The gangster genre has seen many films, but few have had the impact that Casino had. It is a movie that even those who dislike mob movies will find themselves moved by. It tells the story of a group of men who ran Vegas, then watched that empire crumble under their greed and hubris. It is a lesson in how far you can fall from a position of power.
In the opening sequences, Scorsese uses fast-cutting to present stylized, documentary-like footage of a casino in operation. The result is that the film initially feels as much like an entertaining behind-the-scenes look at gambling than it does a fictional tale about mobsters. As the film progresses, though, he gradually eases back on the narration, until the movie begins to feel as much like a conventional narrative.
Casino reveals that the real story of Las Vegas is one of massive corruption. It shows how huge gambling corporations took over a desert city that was minting money in the billions. It explains how the mafia lost control of a town that once spewed out dollars faster than your grandmother’s credit card could keep up with it.
Robert De Niro is magnificent as the ruthless and ambitious Sam “Ace” Rothstein, while Sharon Stone plays his feisty girlfriend Ginger. All of the performances are top notch, and the editing by Thelma Schoonmaker is superb. The film is also populated with little moments that add up to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. There’s the moment when Ace orders his casino cooks to put exactly the same amount of blueberries in each muffin, for example, or the scene where airborne feds spy on the mobsters and they run out of gas right on the golf course and land right in front of a window with their guns raised.