Goodfellas Review Revisited "Now go home and get your shine box!"

Well... its time yet again for another revisitation of a previous post from this blog and this one is a revisit of a revisit of my original review on the crime epic drama, Goodfellas. Having recently watched the History Buffs Youtube channel, which covered just how historically accurate the film was, I decided to give this film another look.


So after almost 30 years, how does Goodfellas stack up today? (and by that I don't mean the character, Stacks from the film!)

Well, let's dive in and take yet another look...

And yep the usual is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

The film itself starts in 1955 with Henry as a teenager (played by Christopher Serrone) who lives in East Brooklyn ad he longs to become one of the "wiseguys" and chooses to work for them at the local cabstand.  However Henry's father soon finds out he has not been at school and beats him, as he doesn't want his son to have anything to do with the mob.  However the mobsters manage to put a stop to this by threatening the local mailman by putting his "fuckin head in the oven first!" if he delivers another letter to Henry's house.

After this Henry works full time under the wing of the boss Paulie Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and he also meets his two associates the smooth talking but lethal Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (Robert De Niro) and the psychotic loose canon Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci).  After being pinched by the cops for selling cigarettes off the back off a truck, Henry is taken to court, but tells them nothing, and is eventually let go where Jimmy tells him "Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut".

As the film moves into the 1960s, Henry now in his 20s (as is Tommy) are making a solid living stealing cargo from the local airports, and they also pull off the Air France robbery, which sees Henry move up the ranks.  By this time Henry also meets his soon to be wife Karen (Lorraine Bracco) a Jewish girl from the Five Towns in New York, initially they dont get on well, and Henry stood her up on their second date, but after Karen confronts him about it, Henry makes it up to her.  After this Henry charms Karen with the glamourous side of his life, as he takes her out on expensive dates for meals and drinks.  Henry also at one point defends her, by brutally beating up an abusive neighbour of Karen's, and despite her initial shock toward the incident, she admits that it turned her on, and soon after they marry.

The story then moves to the 1970s, where things start to get more heavy as Henry and Jimmy host a party for Billy Batts (Frankie Vincent) who is a made man with the Gambino crime family.  During the party, Tommy arrives with his date, where Billy first off warmly greets Tommy but then proceeds to wind him up about his past when he was just a boy who shined shoes, which enrages Tommy who leaves.  Later on Tommy comes back and with Jimmy they both brutally beat up Billy, and later stab and shoot him dead, and soon after bury his body out in the woods.

With Batts being a made guy, this causes a serious problem for the three of them as Batts was murdered without consent.  And during this period Tommy's psychosis continues as he teases and later kills a young hood Spider (Michael Imperioli) after Spider talked back to him for winding him up.  Round about this time Henry also starts an affair with a girl Janice Rossi (Gina Mastrogiacomo), but Karen soon finds out about it and rows furiously with Henry.

Soon after, Paulie expresses his concerns about Karen, but insists he can put things to rights, and in the meantime Henry go off with Jimmy on business down to Florida.  However on beating up a bookie, things soon go awry as the bookie's sister is revealed to be a typist for the FBI, who gives them up, and Henry, Jimmy and Paulie serve a prison sentence.

After Henry is released, he gets involved in drug deals (behind Paulie's back who warned Henry not to get invovled) and he also comes across a very appealing business proposal from his friend and local mobster Morrie Kessler (Chuck Law).  This turns out to be the legendary Lufthansa heist at JFK airport, where Jimmy and a small crew pull off a robbery where they steal over 6 million dollars.

However as a result of the robbery, the crew all buy expensive things with their cut of the money, which infuriates Jimmy who expressly told them not to buy anything as it would attract unwanted attention.  Soon after Jimmy has the participants of the heist murdered by Tommy in order to cut any link between himself and the robbery, this includes Morrie, Henry's close friend.

Once the dust has cleared from the heist, Tommy receives the good news that he is set to be "made" and ingratiated into the crime family as a proper member.  But it soon turns out to be a setup as Tommy is taken into a room by Tuddie (Paulie's brother) and is shot dead, as a revenge for killing Billy Batts and various other things.

And from here the story moves into the 1980s were we start to see the downfall of Henry, who has become a drug addled mess and as he plans out a big drug deal he is arrested by the police and this later puts himself and his family in danger and he must find a way to try and keep himself alive from his mob associates as he faces having to go into witness protection.   

THOUGHTS 

Right from the start you just know that Goodfellas is a classic film, that certainly isn't far off the level of The Godfather.  The first scene which definitely ranks as one of the most violent opening scenes in American cinema where Tommy and Jimmy finish off Batts, really grabs you by the throat and pulls you into the film straight off.

The characters in Goodfellas are certainly very vividly drawn and Henry Hill himself is far from an angel, but he does appear to be a man who is out of his depth in this world.  He is surrounded by vicious thieves and murderers and while he is a thief himself, he isn't depicted as a murderer, and as Hill in real life himself said, he lived in constant fear 24 hours a day, fearing that he might be killed himself at any moment.

Hill's narration in the film is also really contrary with the events that occur in the film where he says he loved the life, and the thrill he got from it, but you also see Henry's utter shock and fear at his associates behaviour.  This is probably best displayed in the scene after Tommy and Jimmy brutally bludgeon Billy Batts and stick him the boot of their car, they then go and have dinner at Tommy's mother's house, and Henry sits silently, while Tommy and Jimmy laugh and joke, despite what they have just done.

But at the end of the film even though he is living in the witness protection program, he still has the nerve to complain about how boring and inconvenient has life has become since leaving his life of crime behind.  Hill since that time went on and suffered a few more behavioural lapses as he was arrested on several occassions for drug possession.  Hill since then died in 2012 of a heart attack. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!)

Performance wise there is precious little to fault here as the cast are all really strong and on top form.

Ray Liotta is great as Henry Hill, as he starts off as a suave well dressed gangster, but ends up a total mess, burnt out on cocaine.  Liotta perfectly grasps the (fancy word here) Hill's ambivalent emotions about the life, as one minute he loves the thrill of stealing, but the next he fears for his life.

Ray has many highlights in the film such as the scene where Henry storms over and viciously pistol whips Karen's next door neighbour who tried to rape her and he says to him after "I swear on my fuckin mother, you touch her again and you're DEAD!".  Then he calmly goes over and checks on Karen and gives his blood stained gun to her to hide, which despite her shock, she does. 

Then there is the scene where Karen holds Henry at gunpoint on their bed and Henry calmly persuades to lower the gun and she does, then Henry slaps her and takes the gun off her saying "Are you fucking crazy, Karen?!  I got enough to worry about being fuckin whacked on the streets!  I got enough to worry about then I gotta come home, FOR THIS?! I SHOULD FUCKING KILL YOU!".

Ray also delivers the film's narration wonderfully as well as throughout he is given some great dialogue such as the opening scene where Henry stands in shock while Tommy and Jimmy finish off Batts and Henry narrates "as far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster".

Some of Henry's other good lines include the scene where Henry narrates while Paulie has agreed to be a business partner to one of Henry's business associates and Henry says "But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money.  Business bad?  Fuck you, pay me.  Oh, you had a fire?  Fuck you, pay me.  Place got hit by lightning, huh?  Fuck you, pay me!".

Another scene is where Henry narrates during the scene where the young Henry smashes the windscreens of some taxis and sets them on fire and runs away from the scene as the cars explode.  And Henry narrates "One day some of the kids from the neighbourhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home.  You know why?  It was out of respect".

WARING: BIG SPOILER IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS! 

Then there is the narration scene where Henry narrates just after Tommy and Jimmy kill Billy Batts and they drive off and bury the body. So, Henry narrates  "For most of the guys, killings were accepted. Murder was the only way everybody stayed in line. You got out of line, you got whacked. Everybody knew the rules.Sometimes, even if people didn't get out of line, they got whacked. Hits became a habit. Guys would argue over nothing. Before you knew it, one was dead. They were shooting each other all the time. Shooting people was a normal thing. It was no big deal".

Henry however continues his narration and sounds concerned as he talks abouts Batts "We had a serious problem with Billy Batts. This was really a touchy thing. Tommy killed a made guy. Batts was part of the Gambino crew and was considered untouchable. Before you touched a made guy,
you needed a good reason. You had to get a sit down and an okay...or you'd be the one that got whacked!".

Then another really good line (and scene) from Ray is when he is busted by the narcs as he is about to leave his house and Henry narrates "For a second I thought I was dead.  But when I heard all the noise, I knew they were cops.  Only cops talk that way.  If they were wiseguys.  I wouldn't have heard a thing.  I would have been dead."

And then there is the final scene (SPOILER) where we see Henry stand just at the doorway of his suburban house after he has been relocated into witness protection.  And in the scene Henry narrates and complains "And that's the hardest part. Today everything is different; there's no action... have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food - right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup.  I'm an average nobody.  I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook!".        

Robert De Niro is also really good as Jimmy "The Gent" Conway (in reality his character was based on Mafia associate, Jimmy "The Gent" Burke) he plays him with just the right amount of charm and menace.

De Niro naturally has some great moments in the film as well such as the scene where Jimmy talks to the young teenage Henry after he was first arrested and released.

So, Jimmy says to Henry "Congratulations. Here's your graduation present" and Henry asks "What for? I got pinched!" and Jimmy says "Everyone get's pinched but you did it right. You told them nothing and they got nothing".  Henry then says "I thought you would be mad at me" but Jimmy says "I'm not mad at you, I'm proud of you! You took your first pinch like a man, and learned the two most valuable lessons in life.  Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut".

Then there is the scene where the young bartender, Spider talks back at Tommy, which stuns Jimmy, Tommy and the others during a card game.  And Jimmy "I didn't fucking hear right!  He's gotta lot of fuckin balls this kid!" and he puts down a dollar bill and says "This is for you.  Good for you, don't take shit off nobody!  He's got alot of fuckin balls this kid!" and Jimmy teases a seething Tommy by saying to him "Are you gonna let this fucking punk get away with that?!  What's the matter with you?  What's the world coming to?!" and out of the blue Tommy takes out his gun and shoots Spider in the chest six times, who reels back and collapses on the floor dead. 

