Doctor Who - The Daemons (Revisted) "Close your eyes, my darling! Well three of them at least!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I figured I would do a post revisitation of one of my older Doctor Who review and the post in question is on the classic Jon Pertwee era story, The Daemons.

And 51 years onward let's take a look at how this story fares...

And yep the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!

STORY

Right, so story starts with one of the residents of Devil's End, a small village in Wiltshire, dying of fright from seeing something in the local graveyard.  The local village doctor says that the man simply died of a heart attack, but the local white witch Miss Hawthorne (Damaris Hayman) insists there is evil afoot.

The BBC are also at this time doing coverage of the excavation of the Devil's hump, an ancient burial ground.  Miss Hawthorne also interrupts the broadcast and warns the archaeologist, Professor Horner (Robin Wentworth) that if he opens the tomb then he will bring death and disaster upon the village.  The Doctor at this time having been watching the live coverage on TV, decides to go to the dig himself with Jo (Katy Manning).

On arriving at the dig, the Doctor is too late to stop Horner from opening the tomb and there is a freak gust of snow and ice that blows out of the tomb, killing Horner and apparently also the Doctor.  The Doctor is soon dug out (or excavated) off the earth and snow and taken to the local pub, the Cloven Hoof, where he lies in a coma.

In the meantime however, a certain familiar looking figure who goes by the name of the Magister, dressed as a Reverend, has been holding ritual ceremonies to try and bring about the appearance of a demon called Azal (Stephen Thorne).  This is of course the Master (Roger Delgado) who has been at work trying to raise the demon Azal, who in actual fact is a creature from another world, who has been lying dormant but has been on Earth for over 100,000 years.

The Doctor soon recovers from his coma, after a freak heat wave hits the village, and he then explains his theory to the locals, and he is accompanied by Sergeant Benton (John Levine) and Captain Mike Yates (Richard Franklin).  The Doctor tells them that Azal is a daemon from the planet Damos, who came to Earth to try and advance the human race and pass on their knowledge as part of an experiment, however, man is in danger of being destroyed if Azal chooses to.

The Master also finally summons Azal and speaks with him, and he asks that Azal pass on his power to him in order to fulfil his desire to rule the Earth.  Azal considers this but says there is another one of the Master's race here, referring to the Doctor, he said he will speak with him also before making up his mind, and that he will appear once more, but he says he will either choose to pass on his power or to destroy the Earth.

And another problem arising from these circumstances is that Azal's awakening causes a heat barrier to be place around the village, preventing anyone from leaving the village or from any one to enter it, as the UNIT commander Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart (Nicholas Courtney) soon finds out when he tries to get to the village.  The Doctor contacts the Brigadier and tells him there might be a way for him to gain access to the village, but it will involve building heat exchanger energy machine that will help bypass the barrier, and the Doctor soon comes to the Brig (within reasonable distance of the barrier) to help them build it.

As this is all going on the Master then through his hypnotic powers of persuasion gets quite a few of the village locals on his side, and to help him with this ritual ceremony in the cavern's of the church, in order to summon Azal once more and so he can control the daemon.  The Master soon successfully summons Azal for the last time, just as he does, Jo and Mike enter the cavern and witness Azal grow to huge size right infront of them.  The Doctor also manages to get into the cavern and past the Master's gargoyle and heavy Bok (Stanley Mason) whom he has been using throughout the story for his own evil ends.  The Doctor once in the cavern confronts the Master and Azal in deciding the fate of the planet......

THOUGHTS

The Daemons is without a doubt one of Jon Pertwee's best stories, made back in 1971, when the series made the crucial change in tone from the doomish Quatermass style that appeared in Pertwee's first season.  The story, which was penned under the pseudonym of Guy Leopold, was actually written by Barry Letts and Robert Sloman, and its another excellent script.

Letts and Sloman make very clever use of the themes of witchcraft, demonns, religion, faith and duplicity, and I also like how they explain the background of the daemons helping man throughout the ages in advancing their knowledge.  You could almost say that the Daemons were babysitters for mankind and they helped instruct them in how to grow, although the Doctor at one point does state to Azal, that thanks to him now man can blow up the world and probably will, which is something Azal says that the planet smells of failure.  This ultimately points to man being his own downfall, and to Azal the Earth is just a failed experiment which he is in danger of destroying.

The characters in the show are all well catered for, especially the UNIT members, Benton and Yates, who are given more to do here than usual in a Doctor Who story.  Yates and Benton make their way to the village and get tangled up in the chaos of what happens there, being beaten, abducted, and giving chase to the baddies.

Benton particularly is given plenty to do in helping out Miss Hawthorne, in the church where he is beaten up by a telekinetic force on a marked stone, and staving off an attacker in the pub, as well as finally giving in to having a dance with her at the end!  It also makes a nice change of pace to have the Brigadier separated from his team, as he goes off to a dinner at the start of the show, but later comes into the show when he is informed that his helicopter has been taken by Yates and Benton, and the heat keeps him apart from the Doctor and the others.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

In terms of the performances, the cast are all on excellent form here from the regulars to the supporting performers.

Starting with Jon Pertwee, who is great in his part of the Doctor by then and plays him as well in this story as he ever has, and his relationship with Jo has blossomed very nicely by the end of their first season together.  And by then the Doctor and Jo really have formed a great partnership.

As for Jon's notable scenes, as a few examples there is the scene where the Doctor in the first episode appears to magically control his car, Bessie as it drives around and comes back to him in his garage, much to Jo's amazement.  And in the scene the Doctor tells off Jo for being interested in the live TV show of the dig and he says to her "You know, Jo, for a reasonably intelligent young lady, you have the most absurd ideas!" and then we see Bessie drive out the garage by itself.

