Casino is a twinkly, noisy place, filled with bright lights and happy people. Players are surrounded by slot machines and other games that promise them the chance to win big money. The atmosphere is manufactured bliss, induced by the wafting aroma of scented oils, dazzling lights and music designed to make players feel good. This euphoria helps players forget how much they’re losing and keeps them playing longer.
The movie tells the true story of a faction of the mob that ran casinos in Las Vegas, with Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, the bookmaker who runs the Tangiers hotel and casino under the protection of mafia bosses back east. Ace is a fantastic bookie, but also a shrewd mobster who’s careful not to show his hand, even when mob strong-arm Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) starts trying to muscle in on his territory.
Like Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls and Goodfellas, Casino is a movie about Sin City itself, not just the characters in it. A brilliant opening sequence evokes the glitzy Copacabana scene from Goodfellas as a Steadicam glides through closed doors into a gambling den’s inner circle, where the old greaseballs count their chips and skim off the top.
As much as it is a thrilling, sexy film with great acting and a wonderful soundtrack, Casino is ultimately about the relationship and political problems that this group of characters and their associates run into. While the movie contains some of Scorsese’s most hellacious violence, including a torture-by-vice sequence with popped eyeballs and a brutally edited and sound-designed baseball bat beating that had to be trimmed in order for the film to receive an NC-17 rating, it rises above petty vengeance and delivers a message that rings true whether you love or hate organized crime.