So, Jimmy furiously asks Tommy "What is the matter with you?! What is the fuckin matter with you?! Are you stupid or what?! Tommy, I was kidding with you! Are you sick maniac?!". Tommy who is totally unfazed by the murder and asks Jimmy "How do I know your kidding? Are you breaking my balls?!" and Jimmy shouts back "I'm fucking kidding with you and fucking shoot the guy???!". Henry having gone over and checked Spider's body tells them "He's dead" and Tommy heartlessly says "A good shot. What do you want from me? A good shot!". Jimmy then furiously slams down his gambling money and angrily says to Tommy "You stupid bastard! I cannot fucking believe you! Now YOU'RE gonna dig the hole! I got no fucking lime!". Tommy however get's up and says "Who the fuck cares?! I'll dig the hole! I don't give a fuck!" and he crosses the room and asks "Where are the shovels?". 

Another great scene is when Jimmy tells off one of his crew, Johnny Roastbeef from the Lufthansa heist not to buy anything too extravagant to avoid attracting unwanted attention but Johnny buys a fancy new car.  And in the scene he says to Johnny "What did I tell you?!  What did I tell you?!  You don't buy anything!" and as Johnny apologises and walks away Jimmy looks on in disgust saying "Fat fuck!  He oughtta wear a sign!".

WARNING: ANOTHER SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

And last of all is the scene where Jimmy tries to get Tommy on the phone to find if his "made" ceremony went OK but soon discovers the bad news that Tommy was killed.

So, in the scene Jimmy speaks to another mobster, Vinnie and asks him "What happened? Did we get it straightend out?" and Vinnie tells Jimmy "We had a problem and we tried everything we could and could do nothing about it". Jimmy sounding puzzled asks "What do you mean? What do you mean?" and Vinnie tells him "You know what I mean. He's gone!" and Jimmy somewhat stunned asks "What do you mean?" and Vinnie repeats "He's gone, man! He's gone!". So, Jimmy overcome with anger and frustration slams the phone booth receiver down and he tearfully says to himself "I can't believe it! I can't fucking believe it!" and he sobs as he leaves the booth. At this point Henry joins Jimmy asks him "What happened?" and Jimmy tells him "They whacked him! They fuckin whacked him!" and Henry shocked says "Oh, fuck!". 

Paul Sorvino is also excellent as Paulie Cicero, and he admitted in a later interview that it was a part that he initially found really difficult to capture, until he saw a look he gave himself one day in a mirror which apparently scared the hell out of him!

Sorvino has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Paulie warns Henry not to get involved in drugs and he says to him to "Stay away from the garbage" and as Henry tries to reassure Paulie, he interrupts him saying "Don't make a jerk out of me!  Just don't do it!".  And Paulie continues by saying how he doesn't want to end up like one of his business associates "I ain't gonna get fucked like Gribbs.  Gribbs is 70 years old and the fucking guy is gonna die in prison.  Ain't gonna happen to me!  So I'm warning every everybody, it could be my son, anbody!  Gribbs got 20 years for just saying hello to some fuck sneaking behind his back, selling junk, I don't need that.  Ain't gonna happen to me!  And if you see anybody fucking around with this shit you're gonna tell me right?" and as Henry casually says yes, he slaps Henry "That means anybody!".  

Another good scene is where Paulie meets with Henry after Karen goes nuts at Henry when she finds out that he has a mistress, so Paulie tries to persuade Henry to get back together with Karen.

So, Paulie has Henry sit down and says to him "Karen came to the house. She's very upset. You got to straighten this out. We got to have calm now. We don't know what she'll do. She's hysterical. Very excited. She's wild. And you got to take it easy. You got children. I'm not saying to go back to her right now, but you got to go back". Paulie then reassures Henry "I'll talk to Karen. I'll straighten this out. I know just what to say to her. I'll say you'll go back to her and it'll be like when you first got married. You'll romance her. It'll be beautiful. I know how to talk to her. Jimmy and Tommy were going to Tampa this weekend to pick up something for me. Instead, you go with Jimmy". So, Paulie then tells Henry "When you come back, you'll go back to Karen. Please, there's no other way. No divorce. We're not animali!".

And lastly there is the scene where Henry visits Paulie at a bar where Paulie cooks sausages and Henry pleads with Paulie to help him after his drug bust. So, Henry tearfully "Paulie, I'm really sorry. I don't know what else to say. I know I fucked up" and Paulie angrily says "Fucked up? Yeah you fucked up!". Henry then pleads with Paulie "But I'm alright now. I'm clean. I swear on my kids now, I am clean" and Paulie angrily says "You looked in my eyes and lied to me. You treated me like a fucking jerk. Like I was never nothing to you!". So, after Henry tells Paulie he has nowhere else to go and needs his help, Paulie gives Henry a small bundle of notes and says "Take this. Now I've gotta turn my back on you" and Henry tearfully says "OK" and leaves.
    
Lorraine Bracco is terrific as Karen Hill, and she is a far cry from the quiet wives off The Godfather as such as Kay and Connie.  Karen is far more fesity and has the guts to stand up to Henry and confront him about his infidelities, and she also remains strong when Henry serves his time in prison.

Lorraine also has some great moments in the film such as the scene where Henry stood Karen up for their 2nd date and she makes Tommy drive her to confront Henry and she says "You got some nerve standing me up!  Who do you think you are?  Frankie Valli or some kind of big shot?!".  But then Henry tries to make it up to her and talks her around to another date and Lorraine smiles and says "Its gonna cost you, Hill, its gonna cost you alot!".   

Then there is the scene where Karen confronts Henry over his sneaking about as she suspects he is two-timing her and she says "I know there is something goin on!  I look in your face and I know that you're lying!".  And as Henry throws a table lamp at her she yells back "Go on go to your ready made whores that's all your good for!  GET OUT OF MY LIFE!  I CAN'T STAND YOU!!!".

And later there is a great scene where Karen pays a visit to Henry's girlfriend's apartment where she tries to talk her on the buzzer outside Janice's flat.  And Karen frantically presses all the buttons to try and get into the building and she says "If you don't let me in I'm gonna tell everyone in this building that in 2R, Rossie, you are nothing but a WHORE!".  And Karen continues to prove her point by phoning the building superintendent and says "Is this the superintendent?!  Yes I want you to know that you have a whore living in 2R, Rossi, Janice Rossi!" and she yells down the phone "He's my husband!  GET YOUR OWN GODDAMN MAN!".

And last of all there is perhaps Lorraine's best scene where Karen meets with Jimmy near the end of the film and he tells her that he has some dresses for her to look at down an alleyway.  And Karen nervously walks down the alley seeing some workers but she changes her mind and drives away and later get's out the car sobbing as Henry comforts her and she tearfully tells Henry "I just got scared!".

Lorraine also delivers some of the film's narration as well and she too get's some good dialogue as well such as in the scene where Henry has just viciously beaten Karen's next door neighbour with his gun and he gives it to her to hide.  And Karen admits in her narration "I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide.  But I didn't.  I got to admit the truth.  It turned me on."       

And now we get to Joe Pesci who delivers the film's best performance as the hot headed and psychopathic crook, Tommy and he manages to be both funny and chilling all at once and he sets up the tone for his volatile character in the film's violent opening scene with Tommy viciously finishing off Batts with a knife.  Pesci would go on to win the Academy award for best supporting actor for his performance in the film.   

Pesci has numerous highlights in the film starting with the famous scene where Tommy holds court making everybody laugh while he is at a club.  And Henry laughs and laughs and says "You're really funny" but all of a sudden Tommy's attitude changes and he asks "What do you mean?  How I talk?" and Henry says "No, just how you tell the story and everything,  You're funny.".  And Tommy becomes more serious and says "Funny how?  Am I like a clown?  Do I amuse you?  Do I make you laugh?  Do I fuckin amuse you?  Tell me what's funny?!".  And Henry nervously tries to reason again and Tommy becomes more intense and says "No, YOU said I was funny.  Tell me what the FUCK is so funny about me?!  Tell me!  Tell me what's funny?!".  But then Henry soon twigs that Tommy is kidding him on and the table all relax and laugh and Tommy laughs saying "I sometimes wonder about you, Henry.  You may fold under questioning!".

Then there is the scene where Tommy arrives during the party held for Billy Batts (played great by Frankie Vincent) and the two of them get into a rather tense exchange as Batts says to him "If I was gonna break your balls I would tell ya to go home and get your shinebox!".  And as the two men appear to back down and drink up, Batts says "Now go home and get your fuckin shinebox!" which causes Tommy to explode "MOTHERFUCKIN MUTT!  YOU FUCKIN PIECE OF SHIT!  You bought your button, you big fake tough guy!" and he shouts to Jimmy "Keep that motherfucker here!  Keep him here!!".  And later on Tommy comes back and beats the shit out of Batts along with Jimmy, and afterward as Tommy and Jimmy wrap up Batts's body in table cloths, Tommy covered in blood says to a shocked Henry "I didn't want to get blood on your floor!".

Another great scene is where Tommy berates Spider for not getting him a drink and he says "What am I mirage?  I just asked you for a fuckin drink!".  And Spider who has a stutter get's Tommy's back up and Tommy yells at him "Go get me a fuckin drink!  Move it ya little prick!  You walk like fuckin Step n Fetchit!  Dance!  Dance the fuckin drink back here!" and he then produces his gun and shoots it at Spider's feet, catching him in the foot.  And in the next scene Tommy starts teasing Spider as we see Spider back tending the bar with a big bandage wrapped around his foot.