And when the car returns the Doctor tells off Bessie, saying "Bessie, how dare you go gallivanting around like that!" and Bessie toots the horn and the Doctor says "Are you sorry?" and Bessie toots again and the Doctor says "Very well, I forgive you.  Now go back to your parking place before I changed my mind!".  And as Captain Yates enters, having witnessed Bessie, the Doctor asks Jo to explain how it managed to drive itself and Jo suggests to the Doc "I don't know.  I suppose you did it" and the Doctor smiles and says "Naturally".  And the Doctor tells Jo and Yates "Naturally. Or should I say scientifically. Solenoids and a solar mechanism in Bessie and...." he holds up a remote control "a radio control unit here.  You see how easy it is to be a magician?!".   

Then there is the scene where the Doctor and Jo later re-enter the barrow chamber where Professor Horner was excavating his dig.  But all of a suddeny, the gargoyle, Bok, enters the chamber and screeches at them both and the Doctor takes out a trowel and shouts at Bok "Clokleda partha mennin klatch!!!" and Bok soon flees.  And after, Jo asks "Was that a spell that you said?" and the Doctor says "No, it's the first line of an old Venusian lullaby, as a matter of fact. Roughly translated it goes, 'Close your eyes, my darling. Well, three of them, at least!".

Another good scene is when the Doctor tells off Jo for berating the Brigadier's suggestion to bomb their way through the heat barrier that Azal has created but the Doctor advises that it would be useless and he goes off to help the Brig build a heat exchanger, so they can penetrate the barrier.  And Jo says to the Doc before he goes "Of all the idiotic plans!  As if blowing things up solves anything!" and the Doctor says "Jo, the Brigadier is doing his best to cope with an almost impossible situation. And since he is your superior officer, you might at least show him a little respect!" and he leaves with Jo looking rather hurt.

Then there is the fun moment where the Doctor, tied to a post, is about to burned alive by the villager, Bert, who is under the Master's control but Miss Hawthorne suddenly interrupts and refers to the Doctor as a powerful wizard named "Qui Quae Quod".  And Bert says to Miss Hawthorne "If he's such a great magician, let's see him untie hiself!" and the Doctor goes along with Miss Hawthorne's ruse and says "You choose to mock the great Qui Quae Quod? Well, I will not!".  

And as Sergeant Benton shoots a lamp and a weathercock on a church tower as the Doctor orders them to shatter and move as if by magic.  The Doctor then gives Bert a warning as he is about to activate Bessie "Let my familiar spirit bring that car to me!".  And then Bessie moves towards Bert and it nearly rolls over him but Bert falls down in between the car.  And Miss Hawthorne looks amazed and says to the Doctor "You really ARE a magician!" and the Doctor tells her
her "I'm sorry to disappoint you, madame, but I were, I'd hardly need your assistance in extricating me from this, this sacrificial gift wrapping!".

Katy Manning, up next also does very well as Jo Grant and by then she had firmly established her role in the show (and she's at her cutest looking in this show in that outfit she wears!).

Katy also has her moments too in the show such as the scene near the start where Jo debates with the Doctor about the existance of magic.  And Jo says to the Doctor "Yes, but suppose something was to happen and nobody knew the explanation. Well, nobody in the world, in the universe! Well, that would be magic, wouldn't it?".  However the Doctor dismisses the suggestion and says to Jo "You know, Jo, for a reasonably intelligent young lady, you do have the most absurd ideas!" and suddenly Bessie drives off on its own.  And when Bessie comes back, the Doctor reveals his radio control for the car and he says to Jo "You see how easy it is to be a magician" and Jo says "How infuriating can you get?!!".  And the Doctor teasingly asks her "Would you like to see more?" and Jo smiles and says "No, thanks, I've had enough of your knavish tricks!".   

Another good scene is when the Doctor explains to Jo, Benton, Yates and Miss Hawthorne about the Daemons and how they were behind all the goings on at the dig.  And as the Doctor tries to explain how the Daemons influenced man throughout the ages and gave them knowledge, Jo says "Yes, and you say they come from another planet. Well then, what's all this jazz about witchcraft and covens and so on?".  And the Doctor replies "Look, don't you see? All the magical traditions are just remnants of their advanced science, and that is what the Master is using!".  And the Doctor goes on to explain his concern about how the Daemons could choose to pass on his power or destroy the world and Jo asks "What, this Daemon could destroy the world?".  And the Doctor gravely answers "What does any scientist do with an experiment that fails? He chucks it in the rubbish bin!" and Jo ponders a horrible thought "The end of the world!".

And lastly there is the scene near the end (SPOILER!!!!!!) where Jo stands in the way of the Doctor as Azal is about to kill him with lightning from his fingers.  And Jo shouts "NO, HE'S A GOOD MAN!! KILL ME, NOT HIM!!" and this confuses Azal and sends him into turmoil and he shouts for everyone to leave the church.  And afterward, the Doctor says to the others "Well, by a ridiculous and foolhardy act of self-sacrifice, Jo here has managed to save us" and Jo looks surprised and says "I did?".  And the Doctor goes on to explain "You did. You see, Azal couldn't face an act as irrational and as illogical as her being prepared to give up her life for me" and he lookws at Jo's cowal and says  "Look, Jo, why don't you go and get out of that ridiculous garb?!" and she smiles and says "OK".

Roger Delgado once again is also great as the Master, who poses as the village vicar, named the Magister but is in fact trying to summon the Daemon, Azal for his own purposes.  

