Casino (1995 film)

Casino
File:Casino poster.jpg Theatrical movie poster
Directed by	Martin Scorsese
Written by	Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese
Produced by	Barbara De Fina
Starring	Robert De Niro Joe Pesci Sharon Stone Frank Vincent Don Rickles James Woods Kevin Pollak Alan King
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Edited by	Thelma Schoonmaker
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	November 22 1995
Running time	178 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$52,000,000

Casino is a 1995 movie directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi and Larry Shandling. Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a top gambling handicapper who is called by the Mob to oversee the day-to-day operations at the fictional Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The story is based on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont and the Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for The Mob from the 1970s until the early 1980s.

Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, based on the real-life Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, an intimidating enforcer for the Chicago Outfit. Santoro is sent to Vegas by the bosses to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and that the casinos and mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Rothstein's wife, the self-obsessed, spoilt, devious and sly Ginger, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Pileggi has described Casino as Scorsese's last installment to his gangster trilogy, supplementing Mean Streets and Goodfellas. However, the film has more obvious stylistic connections to the latter (Goodfellas), Scorsese's 1990 cinematic masterpiece. Also, both films were based on a book by Pileggi and starred De Niro and Pesci. For these reasons, some people even consider Casino an unofficial sequel to Goodfellas.

Story

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Robert De Niro as Sam "Ace" Rothstein.

Spanning over a decade in Las Vegas, the film is the adaptation of Casino, the true-crime account of the lives of mob associates Frank Rosenthal (renamed Sam "Ace" Rothstein for the movie), Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (renamed Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro), Joseph Aiuppa (Remo Gaggi) and Frank Culotta (Frank Marino). Rothstein and Santoro narrate the film.

Ace is entrusted by the leaders of the Chicago outfit, led by Gaggi from Chicago, Illinois, to manage a Las Vegas casino (the Tangiers) they have financed via the Teamsters' Pension Fund and send them skimmed profits. Ace's friend Nicky shows up later (he was first sent to Vegas by Gaggi to keep an eye on Ace and to, more or less, "protect" him) and starts working for himself. While Ace appears to be a kind-hearted gentleman, Nicky is the polar opposite: an amoral psychopath who will not hesitate to kill anyone he sees as a threat. In one scene, after Nicky is asked by Gaggi to protect Ace, Nicky stabs a man in the neck with a pen multiple times solely for insulting Ace then mocks the man's whimpers. His cruelty also comes to the surface at another point when he takes his anger out on the casino manager, Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) and hits him in the face with a telephone, calling him a "Jew fuck". Ace's gangster side is also shown in a few scenes, especially in one where he spots two cheaters and has the security guards brutally punish one of them by breaking his right hand with a hammer.

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Sam and Ginger.

Ace and Nicky's relationship meets its biggest test when a woman named Ginger McKenna (based on Geraldine McGee) comes into Ace's life. After dating for a few months they have a daughter and get married, Ace having insisted on having the child first to ensure Ginger's commitment to him. All seems well until Ace catches Ginger sneaking around with her old boyfriend, Lester Diamond (based on Lenny Marmor). Ace and Nicky have their men beat Diamond, but it doesn't stop him. Ginger and Diamond eventually kidnap the daughter, Amy, and flee for Los Angeles, making plans to escape to Europe. However, Ace tracks them down and convinces Ginger to bring Amy back home.

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Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro, Frank Vincent as Frank Marino, and Philip Suriano as Dominick Santoro.

Though not satisfied, Ace accepts Ginger back inside the house, but that night, he catches Ginger speaking on the phone, asking someone to assassinate her husband. Furious, Ace hangs the phone up and literally throws her out of the house. She returns later on, but Ace has an even harder time accepting her back. His narration states that he allowed her back in the house particularly for being the mother of his daughter, someone whom he needed.

Now wanting to leave Rothstein with her money and Persian jewelry, Ginger seduces the one man who will help her: Nicky. They begin an affair, which could land them all killed by Gaggi (Nicky is a made-man, and sleeping with an associate's wife is against the made-man code). At one point, Gaggi asks Nicky's right-hand man, Frankie Marino, about the rumours of the affair, but Marino deliberately lies to Gaggi to protect Nicky, despite knowing that his discretion could get him killed too.

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Nicky and Ginger have their argument.