And Tommy says to him "That bandage on your foot is as big as your fuckin head!  Give us a couple of fuckin steps there, Spider.  You fuckin bullshitter you.  Tell the truth you are looking sympahty, is that it sweetie?!".  And as Spider snaps back "why don't you go fuck yourself, Tommy??" Tommy shortly after kills the young hood, shooting him six times in the chest, and after Henry tells them that Spider is dead, Tommy simply says "Good shot.  What do you want from me.  I'm a good shot!  He was fucking rat anyway.  His whole family were rats.  He would grow up to be a fuckin rat!".  Chilling stuff.          

And lastly there is the scene where Tommy walks into Stacks Edwards (played by Samuel L Jackson) apartment who participated in the Lufthtansa heist and he says to Stacks "We we're supposed to be here at 9.  Its now 11:30." and he produces a silenced gun and points it to the back of Stacks's head and says "You were always late.  You were even late for your own fuckin funeral!" and proceeds to shoot Stacks in the head.  And Tommy's associate, Carbone, who was making coffee comes in and looks alarmed and Tommy says "What the fuck are you lookin at?!  Come one, make that coffee to go!" and Carbone makes to go back into the kitchen and Tommy says "Its a joke!  A joke!" and Carbone nervously fidgets and is about to leave with the coffee pot in his hand Tommy says "What are you gonna do?!  Take the fuckin coffee?!".

Frankie Vincent is also excellent in his role as the gangster, Billy Batts, a made man in the Mafia, who Jimmy and Tommy end up killing and getting in hot water over.

Vincent only really has one sequence in the film where he attends a party held Jimmy and Henry but its a pretty good one and it shows that Vincent is more than capable at playing a wiseguy.

And Vincent's best moments include the one where Batts greets Tommy and he tells everyone how Tommy used to shine shoes as a teenager.  And Batts says after Tommy tells him not to bust his balls "Hey, Tommy, if I was gonna break your balls, I'd tell you to go home and get your shine box!" which prompts laughter and a look of resentment from Tommy.  And Batts tells his friends "Now this kid, this kid was great. They, they used to call him Spitshine Tommy.  He used to make your shoes look like fuckin mirrors!".  

However as Batts tries to toast to Tommy, Tommy sharply says to Batts "No more shines, Billy" and Batts, a little taken aback says "What?" and Tommy says "I said, no more shines. Maybe you didn't hear about it, you've been away a long time. They didn't go up there and tell you. I don't shine shoes anymore!".  And Batts tries to calm Tommy and says "Relax, will ya? Ya flip right out, what's got into you? I'm breaking your balls a little bit, that's all. I'm only kidding with ya..." but Tommy says "Sometimes you don't sound like you're kidding, you know, there's a lotta people around..".  And Batts says "I'm only kidding with you, we're having a party, I just came home and I haven't seen you in a long time and I'm breaking your balls, and you're getting fucking fresh. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!".  And Tommy who seemingly takes Batts apology says "Ok, I'm sorry too, no problem" and they drink up but then Batts says to Tommy "Now go home and get your fuckin shinebox!" which prompts Tommy to go apeshit and well...we all know what happens from here! 

Chuck Low is very good too as Morrie (who was based on real life associate and friend of Henry's, Martin Krugman) Henry's friend and fellow mobster, who planned the Lufthansa heist but ends up getting on everyone's nerves, especially Jimmy.  

And Low's two best scenes are first off the one where we see Morrie has made a TV commercial for his lines of wigs but Jimmy is angry as he wants Morrie to pay him what he owes him for the ad to be made.  And in the scene Morrie says to Henry who is also there "Henry, you're a good kid, I've been good to you, you've been good to me. But there's something really unreasonable going on here. Jimmy's being an unconsionable ball-breaker! I never agreed to 3 points on top of the vig! Am I something special? Some sort of schmuck on wheels?!!".  

And when Henry warns Morrie to just pay Jimmy his money, Morrie says "Hey! Fuck 'em! Fuck 'em in the ear! What are you talking about? Fuck 'em in the other ear, that son of a bitch! Did I ever bust his balls? Did I? Did I? I could've jumped the dime a million times, and I wouldn't have to pay tip!".  But then without warning, Jimmy storms behind Morrie and takes the telephone cable and wraps it around his neck (pulling off his wig with it!) and he demands Morrie to give him his money. 

And lastly there is the scene when Morrie is finally had enough of Jimmy not giving him his cut of the heist money and he complains to Henry about it.  And Morrie says "Fuck him!  I made him a bundle, that cheap hi-jacking cigarette mick!  I want my money!" but Henry stands back and says "Ok go ahead tell him!" but Morrie stops ranting.  And Henry warns Morrie "Morrie, you'll get your money but you've just to go stop busting balls!" and this seems to diffuse the situation as Morrie says "Henry...." and he sings "Oh Henry, Henry, the pipes are callin...." and the two of them go off for a drink but at the bar, Jimmy peers intently at Morrie.

And the last few I will mention are Frankie Sivero as Frankie Carbone, one of the mob guys, who is priceless and he speaks Italian half the time and mumbles alot in the process!  Mike Starr is also pretty good in his brief role as Frenchy, who is involve in the Lufthansa heist but ultimately meets a sticky end.  Debi Mazar also makes an impression as Sandy, Henry's drug addled girlfriend on the side, who helps mix his drugs before (SPOILER!) he shafts her.  Catherine Scorsese (Martin Scorsese's mother, you might have guessed!) also makes a wonderful cameo as Tommy's mother and she often appeared in her son's films.   And lastly Samuel L. Jackson provides noteworthy cameo as Parnell "Stacks" Edwards, who was involved in the heist as he drove the getaway car but he too, meets a bloody end.  

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Finally moving onto the director, Martin Scorsese does a superb job here and rarely ever puts a foot wrong and from a technical point of view, the film is just as good as anything Scorses has done, as there are many great visual scenes, such as where Henry escorts Karen through the bowels of a club they are going to in order to skip the queue at the front door is definitely one of the most memorable.  And there is the great pull in zoom shot where Henry meets with Jimmy in a diner toward the end where they discuss Henry's case. The film also neatly closes with a shot of Tommy shooting his gun, which was a direct reference to a classic crime film, The Bank Job.

And overall as far as his films goes, this is certainly one of Scrosese's best both technically and as a story-driven film also.  Scorsese would of course later return to the Mafia world five years later in Casino and there's no doubt here, as a film-maker this was one of his highlights.    

Then there is the film's soundtrack which is terrific as Scorsese provides a perfect choice of song for each scene from the start of the film with Tony Bennett's "Rags to riches" to the film's bittersweet ending with Sid Vicious's version of "My way".  Other tracks worthy of mention also include Cream's "Sunshine of my love", "Layla" by Derek and the Dominos, The Harptones "Life is but a dream", Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter", "Magic Bus" by The Who, "What is life" by George Harrison, "Can't we be sweethearts" by The Cleftones, "He's sure the boy I love" by The Crystals and "Jump into the fire" by Harry Nilsson.   

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws..... well Goodfellas does a few minor ones, some of which are historical inaccuracies.

However in regards to the film itself the main issue has to be that after Tommy's character is bumped off, the film loses some momentum and energy.  And in the last 30 minutes or so, its all about Henry's frantic state of mind as he tries to put his drug deal together, and picking up his brother from hospital and getting him to stir the tomato sauce for their dinner, while at the same he is paranoid about helicopters following him outside.

So it all becomes a bit bogged down with inconsequential details at this point, and all Henry's running around threatens to drag the pace of the film and its momentum down.  Although it still does feature the excellent scene where Karen meets with Jimmy and after he tells he has some nice dresses for her in his warehouse, down an alley, she fearfully leaves rather than check it out.  And the film's ending to be fair is very appropriate to the reality of what happened given that Hill went into witness protection.  So the end of the film does feel like a bit of a comedown but it really was a comedown in reality so it works out well in that respect.  

The other issues come from some of the historical inaccuracies or omissions, such as the fact the film neglects to mention anything of the years in Hill's life where he stepped away from the life of crime and joined the army in 1960 and remained until 1965.  Although Hill still maintained his contacts with the mob, he distanced himself from the them all the same but it wasn't long before he drawn back to the life of crime. In fact it was suggested that one of the main reasons Hill temporarily severed his ties with the Mafia was due to an FBI investigation into organised crime that publicised 5000 names of associates and members, so Hill didn't want to take any chances.  

Then there is the death of Tommy's character in the film, however in reality, Tommy DeSimone, was never found as he disappeared in January 1979 and was legally declared dead in 1990, the year the film came out.  But for the sake of the story, I guess that had to depict Tommy's death in some way for an audience rather than just have him disappear but DeSimone's death remains a mystery and he's almost like a gangster version of Jimmy Hoffa!

DeSimone also was never really liked by Henry either in reality as time went on and Tommy in reality at one point even tried to rape Henry's wife after it was said she turned down his advances.  So by the time Tommy's death or disappearance came about, Henry in reality was relieved more than anything else.  DeSimone was also a tall man at 6ft 2 inches and was a far cry from the diminutive presence of Joe Pesci in the film although Hill has said that Pesci did nail DeSimone's psychopathic personality with his performance.

And last of all and further to my last points about DeSimone in the film Tommy DeVito is portrayed as being roughly the same age as Henry but in acutality, DeSimone was seven years younger than Hill was. So, when we get to 1963 in the film and we see both Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci play the young adult roles of the characters, they both look roughly the same age (well not really as Joe Pesci is 12 years older than Ray Liotta but you get what I mean!). However if it was 1963 then DeSimone would only have been 13 years old at the time where as Hill would have been 20! So, I think its safe to say that the reality of the timeline in the film is somewhat muddled.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Goodfellas still remains one of the great modern classics in terms of gangster films and this is a film that explodes the romantic myth of films about the Mafia where the mobster's wifes were nice and quiet and kept in the dark and that it was all respect and honour when it was anything but.  Goodfellas pretty much shows the "goodfellas" for what they were: ruthless, brutal and without any honour or code for that matter.

As for the film itself, it features great performances from a top cast, superb direction from Scorsese as well as a great soundtrack with plenty of songs from the period and it remains to this day a film that warrants repeated viewing and one of Scorsese's very best.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back hopefully before the end of the month with another post if I can make it but if not I will do one at the start of March.

