Movie Description Martin Scorsese, one of America's most influential filmmakers, returns to the world of mobsters, greed, and excess that he explored so compellingly in 1990's GOODFELLAS. Set in the 1970s and reveling in the minute details of how Las Vegas casinos operate, the film chronicles the rise and fall of casino manager Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro). As the king of his domain, Ace efficiently runs the business and regularly sends lots of cold cash to his bosses. Helping him keep the casino's employees and customers honest is his best friend, Nicky (Joe Pesci), a violent sociopath. Although Ace aims to run a relatively respectable casino, the volatile Nicky wants to take over the entire gambling mecca, and when Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a seasoned Vegas hustler, enters the picture, Ace and Nicky's friendship is complicated even further. As drugs and alcohol become a bigger part of Ginger's life, all three are eventually brought down by their own greed and blind ambition. CASINO shares many similarities with GOODFELLAS, beginning with a script that was cowritten by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi. Regulars De Niro and Pesci are first rate once again as the dissimilar companions, but it is Stone who steals the show with her grueling, intense performance.
| Credits | | Cast: | Dick Smothers, Jayne Meadows, Jerry Vale, Sharon Stone |
| Details | | Edition: | Jewel Case; Dual Layer |
Notes Theatrical release: November 22, 1995.
Filmed on location in Las Vegas, Nevada, and various places in California.
The film grossed $37.5 million at the domestic box office.
Editorial Reviews "...Unmistakably the work of a virtuoso - bold, brutally funny and ferociously alive..." Rolling Stone - Peter Travers (12/14/1995)
"...It serves its theme brilliantly....It constantly dazzles with visual, auditory and thematic stimuli..." Sight and Sound - Jonathan Romney (03/01/1996)
"...An extraordinary piece of filmmaking....Sharon Stone is simply a revelation here....Technically, CASINO is virtually beyond compare..." Variety - Todd McCarthy (11/20/1995)
"...Martin Scorsese is a master filmmaker, so skilled in the manipulation of imagery he might be the most proficient of active American directors..." Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (11/22/1995)
"...Fascinating....Scorsese tells his story with the energy and pacing he's famous for, and with a wealth of little details that feel just right..." Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (11/22/1995)
"...Scorsese's most complex film, a picture in which every scene is layered with context that reaches far beyond its immediate context..." Premiere - Premiere Staff (06/01/2003)
"Scorsese here delivers an epic parable about the fall from grace of people who have it all and squander it through their own recklessness..." Uncut - Allan Jones (09/01/2005)
Ranked #6 in Uncut's Best DVDs Of 2005 -- "A delirious, visually ravishing, fiendishly intricate epic, it's almost Biblical in places." Uncut - Uncut Staff (01/01/2006)
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