The breaking point occurs when Ace and Nicky have a falling out over Nicky's reckless criminal activities and the unwanted attention they receive from the police. Worried for his friend, Ace tries to convince Nicky to keep a lower profile, but he will not listen. It is only after Nicky threatens a stock market manager that Ace realizes Nicky's true goal: to take over the casino empire by overthrowing Remo Gaggi.

Ace returns home one night to find his daughter Amy tied to the bedposts - by Ginger. Ace then receives a call from Nicky, who claims that Ginger is at his restaurant with him. Furious upon realizing this, Ace rushes to the restaurant and confronts Ginger, warning her that should she ever abuse their daughter again, he will murder her. Ace forces her out, but she angrily goes back to the restaurant after they get home.

Ginger blames Nicky for the mess, while Nicky tells her it is she who is at fault. Ginger begs Nicky to kill Ace, but Nicky angrily refuses, having been Ace's best friend for 35 years. When Nicky tells Ginger that he won't be able to get her money now, Ginger attacks Nicky. Nicky then shows his brutal nature and mercilessly throws her out of the restaurant with help from Marino.

The next day, Ginger goes to Ace's home, and demands that he give her the share of the money that is hers and the jewelry they have collected during their marriage. When she arrives, she repeatedly smashes her car into Ace's car several times, prompting nearby neighbors to call the police. Ginger causes a scene in front of Ace's house and when the police arrive, she demands that they help her enter the house. Ace says he will permit her inside for a few moments to gather some clothes. Ginger sneaks into Ace's office and breaks into his desk, stealing the key to the safe deposit box where most of their cash is stored. At the bank, Ginger collects a large amount of cash from the box and drives off, pursued by two federal agents. They pull her over shortly after and she is arrested on charges of aiding and abetting.

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Nicky in his final moments, betrayed by his own crew.

Ginger's arrest begins the crumbling of the casino empire. The big bosses (Gaggi, Forlano, Capelli and Borelli) decide to murder anybody who could incriminate them. They kill an associate called Andy Stone (head of the Midwest Teamsters Union), three casino executives, and the money courier John Nance who was hiding out in Costa Rica. (Nance's son was already in trouble with the FBI on drug charges; the bosses decided to execute Nance to prevent his potentially testifying in court to protect his son.) Returning to the opening scene of the film, Ace himself is nearly killed by a car bomb, but he suspects the attempt on his life was not ordered by the bosses.

Ultimately Nicky and his brother Dominick are severely beaten with bats and buried alive in a cornfield in Indiana. By this time the bosses have had enough of Nicky, so states Ace while narrating, as both are buried while they are still breathing. Marino participates in the beating of the Santoro brothers, claiming that he has had enough of their dirty work, though he still feels a little bad while watching the Santoros' burial. This is the scene in which Nicky's narration ceases for good, as Nicky is hit in the back by Marino. Ginger sinks deeper into drug addiction and eventually dies from a drug overdose, alone and destitute. In his narration, Ace states that the lowlifes, junkies, and bikers with whom Ginger had fallen in had shot her up with a "hot dose" of drugs in order to kill her. In the end, all that remained of Ginger's money was "$3,600 in mint condition coins."

The film finishes with a voiceover by Ace explaining that the Tangiers is levelled, along with all the older, classic casinos and are replaced with bigger, modern, junk bond-funded, corporate-run affairs. Ace also explains that the quaint, friendly feeling of Las Vegas has been replaced by a greedier, more apathetic one. Ace returns to his work as a sports handicapper for the mob, as he can still pick winners.

Differences between fact and fiction

• The character of Frank Marino (played by Frank Vincent and based on Frank Culotta) participates in the killing of the Santoro brothers. In reality, Frank Cullotta was not present and played no part in the beating of the Spilotro brothers (on whom the Santoro brothers were based), and only betrayed them by testifying against them about the M & M murders when Anthony Spilotro ordered him killed over the phone.

• The character of John Nance (based on George Vandermark) is murdered in the film with two gunshots to the stomach and one directly into the brain. In reality, George Vandermark was murdered along with his drug addict son, Jeffrey. His body was never found, unlike in the movie where Nance's corpse is left in full open view.

• In the film, Artie Piscano (based on Carl Deluna) dies of a heart attack during an FBI raid on his home. In reality, Deluna was arrested and tried, and is still living to this day (2006).