So, till then its bye for now!

Casino Review Revisited "Frankie, do him a fuckin' favour!!"

Right, so this is me getting lazier by the minute, right??? ;-) Yep its time for another revisitional post and as I recently re-watched the subject of this post, I figured it was time for yet another slight re-write and the subject is of course Martin Scorsese's acclaimed crime drama, Casino.

In fact this re-write was inspired by a recent Youtube video I watched on the excellent channel, History Buffs, in which they look at films and analyse just how historically accurate (or inaccurate) they are. So, I was keen to give this one another look. 

So, after 24 years, how does Casino stack up??  Well, let's take yet another look and find out....

And yes, the usual warning will coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the story starts back in the 1970s where Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is a sports handicapper who is associated with the mob, is sent to Las Vegas and asked to run the Tangiers casino, which is funded by the Teamsters (the American labour union).  At first Sam refuses but is soon persuaded into doing it by one of the mob's associates and head of the Teamsters union, Andy Stone (Alan King).

Once Sam takes over the casino he uses his expert innovations and experience in book making and gambling to double the casino's profits.  The mob who are running the casino in the background, at the same time are doing a skim on the casino's profits, and the bosses send out Sam's friend and Caporegime Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) and his crew to Las Vegas, in order to protect the mob's interests in the casino.

However as things progress Nicky lets himself known in town and around the casinos, and before he knows it, he is banned from the casino or any casino in Las Vegas.  Meanwhile this happens Sam starts seeing a female hustler, Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone) whom he falls in love with, however Ginger doesn't feel that way about Sam.  Regardless of that, Sam persuades Ginger into marrying him and promises to set her up for live by giving her a joint account where she will have over 2 million dollars to her name.

After they marry, things start to crumble as Ginger still hangs around with her ex-boyfriend and pimp Lester Diamond (James Woods).  On finding this out Sam sends Nicky's men to beat up Lester, which horrifies Ginger who then resents Sam for his actions, and she starts to confide in Nicky, although she isn't aware of his involvement in the incident.

While this is all going on, Sam although he is running the casino, he hasn't officially filed for a licence, and he has been re-naming his job title in order to avoid attracting attention toward this.  But soon after Sam fires one of his employees Don Ward (John Bloom) for incompetence, Don's brother Patt Webb (L.Q. Jones) comes to see Sam about it and asks that he hire Don back, but Sam refuses.  Webb though however is a county commissioner and he soon finds out through the newspapers that Sam has stated he is "the boss" of the Tangiers in Las Vegas, he then asks that an investigation take place to see if Sam has filed for a licence or not.

This leads to further complications as on the day of Sam's trial hearing for presenting his case to petition for a licence, he is denied in the hearing, which leaves Sam outraged.  Sam also soon after deliberately raises as much media attention about his case as possible by going on TV, with a live show from the Tangiers, which has guest stars etc.  The mob realise that this is pissing off friends of theirs in business, send Andy Stone to talk to Sam, who tells him he should quit the job, but Sam insists he can't, but rather he wishes that Nicky would take a break and leave for a while.  On hearing this, Nicky is furious and sets up a meeting out in the desert with Sam, where he confronts him and tells him never to go over his head again.

By this time, Nicky has brought alot of heat on himself with the Las Vegas police force who were once co-operative with the casino officials and mob associates, are now so pissed off they want to nail him for anything they can.  Nicky is also determined to plant his own flag out in Vegas and to go after everything, the skim, the casino, his old bosses back home including Remo Gaggi (Pasquale Cajano) who is the most powerful boss in the crime family.  But Nicky in bringing heat on himself, he allows himself to become sloppy and disorganised, as he and his crew get all hopped up on drink and cocaine.

Sam's relationship with Ginger has also deteriorated really badly as well by then, as by this time she has become an alcoholic.  Ginger also goes to Nicky for help in order to try and get her money that she and Sam placed in the bank, and at this time they begin having an affair behind Sam's back.  Sam however soon finds out, and is horrified as he knows if word of the affair gets back to the mob bosses, they will be all killed, as its bad for business.

And its from here things inevitably go further downhill for the trio as the FBI close in and tighten their grip on the Mafia run casino and everyone else involved....

THOUGHTS

It is of course impossible not to compare Casino to Martin Scorsese's other crime classic, Goodfellas given that they both depict the American Mafia during the 1960's and 70's and feature relatively similar types of characters. However Goodfellas at the time of its release received great acclaim but Casino on the other hand was not given the same level of praise on its release and was seen as just another retread of Goodfellas.

But in retrospect I would have to actually say that Casino is in fact the stronger film as its scope is much wider than Goodfellas and it has a more epic feel. Goodfellas might succeed more when it comes to the character studies and showing Henry Hill and his wife Karen as a likeable if flawed couple whereas with Casino, the characters are largely unlikeable with Sam Rothstein and Ginger trapped in a toxic relationship. 

As for the background of the film, it was always pretty much a well known fact that the mob had ties with the casinos back in those days, but despite being the obvious, as usual Scorsese takes this subject matter and turns it into a gripping and highly entertaining film.  Like he did in Goodfellas, Scorsese heavily uses the narrative in the film here, and he constantly has Sam and Nicky narrate the film, and there is even a short passage with Frank Vincent narrating too (who plays one of Nicky's crime associates, Frank Marino).  And it never hinders the film, in fact it really plays a crucial part in the film and keeps the story flowing nicely.

WARNING: BIG SPOILER IN THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH!

And one of the neatest touches in the narrative is the scene where Nicky finally meets his demise in the cornfields at the end and as his crew mate Frank Marino hits him with a baseball bat, Nicky's narration cuts off with an "aghhh!".  It also helps to have Pesci in the film right up until the end as he carries a fair amount of the film's energy, like he did in Goodfellas, so it was great that he is in it throughout.  

Character wise, Casino rarely has any sympathetic characters in it at all, in fact they are all mostly fairly despicable, and Sam himself is such an arrogant obssessive control freak, that its hard to like him.  However Sam is not without his redeeming qualities, as he clearly loved Ginger, and he wanted his marriage to work, and you do feel a bit of sympathy for him when he realises how he could never reach her, and how the weight of managing the casino takes it toll on him. Sam also comes across as a good father to his daughter, Sammie, and this is clearly shown in a couple of scenes.

Ginger is far less likeable, as she too is massively self-absorbed in her own greed and marries Sam merely as a forced convenience so she can eventually get her hands on his money.  And in a way that's probably one of the film's lesser aspects is that Sam and Ginger's relationship is a forced one, and Sam's love is very much unrequieted, unlike in Goodfellas where Henry and Karen Hill both loved each other as a couple, despite their differences.

Ironically, the character that is easier to empathise with is the one character you probably shouldn't and this is Nicky, and its probably morely because he is a married man with a family, and he has a son, little Nicky, and we see Nicky's humanity come out in certain scenes in the film, particularly where he makes breakfast for his son every morning, no matter what he was up to.

As a bad guy, while he is pretty vicious, and he has his fair share of vicious scenes in Casino, Nicky also displays some shreds of decency, one being where he has one of the rival mob guy's beaten to a pulp, as the guy refuses to talk, Nicky has the man's head stuck in a vise, where he pleads with the man and says "don't make me do this, come on, don't make me be a bad guy".  And that's difference between Tommy in Goodfellas and Nicky in Casino, Tommy is a psychopath with zero conscience or compassion whereas Nicky is a sociopath with a small sense of conscience and empathy. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains very strong language and spoilers!) 

Performance wise, Casino is pretty much top drawer as the cast are all on terrific form. This is going to be tough to narrow down, so I will try and keep the notable scenes to just five per actor max (which is not easy either!!).

Starting with Robert De Niro who gives a great performance as Sam Rothstein, who was in reality based on Franky "Lefty" Rosenthal, who was a sports better for the mob.  De Niro's take on Sam is that he is an arrogant asshole, who bosses around everyone in the film, hires and fires staff at the drop of a hat, and while he is quite controlling of Ginger at times, you do realise he does love her, and that he is driven crazy by her.

And De Niro naturally has his share of great scenes in the film, starting with the one where Sam dishes a strong warning to a couple of cheaters at the casino, who are caught out by him and the security guards.

So, in the scene, one of the cheater's is zapped by a cattle prod and forcefully taken into a basement room where some of the security guards hold down the cheater's hands on the table and another one comes at him with a buzzsaw.

And Ace narrates "Turns out this guy and his fuckin pals had been knocking this place dead for years.  It was time to make an example of these pricks, to show them that the party was over".  So, Ace signals for the guard with buzzsaw to turn it off and he approaches the cheater and asks him "I'm just curious. I saw you shuffling your checks with your right hand. Can you do that with both hands?" and the cheater says "No".  Sam then asks "You can't do it with both hands?" and the cheater says "No, sir" and Sam asks him "Can you do it with your left hand?" and the cheater nervously says "Well..I...never tried" and Sam asks "So, you're a righty?" and the cheater says "Y...yeah".  Sam then signals to one of the guards, who repeatedly bangs a large hammer on the cheater's hand, who screams out in agony and Sam then says "Now, you're gonna have to learn with your right hand".

This is then followed by moment where the other cheating winner (who is wearing a fake wig and glasses) is taken to the basement and he sees what they have done to his partner.  So, Sam says to the winner "All right, I'm gonna give you a choice. You can either have the money and the hammer or you can walk out of here. You can't have both. What do you want?" and the winner nervously says "I just wanna get out of here".  Sam then warns him "And don't forget to tell your friends what happens if they fuck up around here. You understand?".  The winner then says "I'm sorry, I made a bad mistake" and Sam angrily says "You're fuckin' right you made a bad mistake! 'Cause if you come back here, if we catch either one of ya, we're gonna break your fuckin' heads and you won't walk out of here! You see that fuckin' saw? We're gonna use it. We don't fuck around in this place. You got it?! Get outta here!" and the winner, relieved says "Thank you".

