Casino (1995)

You know, I think this might be my favourite Scorsese movie. He re-assembles his regular cast, adds a soupçon of Sharon Stone and proceeds to make three hours of cinema fly by. It all centres around the aspirational "Sam Rothstein" (Robert De Niro) who realises that there is a great deal of money to be made in Las Vegas in the 1970s. To that end, he is sent by his mafia bosses to run the "Tangiers" casino, hotel and general den of iniquity. Initially, though ruthless enough, he has a degree of decency to him, and when he falls in love with hustler "Ginger" (Sharon Stone) things seem to suggest that maybe he could be destined for the straight(-ish) and narrow. The same can not be said for his friend "Santoro" (Joe Pesci) who comes out to join him - ostensibly to make sure he stays safe - and is soon up to no good fleecing whatever and whoever to pay for his hedonistic lifestyle. It'd have been dull if all had gone to plan, and of course it doesn't - "Rothstein" has to deal with crooks, authorities (not that they are mutually exclusive), his increasingly rogue wife and his downright liability of a friend. Things come to an head when his wife and her former beau/pimp "Diamond" (James Woods) force his hand, the gaming commission wants his licence and "Santoro" - well, he is just toxic. Pesci only ever really has one style of acting, and this is perfect for that. He adds a distinctly plausible nastiness to his frankly rather odious character. Stone features a bit too sparingly perhaps, but she certainly steals the scenes she shares with a measured and confident De Niro very much at the top of his game. A nice little twist at the end works very well, too! It's stylishly photographed and has a great look to it - good stuff, this.