Roger has plenty of his own highlights but I will try and mention only a few such as his first scene where Miss Hawthorne demands to see the Magister and she threatens to use violence if she doesn't get to see him.  And the Master suddenly appears and says "Dear me, I hope violence will not be necessary.  Good evening, Miss Hawthorne, what can I do for you?".

Then in the following scene with the Master, Miss Hawthorne argues with the Master "Have you no concern for the souls in your care?" and The Master says "The soul as such is a very dated concept.  Viewing the matter existentially...." and Miss Hawthorne gives up and says "Existentially?!! You're a blockhead!".  But then the Master takes off his glasses and says to her "Miss Hawthorne, one moment. You're very distressed, I can see that. You know, you really are worrying unduly.  There's nothing to worry about...." and he tries to hypnotise her but fails.

And then we have the Master's regular chanting as he tries to summon Azal during his ritual ceremonies at the church.  And Roger as the Master get's to deliver that immortal line "As my will so mote it be!" as he throws incense at the altar.  And during his summoning he also utters the lines "By the power of earth, by the power of air, by the power of fire eternal and the waters of the deep, I conjure thee and charge thee Azal. Arise, arise at my command, Azal!  AZAL!!!".

Another good scene is when the Master addresses the villagers at a meeting at the vicarage where he tries to win them over but instead he delivers an ultimatum to them.  And the Master says "Now please, as I was telling you, the whole world can be ours. I only need two things. Your submission and your obedience to my will!".  However the villager Squire defiantly says to the Master "What's all this about obedience and submission?!  I thought you said we were going to rule!". And the Master boldly says to the Squire "You rule?! Ha!  You're all less than dust beneath my feet!  and the Squire says "Preposterous!".  However this really angers the Master, who shouts "You choose to question me, do you? Very well, I'll give you another choice. Obey me or I shall destroy you!".  And as the Squire says "I'm getting out of here" the Master summons Bok, who kills the Squire and the Master then says to the shocked villagers "Right, does anybody else agree with the Squire? Thank you. It does my heart good to know I have such a willing band of followers".  

Then we have the scene where the Master has summoned Azal to appear in person and the Doctor has also managed to get into the church to state his case but the Master demands Azal destroy the Doc.  And the Master says to Azal "Well?!  You waste time!  I order you to kill him Azal!" but Azal says "I command!  I do not obey!" and the Master looks surprised "But I called you here and you came".  And Azal explains he came because it is time to decide the fate of the Earth as his experiment and the Master then insists "Then fulfill your mission by granting the ultimate power to me. Who else is there strong enough to give these humans the leadership they need?!!".  And as the Doctor makes his own case for how although Azal gave knowledge to man, he has devised weapons that could destroy the world.  And Azal asks "Is man such a failure then?!  Shall I destroy him?!" and the Master shouts "No!  A strong leader can force him to learn!".

And lastly there is the scene where (SPOILER!!!!!!!) the Master is finally captured by UNIT and he his held at gunpoint and the Doctor says to the Master "And look after him.  I want to deal with him later!".  And the Master looks at the Doctor and says "Do you, Doctor?  You always were an optimist, weren't you?" and the Doctor smiles and says "Thank you for the compliment!".

Nicholas Courtney next up is great once again here as the Brigadier and he get's some of the best lines in the story and indeed moments as the Brig.

And for starters there is the scene where the Brigadier, who is in bed after having attended a dinner party, is on the phone to UNIT.  And the Brig asks on the phone "I suppose it wouldn't do any good to ask for Captain Yates or Sergeant Benton? MY HELICOPTER???!  WHERE TO???!! Devil's End. Yes, yes, I see. Get my car here right away. Yes, and if they do contact you, tell them to stay put!" and he hangs up.

Then there is the scene where the Doctor meets with the Brigadier at the opposite side of the heat barrier at Devil's end.  And in the scene the Brig complains about how one of the UNIT helicopters was destroyed by the heat barrier and he says "Twenty thousand pounds of UNIT money gone up in a puff of smoke!" and the Doctor says "You have the mind of an accountant, Lethbridge Stewart!".  And the Doctor tries throwing a rock at the heat barrier, which disintegrates it and the Doc says "Even rock!" and the Brigadier tells him "Wood, rock, four inch armour plate. You name it, we've tried it. It's impenetrable!" but the Doctor corrects him saying "A hasty and innaccurate assessment, Brigadier!".

Another good scene comes after the Doctor has drawn a circuit diagram for Sergeant Osgood, who is given the task to built the heat exchanger but Osgood is still not quite certain about how it works.  And the Doctor exasperated says "Good grief, man!  Its as simple as Einstein's special theory of relativity!" but the Brigadier says "We'll manage, Doctor" and the Doctor tells them to get it ready as soon as they can and drives off.  And the Brigadier looks on at the Doctor as he drives away and he turns to Osgood and says "Do you know, Osgood?  I sometimes wish I worked in a bank!".

And then there is the classic scene where the Brigadier finally arrives at the village in Devil's End and he meets with Captain Yates, who warns him of Bok, who stands in their way.  And the Brigadier looks at Bok and says "What the blazes is that?!  Some kind of ornament?" and Yates says "Not exactly, sir" and he picks up a rock and says "Watch" and he throws the rock at Bok, who blasts it into atoms with a flash of lightning from his fingertips.  And the Brigadier says "Yes, I see what you mean.  Never mind we'll soon fix him!" and he calls to one of his men "Jenkins!" and the soldier arrives, carrying a rifle and the Brig utters the classic line "Chap with the wings there, five rounds rapid!" and Jenkins fires five shots off but they have no effect on Bok whatsoever.

SPOILER WARNING OF SORTS AHEAD!!