Another good scene from De Niro is when Sam confronts one of his incompetent members of staff, Don Ward, a real Texan cowboy, who failed to act on three of their slot machines being rigged.

So, in the scene Sam angrily asks Don "Four reels, sevens across on three $15,000 jackpots. Do you have any idea what the odds are?!" and Don says "Shoot, its gotta be in the millions. Maybe more".  Sam then asks "Three fuckin' jackpots in 20 minutes? Why didn't you pull the machines? Why didn't you call me?!" and Don says "Well, it happened so quick...3 guys won, I didn't have a chance" and Sam, growing even more annoyed asks him "You didn't see the scam?!  You didn't see what was going on?!".  Don then says "There's no way to determine that, Sam..." but Sam angrily says "Yes there is!  An infallible way, they WON!" and Don says "Well, its a casino!  People gotta win sometimes!".

Sam, however is growing more and more angry with Don and he says "Ward, you're pissing me off. Now you're insulting my intelligence; what you think I am, a fuckin' idiot? You know goddamn well that someone had to get into those machines and set those fuckin' reels. The probability of one four-reel machine is a million and a half to one; the probability of three machines in a row; it's in the billions! It cannot happen, would not happen, you fuckin' momo! What's the matter with you? Didn't you see you were being set up on the second win?!!".  Don then tells Sam "I really think you're over-reacting..." but Sam has had it with Don and he furiously tells him "Listen, you fuckin' yokel, I've had it with you. I've been carrying your ass in this place ever since I got here! Get your ass and get your things and get out of here!".  Don offended then says "You might regret this, Mr Rothstein.  This is not the way to treat people!" and Sam furiousy says "Listen, if you didn't know you were being scammed you're too fuckin' dumb to keep this job, if you did know, you were in on it. Either way, YOU'RE OUT! Get out!".

Then there is the scene where Sam and Nicky confront each other out in the desert after Nicky has heard of Sam's conversation with Andy Stone as Sam suggested that Nicky take a break and leave town to let him run the casino quietly.

So, in the scene, Nicky storms up to Sam and angrily asks him "Where the fuck do you get off talking to people about me behind my back, going over my head?!" and Sam asks "What people?" and Nicky says "What, you think I wasn't gonna find out?" and Sam says "I don't know what you're talking about, Nick".  And Nicky angrily says how Sam said he was bringing heat down on him and he feels he is trying order him out of town but Sam tries to reason with him and says "I didn't do anything, I mean, I didn't order you or anybody. I only told Andy Stone that you had a lot of heat on you and that was a problem".  Nicky then furiously asks Sam "You want me to get out of my own fuckin town?!" and Sam tells him "Yeah I said l-let the bullshit blow over for a while, so I can run the casino. Anything goes wrong with the casino it's my ass, it's not yours, it's my ass!".  

Nicky then furiously tells Sam that he is what counts out in Vegas not Sam's clubs or TV shows and he angrily asks what the hell is doing on TV anyway.  So, Sam says "I'm only on TV because I got to be able to hang around the casino. You understand that, you know that, come on".  Nicky however furiously refutes this and says "You WANTED to go on TV!" and Sam says "Yeah I did want to go on TV. That way I have a forum, I can fight back. I'm known. People see me. They know they can't fuck around with me like they could if I was an unknown, that's right, yeah!".  And as Nicky says "You're making a big fucking sceptical of yourself!" Sam says "Me? I wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for you! You brought down so much fuckin heat on me, I mean every time I meet somebody the big question is "do I know you?!!".  Nicky angrily then tells Sam that he only exists out in Vegas because of him and if it wasn't from him any old wise guy would "take a piece of your Jew ass!" and he warns him never to go over his head again and storms off and drives away, leaving Sam alone.

Then there is the scene where Sam confronts Ginger when he catches her late at night on the phone to someone where in a hushed voice she says to the other person she's had it with Sam and wants him killed.  So, Sam on hearing stands behind Ginger and asks her "You wanna get rid of me?  Go ahead! Get rid of me!".  Sam then grabs the phone and says "Hello?" but Ginger furiously then struggles with Sam and she yells "YES! I FUCKING HATE YOU!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!! YES!  I WANNA KILL YOU!  I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS!!".  Sam then drags Ginger by her hands and shouts "You hate me guts???!! I want you to come with me now!!!" and he throws her into the bedroom as he shouts "I want you out of here!  I want you out of here!!".

Sam then throws a bag at Ginger and shouts "There!  Take your fucking bag and get out of here!" and Ginger shouts back "I'll go but I want my money right now!  The arrangement is over!" and Sam raging shouts "No kidding! NO KIDDING!!!".  Ginger then shouts "You can't just put me in the street!  I need some cash right now!" and Sam yells at her "You haven't been straight with me ever since I met you! You never even loved me in the first place! I need eyes in the back of my head with you, you fuckin' bitch!!!". And Ginger screams back "LOVE YOU?!  HOW I COULD LOVE YOU?! YOU TREAT ME LIKE I'M YOUR FUCKING DOG!!" and she throws some shoes at him and Sam, going out the room to gather some money shouts back "YOU'RE LOWER THAN A DOG!!".  Sam then comes back and throws the money at Ginger and shouts "Here! Here! Is this enough money? Will it last you two fuckin' days? Take it! Greedy bitch. Take the fuckin' money!!". 

And as Ginger leaves with her suitcase and some money she says to Sam "I'm taking Amy" and Sam angrily tells her "You're not taking Amy!" and Ginger says "I am!" and Sam angrily says to her "You're stoned!  You're a junkie!  Get out of here!".  Ginger shouts back "I'm not!  She's my daughter too!" but Sam forcibly opens the door and pushes her out and shouts "Send my lawyers a letter, god-fucking-damn you!".

However a little later, as Sam lies alone in his bed, smoking a cigarette, we hear a car pull up outside and Ginger comes back into the house and lies down next to Sam and she reaches out to him, seeking forgiveness and after a moment, takes her hand.  And Sam narrates "The funny thing was, after all that, I didn't want her to go. She was the mother of my kid. I loved her. And later, I realized I didn't want to give her the money... because if I did, I knew I'd never see her again".

And lastly there is the final scene where (SPOILER OF SORTS!!) Sam is in San Diego as a handicapper once again, making money for local people.  And Sam, wearing a large pair of glasses (a la Dennis Nordon's!) narrates "But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing? And that's that".  Sam then takes off his glasses and he gazes contemplatively off to the distance before we fade out to the credits.

Next up is Joe Pesci, who is superb as the mobster, Nicky Santoro (based on real life capo Tony "The Ant" Spilotro) and given that Spilotro was actually a family man in real life, this allows for Pesci to play the character with a little more humanity than he did with Tommy De Vito in Goodfellas.  And this makes Nicky's character that bit more interesting and three dimensional given that Tommy was just a flat out, yet colourful, psychopath.  Yet with Nicky there are times where you can actually empathise with him a little despite his criminal behaviour.

Joe Pesci himself was also perfectly cast in this role on a physical basis because unlike his role of Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas, which was based on Tommy DeSimone, who was in fact 6ft 2" in reality, Tony "The Ant" Spilotro was only 5ft 2" tall and Joe himself was 5ft 4". So in the end it all worked out nicely casting wise here! 

And Joe naturally also has his share of great scenes and even moments of narration, which are throughout the film just like De Niro's are.  So, this also will be tough to nail down just a few scenes for Joe here.

But to start off, there is the scene where Sam has one of Nicky's men, a cowboy, ejected from the casino for being rude to Sam and for refusing not take his feet off a poker table he is sitting at and put his shoes back on.  So, in the aftermath Nicky makes a call to Sam to find out what happened.

So, Nicky in the scene speaks to Sam on the phone and asks "Ace, what happened over there? I mean, did you know that guy you threw out was with me?" and Sam tells he didn't know that but he tells Nicky that the cowboy refused to take his feet off the table and he insulted him by telling him to go fuck himself. So, Nicky furiously turns to the cowboy and asks him angrily "You called my friend a faggot?!  You tell him to go fuck himself?!" and he hits the cowboy in the face with the reciever and he shouts at him "You big fucking hick..!".  Nicky then warns the cowboy "You go over there right now and you apologize. You better hope he lets you back in. If you ever get out of line over there again, I'll smash your fucking head so hard you won't be able to get that cowboy hat on! You hear me? Fucking hick!".

Nicky then goes back to Sam on the phone and tells him "Sammy, listen. This guy obviously doesn't know who he was talking to, you understand? He doesn't know that, uh, we're dear friends. I mean, he's already very sorry. But, uh, if you could do me a favor to let him back in, I swear to you he'll never get out of line again. I promise you that".  Sam then tells Nicky that he will let him back in but if does it again he will never set foot in the casino again.  Nicky then says to Sam "Alright, thanks, pal" and he hangs up the phone and turns to the humbled cowboy and with disgust says to him "
You took your boots off? You put your feet on the table... you shit-kicking, stinky, horse-manure-smelling motherfucker you! You fuck me up over there, I'll stick you in a hole in the fucking desert! You understand?!!".  Nicky then slaps the cowboy and shouts at him "Go over there and apologise!" and he kicks the cowboy in the ass and shouts "Get over there!". 

Another good scene is when Nicky chastises a gambler, who owes Nicky money and he says to the gambler "You call yourself a man? You know you're a lyin' lowlife, motherfuckin' gamblin' degenerate prick?! You know that's what you are? Two small kids at home. I gave you money to pay the fuckin' rent...and buy groceries, put the heat on. Your wife called Frankie and told him the fuckin' heat's off. And you didn't gamble that fuckin' money?! No?! You didn't?!".  And the gambler quietly says "No, I didn't..." prompting Nicky to yell at him "Don't fuck with me, Al! Don't make a fuck outta me. You wanna embarrass me and make a fool outta me? You didn't gamble? Tell me you gambled
the fuckin' money... I'll give you the fuckin' money to put the fuckin' heat on! Did you gamble?!! Huh?!!".  The gambler then ashamedly nods his head and Nicky looks at him, disgusted, starts to count some money "Fuckin' degenerate. Fuckin' kids at home. Here!" and he gives the gambler some money Get the fuck outta here!".  And as the gambler says thanks and leaves, Nicky shouts after him "Let me find out you fucked up. I'll leave you where I find you!".