Similarities to Goodfellas

• In both films, Joe Pesci is the only one of the three stars whose character dies a brutal death.
• In Goodfellas, Frank Vincent says "What's Right is Right" moments before his death. The same occurs in Casino, only this time, Joe Pesci says it.
• In Goodfellas, the phrase "And that's that" is uttered moments after Tommy DeVito's (Joe Pesci) death. In Casino, the same phrase is the last line of the film, also taking place after Nicky Santoro's (Joe Pesci) death.

In the movie Goodfellas, Frank Vincent is know as Billy bats and is killed by Joe Pesci's character, In casino Frank Vincent's character beats Joe Pesci's character to death with a bat.

Cast

Actor	Role	Based on
Robert De Niro	Sam "Ace" Rothstein	Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
Joe Pesci	Nicky Santoro	Tony "The Ant" Spilotro
Sharon Stone	Ginger McKenna Rothstein	Geraldine McGee Rosenthal
Frank Vincent	Frankie Marino	Frank Cullotta
Pasquale Cajano	Remo Gaggi	Nick Civella
Alan King	Andy Stone	Allen Dorfman
Bill Allison	John Nance	George Vandermark
Don Rickles	Billy Sherbert	Robert Stella Senior
Philip Suriano	Dominick Santoro	Michael Spilotro
Carl Ciarfalio	Tony Dogs	Charles "Charlie M" McCarthy
Vinny Vella	Artie Piscano	Carl John Deluna
Kevin Pollak	Philip Green	Allen Glick
James Woods	Lester Diamond	Leonard Marmor-McGee
Nobu Matsuhisa	K. K. Ichikawa	Wan "Broken Tooth" Kuok-koi
Ffiolliott Le Coque	Anna Scott	Tamara Rand
Bret McCormick	Bernie Blue	Frankie "Blue" Bluestein
Dick Smothers	Nevada State Senator Harrison Roberts	US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Oscar Goodman	Himself	Himself

Trivia

• Tony and Michael Spilotro were re-named Nicky Santoro and Dominick Santoro, respectively. This is an obvious reference to two gangsters indicted for the Spilotros' murder, namely Nicky Guzzino and Dominick Palermo.

• The name of one of the Outfit Bosses, Vincent Borelli, is an obvious reference to renowned Italian physicist Giovanni Alfonso Borelli.

• Nick Mazzola, the blackjack dealer replacing Madeline Parquette, the female employee insulted by Joe Pesci's character, also appears as a blackjack dealer in the movie Rain Man.

• The movie is notable for the "revenge" Frank Vincent gets on Joe Pesci. In Goodfellas, Pesci's character, Tommy DeVito, kills Vincent's character, Billy Batts. As well as in Raging Bull, where Joey Lamotta, played by Pesci, gives a severe beating to the Vincent character, Salvy Batts. However, the fortune is reversed in Casino as Vincent's character, Frank Marino helps kill Pesci's character Nicky Santoro; ironically, by beating him with a bat.

• The real Frank Cullotta, who plays the character of Curly, appears in the scene where John Nance, the money courier, is murdered in Costa Rica. Frank Cullotta apparently asks Nance "Where do you think you're going, Jag-Off?" before shooting him in the head. Frank Cullotta and Bill Allison (who played Nance) both served as technical advisors for the movie as well as making cameo appearances.

• The film holds the third highest total of most uses of the word "fuck" (398) in a feature length film, but had the highest in history upon its release.

• In the scene with Nicky Santoro (Pesci) drunkenly playing 21, he says to Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) "What are you staring at, you bald-headed Jew Prick?" This is one of Don Rickles' trademark insults, although Joe Pesci is the one who says it in the film.

• The Tangiers Casino is based on The Stardust Resort & Casino, which closed forever on November 1, 2006. Snippets of Hoagy Carmichael's composition Stardust in the soundtrack give a subtle hint as to the casino's true identity.

• Sam Rothstein's lawyer in the film is played by Oscar Goodman, Lefty's real lawyer and mayor of Las Vegas.*

External links

• Casino at IMDb
• Template:Amg title
• Casino at the TCM Movie Database
• Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal Official Website
• Anthony "Tony The Ant" Spilotoro's FBI File(pdf format 5.6 MB file size)
• Casino at Rotten Tomatoes