And last of all there is scene where at the end of the story with everything wrapped in and a Mayday dance in progress.  And Yates asks the Brigadier "Fancy a dance, Brigadier?" and the Brigadier smiles and says "That's kind of you, Captain Yates.  I think I'd rather have a pint!" and they both smile and make for the pub.

John Levine and Richard Franklin are also both very good in their respective roles of Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates, as they too have comfortably grown into their roles, and they share a nice bit of banter with each other.  And Levine has a fun moment where the Brigadier goes off to his dinner party and Benton complains to Yates "It's all right for some, isn't it, sir? And we're stuck here with a television and a plate of corned beef sandwiches!".

Then we have the scene where Benton moans while watching the TV that his rugby team lost in the first episode, and he flicks a coin he lost in a bet to Yates.  And Yates grins at Benton, saying "Thirteen nil" and Benton says "They're lucky it wasn't a hundred and thirteen nil! Useless lot!". 

Another good scene from Levine is the one where Benton is trying to get in touch with the Brigadier on his radio and is frustrated by Miss Hawthorne who is making tea in the pub. So, Benton loses it and says to her "For Heaven's sake, Miss Hawthorne! Something's gone badly wrong! We've no idea what's happening to Miss Grant and the Captain, the Doctor should be back here by now, I can't get through to the Brigadier and you're nattering on about tea!". 

And lastly there is the scene where Benton uses his gun to shoot a couple of targets to pretend that the Doctor can perform magic. However after the Doctor uses his remote control to capture the pub landlord, Bert (who is under the control of the Master) in Bessie, he tries to make a run for it but Benton jumps him and pins him down and aims his gun at Bert and says "Oh no you don't, old chap! We've all got a date with the Master, haven't we?!". 

As for Franklin's own scenes worth noting, there is the one where Yates tells the Brigadier over the radio about the events that have been happening up at the village.  And Yates says to the Brigadier "
Yes, sir. I know it sounds a bit wild" and the Brig says "It does indeed, Yates.  Let me talk to the Doctor, over".  However Yates tells the Brig "I'm afraid you can't, sir.  He's gone up to the dig with Jo" and the Brigadier asks "I see.  Yes, well, Yates, any further revelations?" and Yates tells the Brig "Just one, sir.  We've found out who's at the bottom of all this.  Its the Master.  Over and out!". 

Then there is the scene where Yates follows Jo into the cavern where he warns her about the elemental spells there. So, Yates whispers to her "Why didn't you stay in bed?" and Jo says "I had to find out what was going on" and Yates scolds her and says "You're an idiot! This place is alive with booby traps!" and Jo asks "What?" and Yates tells her "Spells, elementals, the Doctor's forcefields". Jo asks "Where are they?" and Yates says "All over. Pass me that book over there" so Jo grabs a book and gives it to Yates who says "Right, now watch this" and throws the book onto the decorated stone and the pages fly apart into pieces. Jo, shaken by it says to Yates "Its a conjuring trick! A horrible conjuring trick!" and Yates says "You think so? You remember Benton" as Benton was beaten up by the forcefield earlier. And as the Master and his covern enter, Jo and Yates hide and Jo says to him "Mike, I'm scared" and Yates tells her "Don't worry. The Doc knows we're here, so does Benton".

As for the guest cast of the show, Damaris Hayman does a fine job with her character of Miss Hawthorne, the headstrong and stubborn white witch who forecasts doom and disaster on the village, although her performance is also a tad cheesy.

Regardless of this, Damaris has some good scenes also such as the one where Miss Hawthorne meets with the Master early on and she protests over his lack of concern for the excavation of the dig.  And Miss Hawthorne says to the Master "We are all in mortal peril, Vicar! Have you no concern for the souls in your care?!".  And the Master tells her that the concept of the soul is very dated and he prefers to view the matter existentially and she interrupts him saying "Existentially?!  Oh, you're a blockhead, sir!".  But as the Master tries to hypnotise her, she manages to resist it and she tells him "
Must believe. Oh, why should I believe you? A rationalist, existentialist priest indeed!".  And the Master, furious, shouts "Listen to me!" and Miss Hawthorne defiantly tells him "You're a fool, sir. If you won't help me, I must find someone who will!".

Then there is the scene where Miss Hawthorne and Benton are attacked by one of the Mayday dancers in the local pub and Miss Hawthorne knocks out the man with her crystal ball.  And Benton, all bruised from the attack asks "What happened?" and Miss Hawthorne tells him "I hit him with my reticule.  On these occassions, the outcome is a certainty!".  And as Benton is about to go outside, Miss Hawthorne stops him and says "No, Sergeant, wait. Look, I know these people. They're not wicked. Well, most of them anyway".  And Benton asks "So?" and Miss Hawthorne says "So, it's up to us to explain to them how mistaken they are. Now, listen carefully!".

And lastly there is the scene where Miss Hawthorne prevents the Doctor from being burned by the villagers for being percieved to be a "black witch".  And Miss Hawthorne protests "Stop! You will bring a terrible retribution upon yourselves if you persist!" and the leader of the bad villagers, Bert shouts "Shut up, you silly old fool!".  And Miss Hawthorne says "You would dare to harm the great Wizard Qui Quae Quod?! You wouldn't listen to me before and now you're in the power of the Magister. You know I speak the truth!".  And as Bert insists that the villager, Thrope get on with burning the Doctor, Miss Hawthorne interrupts again "No, wait, listen to me. Under the Magister you have been frightened, injured, your property destroyed!! Serve the great Qui Quae Quod. In him lies peace and great joy!!".

As for the other supporting cast members, Don McKillop does very well in his role as the local pub landlord, Bert, who is under the control of the Master.  