Then there is the scene where Nicky and his crew beat up and torture a new rising star mobster, Tony Dogs (Carl Ciarfilo) who shot up one of the Chicago outfit boss's places. So in the scene after brutally beating up Dogs for two days and nights, Nicky finally has to resort to putting Dogs head in a vice.

So, in the scene, Nicky narrates "To tell you the truth, I had to admire this guy.  He was one of the toughest Irish men I'd ever met. For two days and two fuckin' nights, we beat the shit out of this guy. I mean, we even stuck ice-picks in his balls!". And we see Nicky's men drag a bloodied and battered Dogs into a warehouse room where they lay him down on a table with a vice on it and they place his in between the opened vice.

And Nicky says to Dogs "Listen to me Anthony. I got your head in a fuckin' vise. I'll squash your head like a fuckin' grapefruit if you don't give me a name. Don't make me have to do this, please. Don't make me be a bad guy, come on!". However, Dogs with what little breath he has left, remains defiant and says weakly "Fuck you!" and Nicky shakes his head in disbelief and says "This motherfucker, you believe this?!  Two fucking days and nights?!!".  So, Nicky tightens the vice and he shouts out loud "Fuck me?!  You motherfucker?!  Fuck my mother?!!" and as the vice tightens on Dog's head, one of his eyes suddenly pops out of its socket and the Nicky and his men look away in disgust.

So, Nicky finally yells "Give me a fuckin name!!" and Dogs finally gives in and says "Charlie M" and Nicky asks "Charlie M???" and Dogs painfully says "Charlie M!".  So, this prompts Nicky to explode "YOU MAKE ME POP YOUR EYE OUT OF YOUR FUCKING HEAD, TO PROTECT THAT PIECE OF SHIT???!! CHARLIE M???!! YOU DUMB MOTHERFUCKER!!!". Dogs finally can't take the pain anymore and finally cries out "Kill me, you fuck!  Kill me!!" and Nicky turns to Frank and says "Frankie!  Do him a fuckin favour!" so Frankie takes his knife and cuts Dogs's throat and Nicky walks out and mutters to himself "Charlie M!".

Then there is the scene where Nicky meets with Ace's banker, Charlie as he wants his money back that he invested in Charlie's bank.  So, as Charlie tells Nicky "I told you Nicky when you started this, that you would have to accept some kind of loss" and Nicky smiles and says "Yeah.  I think I want my money back" and Charlie laughs a little nervously and asks "What are you gonna do?  Strongarm me?".

So, Nicky explains to Charlie "I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance tomorrow morning I'll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and... walk in and see and, uh... if you don't have my money for me, I'll... crack your fuckin' head wide-open in front of everybody in the bank. And just about the time that I'm comin' out of jail, hopefully, you'll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I'll split your fuckin' head open again. 'Cause I'm fuckin' stupid. I don't give a fuck about jail. That's my business. That's what I do!  And we both know what you do, don't we, Charlie? You fuck people out of money and get away with it!".

And as Charlie tries to quickly leave and says "You can't talk to me like that!" Nicky grabs Charlie threateningly and says "Hey, you fat Irish prick! You put my fucking money to sleep. You go get my fucking money or I'll put your fucking brain to sleep!".  And Charlie, frightened looks at Sam and says "Sam...!" and Nicky tells him "Never fucking mind, Sam!  This is personal!  I'll be there in the morning!  You can try me, Fatso!  You fucking try me!" and Charlie exits down the stairs and Nicky turns to Sam and asks him "You think he got the point?!".

Then there is the scene (going over my five scene limit here!) where Nicky discovers that the FBI have a wiretap in his office (known as the Gold Rush) so in return, Nicky decides to buy a load of expensive surveillance gear to keep tabs on them!

So, in the scene Nicky looks through his binoculars and he narrates "Peek-a-boo, you fucks, you!" and he says to the feds out the window "I see you, you motherfuckers!". So, Nicky continues to narrate "If they're gonna watch me?  Fuck em!  I'm gonna watch 'em right back! I spent a few bucks. Top dollar. Who gives a shit?! I got the latest anti-buggin' equipment from the same places that sell to the fuckin' C.I.A. I had special police frequency radios, F.B.I. De-scramblers, cameras that see in the dark. And because of that, the miserable sons of bitches never caught me doin' anything I couldn't handle!". 

And last of all is the scene where Nicky confronts Sam out in the desert after he has heard of Sam's conversation with Andy Stone when Sam suggested that Nicky get's out of town for a while, so Sam can run the casino quietly.

So, in the scene, Nicky drives his car into the desert where Sam is waiting for him and Nicky get's out and storms up to Sam and angrily asks him "Where the fuck do you get off, talking about me behind my back, going over my head?!".  Sam then says "I don't even know what you're talking about, Nick" and Nicky angrily says "No? You said I'm bringing heat on YOU? I gotta listen to people because of your fuckin shit? You're orderin me out? You better get your own fuckin army pal!".

And Sam tells Nicky that he suggested that Nicky get out of town for a while to let things blow over but Nicky furiously shouts at Sam "Oh I don't know whether you know this or not, but you only have your fuckin casino because I made that possible!! I'm what counts out here, not your fuckin country clubs or your fuckin TV shows! And what the fuck are you doing on TV anyhow?!! You know I get calls from back home every fuckin day, they think you went bat shit!".  And Sam tries to explain he's only TV, so he can hang around the casino but Nicky shouts "Your fuckin ass! You coulda had the food and beverage job without going on television. You WANTED to go on TV!".  

Sam then finishes by saying "When you asked me if you could come out here, what did I tell you? I mean you asked me and I know you were gonna come out no matter what I said, but what did I tell you? Do you remember what I told you?!". Nicky however interrupts him and says "Back- Back up, back up a fuckin' minute here. One minute. I asked you? When the fuck did I ever ask you if I could come out here? Get this through your head, you Jew motherfucker you!  You only exist out here because of ME!!! That's the only reason. Without me, you, PERSONALLY, every fuckin' wise guy skell (slang for a petty criminal) around'll take a piece of your fuckin' Jew ass!! Then where you gonna go?! You're fuckin' warned! Don't ever go over my fuckin' head again! You motherfucker, you!!" and he storms off back to his car and drives off.

Next up is Sharon Stone who here perhaps gives her best career performance here as Ginger, Sam's wife, who is a well known Vegas hustler and former prostitute.  However after they marry, its not long before their marriage goes downhill as Ginger becomes an drug addled, alcoholic, emotional wreck.

And Sharon has her own share of good scenes, such as the one where after Sam has Ginger's ex-boyfriend and former pimp, Lester Diamond (James Woods) beaten up, she complains about it to Nicky at his trailer (who unbeknownst to Ginger, arranged the beating).

So, in the scene, Ginger angrily tells Nicky about what happened and she says of Sam "He's such a prick! He had some guy from the hotel beat him up. He didn't want to do it himself. Oh, no, he didn't want to get his own hands dirty. So why did he have to do that, huh? Tell me!". Nicky tries to explain "You gotta understand it. He doesn't know if this guy is shaking you down..." but Ginger says "No. No. I told him all about this guy before we ever got married. This is no fucking surprise!".  And as Nicky tries to tell Ginger that Sam loves her and he's crazy about her, Ginger says "Come on! I went into this with my eyes open, you know. I knew the bottom could drop out at any time. You don't think I'm gonna go into a situation like this... if I don't think I'm gonna get covered on the back end!".

Nicky however then suggests that Ginger try and reconcile with Sam and go slow but Ginger angrily says to Nicky re: Lester "He could have killed him!! Okay? He could've killed him. He didn't have to hit him. It's not like I'm sleeping with the guy.He makes me sneak around to see my own friends. What the fuck is that all about?!" and Nicky says "I guess its because he loves you, he's jealous and he worries" but Ginger nearly crying says "Like he gives a fuck what I do!".  So, Nicky tells Ginger "Look, I'll try and find out what the hell's going on when I see him.  I'll talk to him" and Ginger then hugs Nicky and tearfully says to him "Thanks for putting up with me".  And Nicky takes Ginger's glass of whisky and he tells her "Take it easy with this shit!  This can only make matters worse!  You're a beautiful girl. I've seen a lot of girls get shot to hell from this" and Ginger through her tears says "You're so nice" and Nicky says "Come on, I don't wanna see you unhappy".

Then there is the scene where Sam catches Ginger on the phoning, talking to someone about the possibility of having him killed. So, Ginger says to the person on the other end (presumably Nicky) "I want to have him killed. Yes, I want him killed. I've fuckin' had it. So are you with me on this???".  Sam then breaks the silence and he asks Ginger "You want to get rid of me? Here I am. Go ahead. Get rid of me!".

So, as Sam grabs the phone and tries to speak to the person on the line, Ginger struggles with him and she yells "Yes, I do! I FUCKING HATE YOU!! I can't take it anymore!  Yes, I want to kill you! I HATE YOUR FUCKING GUTS!!!".  So, Sam drags into the bedroom and throws her bag at her and shouts "Take your fucking bag and get out of here!" and Ginger yells back "I'll go now but I want my money!  I need some cash!  You can't just put me into the street!!!".  So, Sam yells at her how she never loved him in the first place and he needs eyes in the back of his head and Ginger yells back "LOVE YOU?!! HOW COULD I LOVE YOU??!! YOU TREAT ME LIKE I'M YOUR FUCKING DOG!!" and Sam tells her "You're LOWER than a dog!!" and Ginger shouts back "Fuck you!!".

