is a cover of "Satisfaction" by Devo and the result is absolutely brilliant.
Being a complete film geek, I generally don't go to films that feature certain stars, I go to films by certain directors and Scorcese is one of them. While this was probably the tenth time I'd seen this film there were more things I noticed, and I'm sure I'll notice more upon my eleventh viewing. The man is a complete genius, and a gift to film - my suggestion is to watch some of his films, then check out his unbelievable series, "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorcese Through American Movies" which was done the same year as Casino. The series is essentially a primer on the history of film, sectioned off by film genres. You not only will experience his amazing intellect and massive knowledge of film history, but his incredible humility as well.
--Shelly
- FilmOtaku
- May 14, 2003
The Movies of Martin Scorsese
The Movies of Martin Scorsese
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Sòng Bạc
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $52,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $42,512,375
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $9,946,480
- Nov 26, 1995
- Gross worldwide
- $116,112,375
- Runtime2 hours 58 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1