And McKillop has a few notable scenes such as the one where Bert talks to a few customers in the pub about the possibility of the devil making an appearance up at the dig that Professor Horner is about to excavate.  And Bert says to the customers "Well, I'll tell you. if the Old'un does come along here tonight, he can have my best room. My bread and butter, he is!".

Then there is the scene where the Doctor is captured by Bert and the Morris dancers and the Doctor asks "What is going on here?!" and Bert points a gun at him and says "You've been invited to join our Mayday revels, Doctor! I'm sure you don't want to disappoint us or Mister Magister!". 

And lastly there is his following scene where Bert riles up the villagers and convinces they should burn the Doctor as a black witch who is tied to a post. So, in the scene the Doctor tells the villagers "The Master is planning on making slaves of you all! And I'm only one with a chance of stopping him!" but Bert instead tells the villagers "He is lying! He is the enemy! Mister Magister will care for you and give you everything you eve wanted!". The Doctor then warns them "That's nonsense! All the Master will bring upon you is disaster!". Bert then shouts "HE is the enemy! He's a black witch! A witch you hear?" and the villagers all go silent and Bert warns them "And you've always known what you should do to a witch, don't you?" and he says "Thou shall not suffer a witch to live. Burn him!!" and the villagers all join in.

Rollo Gamble is also pretty good as the Squire Winstanley, who ends up defying the Master, which costs him very dearly indeed in the end and you actually end up feeling sorry for his character as he is sceptical of the supernatural events at the village but soon comes under the hammer from the Master.

And this is especially notable in the scene where Winstanley meets with the Master, who tells him he wants Winstaley to call a village meeting.  And the Master further says "I control the forces that have been released in Devil's End over the last few hours" and Winstanley "All that fuss up at the dig?  You're trying to tell me it was you?!".  And the Master says "Exactly" but Winstanley refuses to accept it and says "That's ridiculous!" and the Master angrily says "You need proof, do you?!  Very well you shall have it!" and he concentrates and suddenly a strong wind blows things about the room".  And this panics Winstanley who pleads with the Master "Stop it!  Stop it!" and the Master stops and the wind subsides and he says "Well?" and Winstanley says "I'll do anything you say".

Alec Linstead next also does well in his role as the UNIT solider, Sergeant Osgood, who builds the heat exchanger for the Doctor, so that the UNIT soldiers can penetrate the heat barrier.  

And Linstead has a good moment where he get's the heat exchanger working and he is quite excited that it works.  However the Brigadier is fed up with the noise it makes and tells him to switch if off but Osgood say "I'm sorry, sir, I can't. I must finish the tests".  And the Brig impatiently asks "Well, how long are you going to be?!" and Osgood says "About a minute, sir.  I've got the hang of it now" but then there is a puff of smoke and Osgood looks up with his face covered in soot and he says "Half an hour, sir.  At least!".  

Then we have Stanley Mason as Bok, the Master's gargoyle, which he uses to bump off the villagers that oppose him, as he prances around in the white lycra suit, and the face make-up for Bok appears to have his tounge sticking out for some strange reason!  Mason does well enough with the role but he isn't given much more to do that prance around and point to evapourate things with his hands.

And last of all Stephen Thorne is excellent in his role as the Daemon, Azal although his appearance is rather brief as you only really see him in the last episode, but the effects and make-up for his character are actually very good, and yes those are tights he is wearing in the scenes where you see his hooves!

Thorne also makes great use of his booming voice for the part and he has a couple of good scenes, starting with the one where Azal makes his first appearance to the Master.  And the Master asks Azal "Give me your knowledge and your power!" and Azal asks "Why?" and the Master says "So that I may rule these primitives on Earth here, and help them to fulfill your plan!".  And Azal says "You are not one of their kind" and the Master says "No, I am superior to them.  That's why I should be their leader!".  However, Azal says "There is another here of your race.  I would speak to him" and the Master boldly says "I think not!" and Azal warns him "Take care, creature! With your few pitiful grains of knowledge, you have summoned me here, but I am not your slave and you are not immortal!".

And Azal tells the Master "I am the last of the Daemons. This planet smells to me of failure. It may be that I shall destroy it. You still wish me to come once more?!" and the Master says "I do!" and Azal tells him "Very well.  Now go!" and he Master leaves as Azal shrinks again and heat haze surrounds the cavern.

And lastly (BIG PLOT SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!) there is the scene where the Doctor speaks with Azal as the Daemon makes his final appearance.  And Azal tells them "I have decided.  I shall pass on my power!" and the Master delighted says "O might, Azal, I thank you!" but Azal says "But not to you!" and he points at the Doctor instead and says "To him!".  However this frightens the Doctor, who suddenly shouts out "NO!  No, I don't want it!!".  So this leaves Azal with no choice but to pass his power to the Master, who asks what he will do with the Doctor and Azal says "He is not rational. He is disruptive. He must be eliminated!".  

But as Azal starts to zap the Doctor with electric bolts from his fingertips, Jo steps infront of the Doctor and shouts out that she be sacrificed instead, which sends Azal into a fury of confusion and he puts his hands to his head, sending the electrical surge through his body and he stumbles.  And Azal shouts out "THIS ACTION DOES NOT RELATE!!  IT HAS NO DATA!!  IT DOES NOT RELATE!!  GO!! LEAVE ME!! ALL OF YOU!!!" and everyone flees the church just before it blows up.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As I finally move onto the director and music paragraphs, starting with the direction, Christopher Barry does an excellent job here with the story and given its unusual five episode length (only three stories in the show's history were that length) it is actually very well paced and rarely ever lags.  Barry already was one of the stalwart directors of the show as his involvement in Doctor Who goes all the way back to the first ever Dalek story during the William Hartnell era.  So overall this is one of Barry's best serials that he directed for the series.  

