When it comes to making movies about people involved in violent or shady business, Martin Scorsese has no equal. He’s tackled corrupt Wall Street financiers, Chicago mobster Tony Montana, and a deranged would-be assassin, among other subjects. But his film Casino, based on the real-life story of mobster Frank Rosenthal and the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, is one of his most ambitious. It tells the tale of how mob control over Vegas waned and how huge gambling corporations took over the city. It’s also an interesting history lesson about how Sin City has evolved over the years.
There’s a lot going on in Casino, which is arguably one of the greatest films ever about organized crime. It follows the true story of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and the Stardust casino, which he managed from the late ’70s to early ’80s. De Niro stars as Sam Rothstein, who takes over the Tangiers hotel after Rosenthal’s death. He’s backed by mob strongman Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), who runs the hotel’s illegal side business.
Scorsese’s direction is typically brilliant, with the opening sequence — which has deliberate echoes of Goodfellas’ Copacabana interlude — feeling like an entertaining behind-the-scenes tour of the casino world. From there, it becomes more conventional, but never boring or dull. In fact, there are so many small details that feel right — from airborne feds circling a golf course to casino cooks putting just the right amount of blueberries in a muffin — that you almost forget that it’s a fictional story about gangsters.
