If you’ve ever stepped inside a twinkly, noisy casino, stuffed your face with food at the buffet and then rolled a few dice, then chances are you know what gambling feels like. It’s an adrenaline rush when you win, a slow burn when you lose. It’s a game that’s played with skill, but one that can also be rigged and controlled by the big boys.
Martin Scorsese knows this world like few others. His film Casino is the third in a trilogy of organized crime movies (including Goodfellas and Mean Streets) that features his longtime star, Robert De Niro. And he’s helped by a dazzling cast of supporting players, led by Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci.
It’s a fascinating tale of how the Mob took over Vegas, but it’s also about the city itself and how it was changed forever. Unlike some movies set in Las Vegas, this isn’t just a fantasy of how sleazy the place was. It’s about how that era was allowed to thrive before being spit out in favor of massive corporations that make the city work like Disneyland.
There’s not a single good guy in this movie, which is part of what makes it so effective. Every character is mired in greed, treachery, and violence, and yet we feel for them even though it’s hard to imagine them ending up anywhere other than their demise.
Scorsese is also a master at little moments, from the tacky 1970s décor to Ace ordering the cooks to put “exactly the same amount of blueberries in every muffin” to airborne feds circling above the golf course with their radar whizzing around them to Nicky beating up a man three times his size and then effortlessly juggling the phone as he walks away.
As with his other films, the cast is excellent, but it’s the direction that really elevates Casino. Scorsese’s editing is fast, sleek, and incredibly efficient. He uses music to punctuate scenes and create emotion, and he also utilizes the camera in ways that are both innovative and visually stunning.
While the story occasionally jumps back and forth in time, it’s never confusing or frustrating. And because the events are so directly correlated to each other, it’s clear that what happens in one scene is payoff for something that happened earlier in the film. In this way, Casino is a bit more focused than other mafia movies and much easier to follow. It’s a must-see for fans of the genre. And it’s a testament to the power of the performances that the film will stand the test of time. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it’s the best movie of its kind in years. And that’s a tall order considering the competition.