Casino (Movie Review)

If you’re looking for a great story of mob life that is more tightly plotted than the likes of Goodfellas, look no further than Casino. The film centers on Sam “Ace” Rothstein (De Niro), a gambling expert hired by the Chicago Outfit to oversee day-to-day operations at the Tangiers Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. While there, he falls for and marries Ginger McKenna (Stone), a streetwise chip hustler who knows just how to play the game.

The movie also stars Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro, a mob enforcer who flies out to Vegas to protect Rothstein. But he soon starts running his own rackets. Unlike the likes of Mean Streets and Goodfellas, which were more concerned with character and action, Casino is as much about history as it is about the mafia. It’s about the city of Vegas and how it sucked in people like Ace, Ginger, and Nicky and then spit them out.

It’s about how it was once a place of sin and vice, but now it’s just a giant corporate money machine. And it’s about how the actual history of the city is buried under a mountain of slot machines, blackjack tables, and overhyped headline acts. No other movie captures the real sin and sleaze of Sin City quite like Casino. It is a gem of a movie, anchored by a terrific performance from Sharon Stone and the steadfast direction of Martin Scorsese. For this reason, it’s a must-see for all fans of crime dramas.