So, as Sam gives Ginger some money and he tells her to get out, Ginger at the door says to him that she will take their daughter "I'm taking Amy" and Sam firmly says "You're not taking, Amy!" and Ginger shouts "I am!  I'm waking her and I'm taking her right now!".  Sam furiously tells her "You're stoned! You're a junkie!  Get out of here!" and Ginger shouts "I am not!  She's my daughter too!!" but Sam then shoves her out the front door and shouts back "Send my lawyers a letter, god-fuckin-damn you!!".  And then we hear Ginger yell "You're not getting away with this! You're not gonna cheat me out of my end!" and we see her outside shout "Fucker!!" and she storms off to her car.

Another great and also even funny moment from Sharon is when Sam takes a stoned Ginger back home from Nicky's restaurant where she was, not long after Ginger had left Amy at home, tied to her bed.  So, Sam asks Ginger re: Nicky "So, you need approval from him to go home now?" and Ginger with a look of contempt asks Sam angrily "So what? So who fucking blew you in the parking lot before you came in, huh?!".  Sam however looks disgusted at her and says "You make me sick, you fuckin...once a hooker, always a hooker!" and thing prompts Ginger to yell furiously back "Oh, fuck you!  Fuck you, Sam Rothstein!!  FUCK YOU!!" and she storms out and slams the door.  

Then there is perhaps Sharon's best scene in the film where a crazed Ginger comes back the following morning in her car where she drives up onto the front garden and she yells at the top of voice at Sam.  So, as Ginger rams the car repeatedly at the rear of Sam's car in the driveway, she screams out "You come down here right now! Get down here and talk to me, goddamn it! Don't fucking ignore me, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!  I MEAN IT!!! You come down here right now! Get down here and talk to me, goddamn it!!! Fuck you!!! Goddamn you, come out here! I'm gonna drive your fucking car through the living room!!!".  Ginger then get's out of the car and she falls down as she yells "You fucking coward! You motherfucker, you! Come out here and talk to me, you fucker!!!".

Sam finally and rather tentatively walks out and he says to Ginger "Will you stop it?!  You're drunk!  You're on drugs!" but Ginger screams "I am not!!" and Sam warns her "You're gonna be sorry if you don't stop it! The whole neighborhood..." however Ginger, absolutely livid screams "DON'T YOU THREATEN ME!!! DON'T YOU THREATEN ME!!!! You are not threatening me anymore! You fuck! You fuck! I'm sick of you! I AM fucking Nicky Santoro! I am! He's my new sponsor! How about that, you fuckhead?!!".

However the police then show up, responding to the disturbance and they ask what is going on and Ginger tells them that she just wants to go inside to get a few things as she has been wearing the same clothes for two days.  So, as the cops ask Sam if he can let her in, he responds "I'm afraid to let her in the house!" prompting Ginger to furiously pick up some grass and leaves from lawn and throw them at Sam "Fucker!! You ought to be afraid, the way you fucking treat me!".  Sam however reasons with the cops and says to them "If she calms down, I will let her in for five minutes, if you gentlemen escort her out, if she might not want to leave".  So, Ginger asks the cops "Can I go in?!  Can I go in?!" and they yes and Ginger says "Fine!" and as she brushes past Sam, she yells at him "Fuck you!".

James Woods is also excellent in his role as Lester Diamond, the sleazy pimp, who is Ginger's ex-boyfriend (and pimp!) who Ginger can't seem to turn away from much to Sam's annoyance.

And Woods has some good moments in the film but I will only mention two of his scenes and they come one after the other where Ginger and Lester, along with her daughter, Amy, go off to Beverly Hills together and Sam soon finds out and talks to Lester on the phone.

So, after Lester finishes talking to Sam, he goes over to Ginger and says to her "He's got two million in the box, am I right? You let him keep your jewels. We take the cash and the only other thing he cares about. Huh?" and he indicates Amy and says "Her majesty. We go to Europe. You dye your hair...".  Amy interrupts Lester and says "I don't want to go to Europe" and Lester says "We're going to Europe. Let the adults talk!" and he continues to say to Ginger "You dye your hair. You get plastic surgery like we talked about. You're the mother. How much you think he'll pay to get this kid back?" Amy interrupts again and Lester finally snaps and says "Shut your mouth!".  Amy however simply says "YOU shut up!" and Lester angrily says "You want me to come over there? I'll smack your face! Don't give me your shit!" and to Ginger "This has always been a dream, but now we're going".

Ginger however is not impressed by Lester's delusions of grandeur as she knows Sam is onto them and she says to Lester "Lester he called you here. He just called you right here" and Lester says "I know, I just talked to him" and Ginger, agitated, says "That means he's probably sending some guys over here, right now".  Lester however brushes off Ginger's concerns and says "It means he's sitting by the phone, like a dumb bell...waiting for me to call him back!".  Ginger then snaps "He's sitting by the phone just waiting for you to call! WHAT DO YOU THINK WE'RE GONNA DO?!! HE'S PROBABLY GOT GUYS OUTSIDE THE FUCKING HOUSE!!!".

Then in the next scene, Ginger get's off the phone with Nicky, who tells her to stay put and keep calm and he will call her back in an hour.  So, after this Ginger goes back to the car, where Amy is winding up a riled Lester, who angrily says to Ginger "You're not gonna drive! Don't even think you're gonna drive. I'm gonna drive. I'm not gonna drive with some crazy woman! Get on the passenger side! And I'm sending this kid to Bolivia in a box!!". 

Frank Vincent (who sadly passed away last year) is also very good in his smaller role as Frankie Marino (based on real life gangster Frank Cullotta) Nicky's right hand man and he too also previously appeared in Goodfellas (as the gangster, Billy Batts).   

So, I will only mention of two of Frank's scenes for time (as this post is long enough as it is!) starting with the scene where Frankie meets with two Irana diamond merchants and they haggle over the price they will take for diamonds that Nicky's crew had stolen.

So, one of the Iranians says there are flaws in the diamond he is examining and Frankie protests and tells him "You better clean your fuckin loupe because there's now flaws in this diamond!" and Frankie states the amount he wants "40,000 for the whole package".  However the dealer then suddenly says in English "20,000 and that's my final offer!" and Frankie says to the other Iranian "All of a suddeny he talks English!  Let's talk Turkey here! How about 25,000???". 

And secondly there is the scene where Frankie meets with Nicky's boss, Remo Gaggi (Pasquale Cajano) who is concerned that Nicky might be having an affair with Ginger, so he asks Frankie if he has heard anything about it.

So, Remo in the scene asks Frankie "The little guy, he wouldn't be fucking the Jew's wife, would he?  Cos if he is...its a problem!".  So, before Frankie answers, the screen freeze frames and we hear for the first time Frankie narrate "What could I say? I knew if I gave them the wrong answer, I mean, Nicky, Ginger, Ace - all of them could have wound up getting killed. Because there's one thing about these old timers: they don't like any fucking around with the other guys' wives. It's bad for business. So I lied, even though I knew that by lying to Gaggi, I could wind up getting killed too!".

And it then unfreezes and Frankie says "No, I haven't seen anything like that" and Remo asks "Are you sure?" and Frankie says "I'm positive.  Remo, things are very fucked up down there" and Remo says "I know, that's why I'm asking" and Remo then tells him to keep an eye on Nicky and finishes saying "Frankie, you're a good boy" and Frankie says "Thanks, Remo".

WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP!!!

And last of all is the film's most brutal scene where Nicky and his brother, Dominic, meet with Frankie out in a cornfield where he and Dominic are suddenly attacked and brutally beaten to a pulp by Frankie and other men with baseball bats. And in the scene, Frankie beats Nicky and shouts at him "Tough guy, huh?! You and you're fuckin brother! Well NO MORE!! You fucking scumbag! Watch!!" and he proceeds to beat Dominic brutally near to death and after they are done, Frankie says "OK, strip him!" before he proceeds on to beat up Nicky.     

Don Rickles, a well established American comedian, also puts in a fine performance playing the straight man for once, as Billy Sherbert the casino manager.

So, I will only mention two of his scenes again starting with the one where Billy eyes one of the cheating players at the casino having his winnings counted.  So, Billy walks up to him and smiles warmly and says "Hiya. That's a lot of money to be counting out in public. Why don't I take him... over to the office and verify it? A little privacy. And by the way... send over a nice bottle of champagne on ice!". So, Billy offers his hand to the cheater and says "By the way, I'm Billy Sherbert, the casino manager" and the cheater says "I have a plane to catch to Cleveland. Can I get my winnings?" only for him to be lead back to the basement room where he finds his cheating partner with a broken hand and Sam to give him an ultimatum.

Then there is the scene where, Billy is forced to call Sam when Nicky unexpectedly turns up at the casino (after he has been banned from all the casinos in Vegas due to his criminal activities). So, Billy says to Sam on the phone, who is at home in bed "Sam we got a problem. The little guy. Nobody told him he was eighty-sixed from the joint. We turned our heads and made out we didn't know who he was. He's over at the 21 table with his nose wide open. He took money out of his own kick. His nose is open for about 10,000. Now he's really pissed!". 

L.Q. Jones is also very good in his role as County Commissioner, Pat Webb, who's brother-in-law, Don Ward, was fired by Sam for his incompetence at the casino.

And I will mention two of Jones's scenes aswell, starting with his main one where Webb meets with Sam at the casino and tries to smooth out what happened with Don.  So, Webb says to Sam "I come here personally to kind of smooth over...any fracas about a certain matter. See, uh, maybe you didn't know it... but Don Ward is a very well-liked man in this town. He's got lots of friends. Nice family and their money go back many, many years. Now friends vote. Family and money votes. That's important to me and you. And if you'll think about our little problem along them lines...and you'll forgive me for sayin' it...maybe he did not deserve to be fired".