As for the music score, Dudley Simpson once again provides the fully electronic score for the serial and its another fine one, which fits the story's tone very nicely with its moody, creepy passages aswell. This was in fact the last fully electronic score Simpson would write for the show as he was exhausted after his efforts of composing for Pertwee's second season as he scored and performed it all himself. And Simpson's music is also nicely backed up by some great sound effects from the show's sound effects designer, Brian Hodgson, who provided the sounds effects for the show from its beginning until 1972.

FLAWS (Warning this section may contain the odd spoiler!)

As for the story's flaws.....well yeah OK, The Daemons does have some here and there.

And my main problem with the story is where (SPOILER ONCE AGAIN!!) Azal cannot understand Jo's decision to save the Doctor from being killed by him, by offering herself as a sacrifice instead.  The decision seems to totally baffle Azal and send him into self destruct mode, but I suppose that Azal is a creature that only deals in absolutes and can't handle the notion of such an intervention of selflessness.

However, you can't help but think, wait a minute, in order to defeat this guy all we had to do is just confuse him?????  And that's it????  Surely we should have thought of that sooner!  The resolution of ridding the world of Azal seems just a bit pat and convenient that all it takes is one action to confuse him and that's him taken care of!

Another issue I had with the story was to do with the way the Doctor put down Jo in the scene where she says "of all the idiotic things, as if blowing things up solves anything!" regarding the Brigadier's decision to try and bomb their way through the barrier.  So, the Doctor tells off Jo saying that he is doing his best to cope with the situation and she should show the Brig more respect, yet he was only reprimanding the Brigadier for making that very suggestion a minute ago himself!  So basically this makes the Doctor a bit of a hypocrite!

I also thought the idea of Benton shooting the lamp and the weather cock were a bit daft as he does shout out for the lamp shatter, fair enough, but he doesn't really shout out Benton should do with the weathercock.  So, Benton basically assumes he has to shoot it and nothing else really!  I felt basically Benton wouldn't have really been able to pick up the Doctor's voice from that distance when he wasn't shouting.

Then there is the issue with Bok, the seemingly indestructible gargoyle under the Master and Azal's command and how the UNIT soldiers fail to cope with it.  Yet you think all they need to do is get the UNIT soldiers to distract Bok, while others could sneak past it and infiltrate the church if that's what they wanted to do!  Although in the end there isn't much the UNIT soldiers could have done against the towering 20 feet high Azal once they got in right enough!

Its also another one of the stories where you think the Time Lords could have gotten involved for once as they could have let the Doctor use the TARDIS to land outside the heat barrier and take the Brig and his men and then travel inside the village itself!  But again I guess that would be too easy and the Time Lords would rather that the Doctor figured it out himself and they only interrupt anyway when there's something of interest in it for them.

And last of all by this time surely to God the Doctor and UNIT should have guessed that the Master might have been behind the goings on in the village as he was the main antagonist for the other four stories in that season, so why not this one!  So when the Doctor works out that the Master has been using the latin term "Magister" instead of the Master, the Doc should surely be thinking "Well its no bloody surprise, he's been behind all the other troubles we've had lately!!".  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, The Daemons is indeed one of the great classic Doctor Who stories and its one that's got all the elements with a fine cast, great script, a towering monster, not to mention another appearance of the Master, although at this point they had overused him just a bit much.  And any of the stories flaws are greatly outweighh by its pluses and it also is the story where the UNIT family were operating at its peak and each of the UNIT regulars were given the most to do with Benton and Yates getting plenty of time to shine onscreen.

So after 51 years, The Daemons is still very much worth checking out and it remains one of the great classics of the original series.

And to finish, I will rate The Daemons:

9.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back sometime soon with another post.

Till the next one, bye for now! 

Game Review: Lost Judgment

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, its time for a new review with new content for a change and this one will be a review of a game I just recently finished playing and the game in question is the action video game, Lost Judgment, which is the sequel to Judgment (which is kind of spin-off of the Yakuza games) and centers around a private detective called Yagami. 

So, how does the sequel of Judgment fair??? Well, let's take a look and find out...

And as the story has a rather elaborate plot I will give a warning below...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD (BUT NOT TOO MANY!!) 

STORY 

So, I've quoted a bit of the plot summary from Wikipedia. 

"Private detective Takayuki Yagami and his partner Masaharu Kaito are invited by their friends Fumiya Sugiura and Makoto Tsukumo to assist their fledgling detective business located in the Ijincho district of Yokohama to solve a bullying case. Chairman Yuzo Okuda of the prestigious Seiryo High School, explains he wants to hire the detectives to covertly investigate the school to determine if any bullying has been taking place among the students, especially since the school had gotten involved in a bullying scandal in 2017 when a student, Toshiro Ehara, committed suicide and a student teacher, Hiro Mikoshiba, had gone missing two months prior. 

Yagami covertly discourages Koda's bullies from targeting her by convincing the rest of her class to stand up to them. Yagami receives a call from his friend Saori Shirosaki at the Genda Law Office. Shirosaki explains that one of her clients, Akihiro Ehara, Toshiro's father, was arrested and convicted for sexual battery, but during his court testimony he revealed he knew about the death of Mikoshiba, who he holds responsible for Toshiro's suicide. However, the discovery of Mikoshiba's body and identification of his corpse only occurred after Ehara's statement, leading Shirosaki to believe Ehara was involved in Mikoshiba's death and deliberately got himself caught for sexual battery to provide himself an alibi for his murder.

