Casino 10th Anniversary Edition
Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review
By: Erik Swift
October 2005
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I hadn’t seen “Casino” since in the winter of 1995 when I viewed it and then Michael Mann’s “Heat” at the same theater on consecutive days. Both are very different films, but they will always be compared because of their nearly simultaneous release (three weeks apart), an actor (Robert DeNiro), its genre and lengths of almost three hours. Each drags at points but while “Heat” remains an atmospheric epic depicting the Los Angeles crime scene, “Casino” prompts mixed feelings. It is a glittering star-studded fact-based story of the rise of Las Vegas in the 1970s – the stuff that director Martin Scorsese does best…but that’s the problem. It mirrors the movie that should have won him an Oscar five years earlier: “Goodfellas.” When two films share cast members, styles and writer (Nicholas Pileggi), a hybrid results. In this case, it’s not bad – even if it was called “Goodfellas Go West: The Legend Of Curly’s Gold” people would see it. It’s just not great. It wasn’t great on a bare bones DVD that premiered in 1998, either. “Casino” has reappeared on DVD in time for a tenth-anniversary edition from Universal Pictures. A two-sided single disc heavy on extras and a wide screen must, it’s a jumbled mess of a film that runs from the tedious to joyous.
Based on the true adventures of bookie Lefty Rosenthal, DeNiro plays Sam “Ace” Rothstein, an expert tipster given the controls to the Tangiers Casino in the mid-1970s. Underneath its sparkling surface the casino funnels cash to several Midwestern crime families. Ace knows every trick in the book, and his natural skills at spotting cheats help him run a tight ship under the eyes of Nevada’s gaming commissions. The mob bosses are so confident Ace won’t attract attention from the feds, they send his childhood friend Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) to watch Ace’s back as funds hit record highs. Santoro is an enforcer with a short fuse, and people know not to mess with him or anyone connected to the Tangiers once he hits town. Santoro soon becomes infected with the greed that oozes out of every Vegas manhole, and he develops a tangled web of snitches and insiders to assist in robberies, beatings and murders. Nicky brings so much heat onto the Tangiers that he is banished from the city, which only fuels his anger more. Ace tries to stay out of his way with Ginger (Sharon Stone), a woman he loves as much as she loves the Vegas nightlife, but Nicky is spinning out of control.
At about the running time where “Goodfellas” ended is when in “Casino” the cast almost seems expected to shoulder the film’s heavy burden. As it tries to round up the pieces for a tight finish, it unravels. Nicky is a major a-hole, and usually those roles suit Pesci well. “Casino” gives him too much space to redo his “Goodfellas” shtick. He and DeNiro do their best, but it sucks to see these two flounder. The pair appears lost looking for the right script in the Nevada desert. A solid supporting cast frequently surpasses them, especially Stone, who snagged her sole Oscar nomination as Ginger. The actress effortlessly handles the character’s blonde ambition and naturally does well in Ginger’s bitchy element – it’s her best work. Scorsese had huge participation from the locals, and from croupiers to killers, you never know who’s doubling as an actor. Seigfried & Roy and Frankie Avalon cameos gel with minor roles from Vegas stalwarts Dick Smothers, Don Rickles and Alan King to bolster its feel and aura. This wasn’t made on some set but Sin City itself and inside the Riviera Hotel and Casino. It shakes, rattles and rolls from top to bottom.
“Casino” is all about excess. The clothes, the colors, the coke, the coin…this is no shock. Hell, it’s even shot on Super 35mm film, transcending each dizzying tracking shot across the fictional casino. Scorsese tops the restaurant shot from “Goodfellas” as his camera cruises through the Tangiers, a place where nothing stops. What’s a bummer is that the film relies WAY too much on voiceovers. Like their characters, DeNiro and Pesci’s narrations often compete with each other; even Frank Vincent has one. There are so many that the tool loses its effectiveness here, but aside from a pointless opening monologue Pileggi’s great dialogue saves most of them. Calling Las Vegas a “morality car wash” is brilliant writing, and he knows how to do it. A ton of insider chitchat surely assisted; besides, if he cut out all the foul language, the movie would only be ninety minutes long. However, no one told him when to stop: the affair between Nicky and Ginger comes across as disjointed and unnatural. Stone and Pesci are very blah during these times.
Music Supervisor Robbie Robertson helps “Casino” a lot. Since Scorsese immortalized The Band’s final show in “The Last Waltz,” Robertson has helped the director several times, most recently in “Gangs Of New York.” On a period piece like “Casino” the guitarist’s musical knowledge is an invisible backbone; it gives every song Scorsese uses much more juice. From BB King, Hoagy Carmichael and the Platters to “I’ll Take You There” and “Hoochie Coochie Man,” it’s doubtful that Scorsese would have made as an effective work without Robertson around. “Baby” and “Love Is The Drug” is key, but The Rolling Stones propel “Casino.” “Heart Of Stone” appears early but a smart usage of both their original version and Devo’s reworking of “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” belies the changing of decades and attitudes in both the story and the music itself. The epic “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” rages inside a montage of Nicky’s rampage across Vegas. The best shot is its first: as a slow pan settles on an extreme close up of Pesci’s face, Mick Jagger sneers of cocaine eyes over Charlie Watts’ funky bongos and the dueling guitars of Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. That it comes from the “Sticky Fingers” disc isn’t coincidental – only the dirtiest, most bluesy raw Stones cuts could reinforce the nasty stuff that goes down in “Casino.”
The 10th Anniversary edition is a safe bet. Scorsese’s mother is a riot in the deleted scenes, but the best is saved for last. Rickles’ shtick is shackled during the film, but his talents erupt in milliseconds, and DVD is the perfect forum to rescue unreleased moments like this from the vaults. Four welcome documentaries on the flip side fill in many gaps, but what’s awful is the inclusion of The History Channel’s “History Live: True Crime Authors” series. Focusing on Pileggi and his book, painful re-enactments of scenes Scorsese already filmed are bad enough. It’s worse when various shots ape his work. One saving grace of this boring retread of the film – the wealth of archival footage and actual photographs of the rise of Las Vegas and those people involved. Proceed with caution.
Does this movie EVER bring viewers inside Las Vegas. “Casino” is technically dazzling, a production that bursts with vigor and life. Its Shakespearian overtones about what might have been make this a Vegas version of “End Of The Century.” However, its structural pitfalls are illuminated best during some of the making-of segments. Pileggi’s book was given the green light while the author was still writing drafts (it arrived in bookstores just before the film’s release), and mentions are made of sifting through notes to make a film. “Casino” has a sloppy, disorganized feel of being stitched together, and if you find yourself falling asleep, you’re not alone. It’s not bad, but it could have been done much better – and quicker, dammit. Still, it has moments of artistry that could only have been pulled off by Scorsese, America’s greatest living film auteur. On DVD, this isn’t for suckers, but be smart – put only half the house on it.
Reviewer’s Opinion: BORROW IT!!
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