Sam however insists that Don is weak and incompetent and cannot be trusted to be hired back to work at the casino and Webb even admits that Don is not much use and he says "You got me there. Ol Don is as useless as tits on a boar!". However after Sam refuses Webb's plea to hire Don back, even in a lesser role, Webb warns Sam "Mr. Rothstein, your people never will understand...the way it works out here. You're all just our guests. But you act like you're at home. Let me tell you something, partner. You ain't home. But that's where we're gonna send you if it harelips the governor. Thank you for your time".  And Sam shakes Webb's hand at the end and says "Sorry" and Webb looks at him and says "You bet!".

And secondly there is the scene where Webb reads a newspaper headline stating that Sam is the new boss at the Tangiers Casino.  So, Webb asks two gaming control board advisors of Sam "Has that man even filed for his gaming licence yet??" and one of the advisors says "I don't know. We'll need to check the files".  So, Webb finishes by saying "Well, without gettin your shorts in a knot, could you do that and check closely. Cos, we may have to kick a kike's ass outta town".  

Alan King also is pretty good in his role as Andy Stone, head of the Teamsters pension fund, who is respected figure but secretly is working with the Mafia and he acts as a go-between the bosses and Sam.

I will only mention one of King's scenes and its the one where Sam has a private meeting with Andy after Remo advises Andy to tell Sam that maybe he should quit his job at the casino.

So, as they begin to chat, Sam says to Andy "First of all, what they did is totally unconstitutional, we are already on the list for the supreme court..." but Andy interrupts him angrily and says "These guys don't give a fuck about the Supreme Court and all this bullshit! They want you to walk away!". Sam however refuses to do so and says "Walk away?! How can I walk away? Andy, do you realise how much is at stake?!". Andy then warns Sam "The old man said maybe your friend should give in. When the old man says "maybe," that's like a papal bull. Not only should you quit, you should run!". Sam however suggests why doesn't Nicky take a break and get out of Vegas for a while to let things blow over but Andy tells him "They ain't sending Nicky nowhere" and then "I would forget about the manouever. I would just get out!".

And last of all is Pasquale Cajano as Remo Gaggi, who is also very good in his role as the aged yet very powerful Chicago mob boss, who is in charge of Nicky and the others.

So, I will mention just two of his scenes, starting with the one where Remo meets with Frankie and voices his concern over the rumours of Nicky sleeping with Ginger.  So, in this scene Remo asks Frankie "Frankie, I want to ask you something. It's private. But I want you to tell me the truth" and Frankie says "I always tell you the truth, Remo".  So, Remo asks "Frankie... the little guy... he wouldn't be fucking the Jew's wife, would he? Because if he is, it's a problem".

So, Frankie narrates that if he admitted that Nicky was, it could end up getting them all killed, so he lies to Remo and says no. Remo then asks "Are you sure?" and Frankie says "I'm positive. Remo, things are very fucked up down there" and Remo says "I know. That's why I'm asking.You see, my main concern is Nicky.  I want to know if he's doing all right, if he's okay" and Frankie says "He's good, he's fine".  And Remo says "I want you to keep an eye on Nicky. Do it for me" and Frankie says "No problem" and Remo says "I wouldn't want to be jeopardizing anything for our friends. Understand?" and Frankie says "I understand" and Remo pats Frankie's hand and says "Frankie, you're a good boy".

And secondly there is the scene where the bosses all have a private meeting in the back of the courthouse, whilst they are on trial, they decide Andy Stone's fate.  So, three of the four bosses say that Andy is OK and he won't talk but one of them finally asks Remo and what he thinks and Remo sighs and says "Look...why take a chance?  At least that's the way I feel about it".

Sheesh! That's a big section over with! 

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC
  
FINALLY moving onto the director's paragraph, Martin Scorsese once again does a terrific job here, as he really does manage to succeed in making Casino feel like an epic film as it surely is that at almost three hours in length (2 hours and 58 minutes to be exact!). And yeah OK there might be some slow scenes here and there but for the most part, Scorsese does a great job with pacing given the film's length.

Scorsese also once again show's his great technical skill as a filmmaker, which is seen in scenes such as the one where Sam waits nervously out in the desert for Nicky to meet with him and we see Nicky's car drive pass in Sam's sunglasses.  Then there are the scene where Scorsese neatly uses dissolves to show the passing of time, such as where Sam and Andy Stone have a private meeting in a car and also when Andy finishes his meeting with Remo at one point outside Remo's car.  And of course there is also the scene where Nicky beats up on someone but he is burned out from taking too much cocaine and it cuts to an extreme close up of cocaine being sucked up through a straw.

So, overall the film is filled with Scorsese's wonderful technical touches and it certainly stands as one of his very best directorial efforts (of which there have been plenty!).  

Moving onto the music in Casino, which again plays a integral part of the film, and Scorsese makes great use of old classic tracks from bands such as The Rolling Stones "Can't you hear me knocking?" Devo's "Whip it", Roxy Music "Music is the drug", Fleetwood Mac "Go your own way" and "Toad by "Cream".  Not to mention one of my favourite tracks used in the film "Walk on the wild side" by Jimmy Smith in the scene where Nicky murders the real-estate agent, Anna Scott.  And last of all of course is The Animals "House of the Rising Sun", which acts perfectly as a moral foreboding as the events of the film unravel in its climax...

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers as well as some historical inaccuracies!)

As for flaws...yes OK Casino still does have a few niggles here and there.

To start off, I think a problem I had with the film was to do with the melodrama of Sam and Ginger's marriage as there are times where it drags the pace of the film down a little, not to mention the tensions between them both regarding Lester Diamond, Ginger's former boyfriend and pimp.  Particularly the scene where Sam and Ginger get married and Ginger after speaks on the phone to Lester and also where Ginger lies in bed, wallowing in self pity after Sam has Lester beaten up.  Both of these scenes are a bit tedious for me personally and drag down the pacing.

Another issue was to do with the whole idea of Artie Piscano (who was based on real life Kansis City underboss, Carl DeLuna) as an underboss for the Chicago mob as he is totally incompetent and it begs the question: how in the hell did he end up being promoted to being an underboss in the first place if he so inept???!!  I mean the guy basically messed up the whole operation for everybody involved in the casino by blabbing about his troubles in monitoring the bosses's casino skim (as the workers at the casino were stealing) to his mother and brother while the FBI had tapped his store and listened in on everything he said.

So, in the end when the mob bosses get decide to whack anyone involved and who might talk against them, it all (well in part anyway) boils down to their incompetence in putting Artie in charge of ensuring nobody inteferred with the skim in the first place!  So, if they had put someone else in his place more "capable" then just maybe this wouldn't have happened.

In reality however, DeLuna's home was raided by the FBI and they discovered in his basement a number of cryptic notes that along with wiretaps linked the Mafia to the illegal control of the casinos in Las Vegas. DeLuna himself did not die of a heart attack in front of his wife as Artie Piscano was depicted as doing but instead was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and later died in 2008. 

I also found that Sam's love for Ginger was at times pretty blind to say the least that he would even imagine that he could trust her, as he says to her at one point in the film "I have to trust you with my life!".  Yet, Ginger is clearly a pretty sleazy, untrustworthy character as it is, so how could Sam possibly expect to trust her int he first place?!  As the film progresses however, Sam quickly wisens up to the fact that Ginger simply cannot be trusted.

In reality, Sam's real life figure Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal had married Ginger's real life counterpart, Geri McGee, who was in actual fact a cocktail waitress and showgirl and not a prostitute as depicted in the film and her former partner was Lenny Marmor, whom she was previously married to and he was not a pimp. Franky was also said to have beaten up Geri on several occassions, which was not depicted in the film between Sam and Ginger, so perhaps the reality was again very different in that Geri may have been a more sympathetic figure in reality than Ginger was, as she wanted to escape the controlling and volatile nature of her husband in Franky. 

Getting back to the film though there are also one or two unintentionally laughable moments, such as the one where Ginger visits Nicky at his trailer and the two of them discuss how Sam has changed. And as Ginger becomes upset, Nicky comforts her and they soon begin to kiss and in a laughable moment, Nicky pushes Ginger's head down to his lap, so she can blow him.  Its one of the rare silly, laughable moments in the film for me personally.

Then there is the scene where Sam decides to put himself on TV in an effort to strengthen his case to try and get a second chance at a hearing to apply for his gaming licence.  However this is also a pretty silly scene and surely in the end, it won't really make any difference as to him getting a chance to appeal his denied request for a gaming licence. However at weird as it may seem, this was in fact based on reality as Franky Rosenthal did indeed create his on TV show to boost his profile and have a go at the gaming control board.

Another thing that is also curious in the film is just how they never once mention where all the characters come from, which the History Buff's channel video on the film brought up as all they mention are the words "back home" when it comes to their original location. However in reality the Mafia crew and Franky all came from Chicago and the family themselves were know as the "outfit" but it seems strange that they didn't want to even mention this in the film!

And finally there is that moment where the FBI stop off their plane on Sam's private golf course, as they have run out of fuel, surveilling Nicky and his crew as they play golf. So, the FBI agents are seen running past Sam, who is having a meeting with two gaming board associates. Now, I don't know if this happened in reality but it sure was a pretty comical, daft moment in the film, particularly as Nicky is just playing golf!  Is it really worth surveilling him to that extent???!!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summary, Casino still remains one of Martin Scorsese's finest films and for me it just eclipses Goodfellas out of Scorsese's two Mafia dramas, as it is a film that has much bigger scope and is more ambitious and it succeeds on both those fronts.  The film also has top performances from its cast, particularly the three leads of Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone, as all three of them deliver exceptionally good performances.  Scorsese's direction is also top rate and he also again makes great use of his soundtrack via a collection of music artists from the 1950's, 60's and 70's.

And yeah OK there are some minor pacing issues here especially to do with the awkward love triangle of Sam, Ginger and Lester and the film to a certain extent does take one or two liberties with the truth but nothing too drastic overall as it does do a fairly good job at depicting the true events of the time.

So, after 24 years, Casino is still a great crime drama and one of the best of its kind and it still remains an absolute must-see film.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another post of some sort!

Till then its bye for now!