So, from here, Yagami begins to investigate the connection between Ehara's sexual battery case and the murder of Mikoshiba..."

THOUGHTS 

As a sequel to Judgment, Lost Judgment is an excellent follow-up that has a very entertaining and engrossing story that follows Yagami once again as he takes on a challenging case in order to find the link between a sexual harrassment and a murder case. And the game's characters are all very engaging once again with Yagami and Kaito making a likeable duo as the detectives working on the case. This also includes the return of Yagami's associates from Genda Law, Ryuzo Genda, Shirosaki, and Hoshiro and this time round Yagami has some competition as Siguira (the masked man from the first game) has set up his own agency along with IT expert, Tsukumo. The game also takes place between two towns now with Kamurocho and Yokohama with Yagami visiting Yokohama to work along side with Suguira and Tsukomo, which adds a nice change of scenery from being just in the one town. 

The story is also very elaborate as it is spread over 13 chapters just like the first game, there is plenty of detail to go over with a tonne of dialogue options as well as side characters, side jobs and other activities to try out in both towns. So, this is definitely a fun sequel but at the same it also tells a very dramatic story with the steaks getting higher as it goes on.

GAMEPLAY 

As for the gameplay, I will do the usual and split it into sub sections, which I will cover below in more detail. 

COMBAT 

Starting with the combat, Yagami once again can pull off a number of combo attacks as he takes on multiple enemies at once with a mixture of punches, kicks, throws and even parkour is thrown into the mix here! And this time round Yagami has an additional fighting style known as Snake, where Yagami can counterattack and disarm enemies along with his other styles, the Crane for crowd control and Tiger for fighting one on one. Yagami can also perform special action attacks where he grab certain items and bash enemies with them such as bikes or traffic cones. 

Yagami can also upgrade his attack power as well as learn new moves for each of his three styles and these moves combined can also lead to unlocking extra health for Yagami also, which will be invaluable as the game becomes more challenging. 

STEALTH AND TAILING 

Yagami can also perform stealth actions in the game at certain points when he trise to move from one area to another without getting detected and these sections are generally straight forward enough. Yagami in his stealth moments can also throw coins to distract enemies, so he can move past them or even perform a choke hold attack to put them down.

As for tailing tasks, Yagami will follow targets at a distance to gather information for clients or himself but you have to careful that Yagami doesn't get spotted or you need to start the tail action all over again. Yagami however can also pretend that he isn't tailing if his suspect is suspicious as he will check his phone or take a selfie. Yagami can also use his phone to take pictures if necessary of his targets to gather info. 

SIDE MISSIONS

Throughout the game, Yagami can also perform a number of side missions that aren't related to the main story and some of these are for characters that appear in the main story also. As an example, Yagami ends up working at the school where he investigates for evidence of bullying and works with a tenacious young girl who is the leader of the Mystery Research Club, who works on cases of her own and after a flaky start begins to trust Yagami. 

MINI GAMES

Yagami can also play a number of mini games in his office that are old Sega classics such as Super Hang-on, Fantasy Zone, Sonic the Fighters, Motor Raid and Virtua Fighter 5 to name a few. I actually had a go at one of them briefly, which I think was Super Hang-on, which was kind of fun but also quite tricky as the old Sega games were no doubt quite difficult!

HEALING & BUFFING ITEMS

Yagami will also have access to different items that can heal his health that he can purchase in food stores or chemists (I think they are chemists at least!). Yagami can also regain some health from purchasing meals such as sandwiches, or specific Japanese cuisine or even just dining for a meal or in other cases, resting on his couch will also replenish his HP. 

As for buffable items, Yagami can use different items that boost his attack power and re-fill EX guage, which gives him the ability to perform powerful attacks for a short period of time, a bit like the devil trigger system in Devil May Cry. 

GRAPHICS 

As for the game's graphics, Lost Judgment looks simply superb with the game's environments all rich and detailed from the streets of Kamurocho to inner settings of nightclubs, bars to also the streets of Yokohama. But what's even more impressive are the character models, who all look terrific with the regular players character models a bit more enhanced than before and the new characters also look terrific. In fact I was convinced that one of the characters, Ehara, looked life-like in the game and that the super-imposed a real life actor's image into the game! So, overall I was very impressed with the visuals of the game and it certainly looks great on the Xbox Series X that I played it on. 

VOICE ACTING

As for the game's voice acting, the cast are all on excellent form as before although I did only play the game with the English voiced actors and not the Japanese ones but the dialogue is well synced for the American accents that feature here. So, I will mention the English voiced voice actors for the cast below. 

Starting with Greg Chun, who reprises his role as the former lawyer turned private detective, Yagami who works on a challenging case along with his parter Kaito and lawyer, Saori as well Suguira and Tsukomo. Chun delivers another excellent performance as Yagami and shows the character's charm, decency, bravery and stubborness all at once (well not really all the same time but you get the idea).

Crispin Freeman is also great once again in his role as Kaito, Yagami's partner at the agency, who is also a former Yakuza member, who was disgraced and left his clan. Freeman provides some great moments in the game and also some comic relief particularly as early on, Kaito has the hots for one of the teachers at the school him and Yagami are working. 

As for the new cast members, Todd Haberkorn does a fine a job as the Jin Kuwana, who is a mysterious handyman that helps out Yagami but also has some hcraadark secrets that we learn about later on in the game. Kuwana's character is really interesting as there are times you don't know which side of the fencing he is sitting on. 

Matt Yang King is also excellent in his role as the main villain, Soma, who is the leader of a criminal underworld group known as RK (stands for Red Knife) but I won't say too much more about him than that here to avoid too much spoilers! 

