CASINO (1995) - Episode 111

The Rewind Movie Podcast

“Back home, they would have put me in jail for what I'm doing. Here, they're giving me awards.” We’re heading to the neon oasis in the desert for Martin Scorsese’s grandiose 1995 Vegas-set crime epic Casino.

In 1973, gambling savant Samuel “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is dispatched by his mob bosses from ‘back home’ to take over their luxe Tangiers casino - quickly raking in record profits with his fastidious management. He’s soon joined by his hair-trigger childhood friend/enforcer NIcky Santoro (Joe Pesci), who quickly complicates matters by seeking his own sources of income and beating and maiming anyone who gets in his way. Ace finds himself another complication - a beautiful, free-spirited hustler named Ginger (Sharon Stone) who he quickly marries despite her reservations - and her sleazy former pimp (James Woods) whose influence she can’t seem to break free of. As control gives way to chaos, the pull of cash and power threatens to unravel this lucrative gambit, and everyone involved.

Working from another book by Goodfellas scribe Nicholas Pileggi, Scorsese brings back two key on-screen players (and a few familiar supporting faces) from that seminal feature for another era-spanning, violent, complex tale of organised crime. While greeted with a decent reception, it was criticised somewhat as a partial retread of its groundbreaking forebear, and has slipped out of contention for the upper echelons of Scorsese’s packed filmography. Join fIlm-picker Gali, Devlin, Patrick, and Matt in the morality car wash as we ask whether Ace was onto another winner, or if we shoulda already dug a hole.

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