Stephanie Shieh also is very good in her role as Saori, the lawyer who works on the case of Ehara, who is found guilty of sexual battery but may also be linked to a murder. Shieh herself did not voice Saori in the first game but she does a fine job and in fact I have to say I was convinced that it was the same voice actress! 

And last of all Mark Whitten is also very good in his reprised role of Sugiura, who was a former thief but now after helping Yagami in the events of the first game, has started his own detective agency in the town of Yokohama. 

MUSIC 

As for the music, the score was written by several composers but the primary one was Hidenori Shoji and its a very good score overall and is similar to the first game with some new tracks added in also. Its a good mix of dramatic and playful and at times even poignant pieces that fit the tone of the game perfectly well throughout.

FLAWS

As for flaws, yes Lost Judgment does have some.

For starters, I would have to say that the game similar to the first one, does have some tedious moments in it such as some of the side missions, which feel a bit tacked on and pointless such as the detective dog that can solve cases. This one was a bit silly to say the least that you had a dog that could be Sherlock Holmes! I mean I have heard of sniffer dogs obviously but a dog that is that inquisitive seems a bit much. 

Another issue is to do with again, the endless amounts of fighting that goes on in the game as Yagami tries to run from A to B throughout as he runs on the streets and bumps into gang after gang and he is forced to fight them, it does get a bit tiresome. To be fair, they had scaled back the amount of fighting you had to do a bit this time round on the streets and isn't quite annoying but it still does happen quite alot.

There are also some annoying issues with moments in the game where Yagami looks for clues at a crime scene or in other situations and you find yourself scanning the scene and there might be just one or two clues you are missing that aren't even obvious to the eye! And there were quite a few times where I had to look up Youtube videos to discover what clues I was missing in certain moments, which made it quite annoying. 

And I won't say anything about the actual ending of the game but what I will say is that towards the end of the game there is LOAD OF FIGHTING! I mean its just overkill the amount of guys you have to takedown as you progress near the end! And the game advises before the finale starts, you should stock up on healing items but that in itself is an understatement given the amount of guys you need to fight here! However by the time I got to the final boss, I had completely ran out of healing items and got killed almost immediately and had to restart the fight! So, yeah the fighting get's just a bit repetitive at times here. 

This brings me onto another issue which is to do with the fact that you can only hold three of each healing item and no more, which is a bit annoying as it would be better if you could have at least say 5 of each but I guess that make things a bit too easy. You can use food for healing during fights but it doesn't restore much of your HP which is not too great overall if you run out of healing items.

The game arguably is also a bit too long as the story mode lasts over 20 hours with 13 chapters, it is pretty long winded and the story while engrossing for the most part, it does drag a little bit at times also. So, it wouldn't have been a bad thing if they had trimmed the story just a bit to make it a bit tighter although it is still a good bit shorter than the first game. 

And last of all, I think from a plot standpoint, its amazing that Yagami doesn't face some serious criminal prosecutions in this game himself as there are various times where he beats the crap of school kids! I mean to be fair, the kids are bullies and they provoke Yagami in these situations leaving him little choice but to fight but they could easily turn on him and have him prosecutred for assaulting them! The same can also be said for a cop in the game too that Yagama fights at one stage and beats the crap out of him too, yet he won't face any prosecution after either! Ah well, its only a game.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, in summing up, Lost Judgment is an excellent sequel and features a gripping story, engaging characters and some excellent voice acting as well as some fun combat and other side activities. The game does drag on maybe a bit too long though at times and it has to be said even though the combat is fun, it can get VERY repetitive after a while just like in the first game. 

However, if you can forgive it all that, then Lost Judgment is still well worth having a look at and a very enjoyable game. 

So, I will rate Lost Judgment:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for ow and I will be back with another review of some kind soon.

Till then its bye for now! 

 

Casino Review Revisited (Part 3!) "You only exist out here because of ME!!"

 

 

 

 

 

So, its 2022 and this is my first post of the year, so I'll start by saying Happy New Year to you all out there. And I figured I would be lazy (once again lol!) and start the year with a revisitation of one of my former posts, which is a film review of the crime drama epic, Casino directed by Martin Scorsese.  

So, I might add a few bits as usual here and there to the sections although my prior version of this post is already big enough as it is! 

And with that said, let's take yet another look at this modern crime classic and see how it fairs 27 years on from its release...

And the usual warning is 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 

Casino certainly has drawn comparisons 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 manages to equal Goodfellas for quality, 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 unlikable 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 obsessive 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 unrequited, 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 more 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 buzz saw.

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.

Joe Pesci next up 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 receiver 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".

Nicky then 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.

Sharon Stone next up, 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
  
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!).   

SOUNDTRACK   

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 the end, the mob bosses sunk themselves with their decision to put Piscano in charge!

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. This is a pretty silly scene in itself but it surprisingly enough did happen as agents were forced to make an emergency landing but it was due to the plane having mechanical issues and not fuel and it was even caught on the news at the time. 

However, to conclude regarding any inaccuracies, the film does acquit itself in a way because at the start is states in the titles "This film is based on true events" so its not actually saying it was a true story in itself but to be fair, Casino is relatively accurate to the events that happened during that time.

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 is just pipped by Goodfellas out of Scorsese's two Mafia dramas, but Casino to its credit does have 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, which initially is a bit tedious 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.

However, after 27 years, Casino remains a must-see crime drama and it definitely is worthy of its place next to Goodfellas. 

So, I will rate Casino:

9 out of 10

OK, that's it for now and I will be back again soon with another post.

Until then its bye for now!