Casino Movie – The Greatest And Best

Introduction: Casino Movie – The Greatest And Best

Without a doubt, the greatest casino movie about the beginnings of the Golden Age of casinos in Las Vegas, is Martin Scorsese’s epic, the 1995  “Casino.” At its heart, it’s the story of two friends who decide to make their own casino Empire. What lifts the film up though, is the fact that it’s based on a true story and the character that Robert De Niro plays is in real life a Frank Lefty Rosenthal, but he’s renamed Sam Rothstein in the movie. His friend, played by Joe Pesci, is the unhinged mobster Tony Spilotro.

There are a huge number of facts about this sprawling casino movie that recreates the mafia tears at the beginning of the hugely successful casino industry in Las Vegas. Let’s have a look at some of these.

Casino Movie Trivia

• In the movie the casino was called “The Tangiers,” but in fact, that didn’t really exist during the period depicted. All the interior casino shots were in a real casino called The Riviera. But you can go online and play at the Tangiers Casino. They offer a huge number of casino games.
• In order to prepare for his role better, Robert De Niro actually met up with Frank Rosenthal in person to talk through the personality.
• The character of Sam Rothstein was a chain smoker and you’ll notice in the movie that the cigarettes always appear to burn at the same length. In order to deal with continuity issues in the film, Robert De Niro always had to hold the cigarette in exactly the same spot. 
• Frank Rosenthal used to run the Stardust Casino and was a former executive there. You’ll notice that this is highlighted by the music track “Stardust” which is played 3 times during the film.
• Claudia Harrow, the actress who played the character of Trudy, was in reality, Joe Pesci’s wife in real life. She later went to prison for attempted murder.
• There was one scene in Casino when Robert De Niro’s character was juggling, but Frank Rosenthal stepped in and said that his character would never have juggled because it would have made him look like an idiot.
• In another scene Sharon Stone makes an appearance in the casino jackpot games room wearing a gold and brown gown. In reality, this piece of clothing actually weighed 45 pounds.
• The movie featured a total of 7000 extras, of which 120 had speaking parts.
• Much of the dialogue between Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro did not follow the script but was in fact improvised as the shoot proceeded.
• The budget for the costumes in the movie was around $1 million. If you count them, you’ll notice that Robert De Niro is wearing 70 different costumes. And Sharon Stone was wearing 40 different outfits.
• The actor James Wood was so determined to be in the movie that the moment he heard that he was being considered for a part, he actually flew to meet with Scorsese and told him that he was ready to work anytime any place and at any salary. In the end, he got the part of sleazy Lester Diamond, who was to all intents and purposes, Sharon Stone’s pimp.
• Interestingly enough, Sharon Stone was turned down twice by Martin Scorsese without even seeing her audition. When there was a third casting call, she thought that she had no way of getting the part, and so decided to skip it and go for dinner with her friends. This led to Scorsese tracing her down and meeting her personally in the restaurant, in order to convince her to return for a third audition.
• When shooting another Scorsese movie, Raging Bull fifteen years earlier, Joe Pesci broke a rib. And then again, during the filming of Casino, he broke the same rib.
• One of the most difficult parts of the whole movie was to find people who would share the secret of how to cheat in the casinos of Las Vegas in real life. Not one of the best jackpot winning strategies in a mafia controlled town. According to Rosenthal, when they did actually catch a cheat, and broke his playing hand with a hammer, as depicted in the movie.

More Casino Movies

If you love a good casino movie then there are a whole host of others to choose from. Our favourites include the following.

Casino Movie: Ocean’s 11

Featuring a casino movie plot about stealing money from 3 casinos in Las Vegas the movie was probably more famous for putting together the stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, it was a remake of another casino heist movie of the same name, made in 1960, which starred the “Rat Pack” of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. Soderbergh went on to direct two sequels, Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s thirteen. Ocean’s Eleven, thanks to its star power, was the highest-grossing movie of 2001, pulling in over $450 million in worldwide gross. 

Casino Movie: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

This 1998 dark comedy was a sleeper of a film by Terry Gilliam, that appeared to be both bizarre and intentionally incoherent. Based on the novel by the same name from Hunter S. Thompson, the movie was a financial disaster. But time has treated it well and today this casino movie regarded as a cult movie. Starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro, it tells the drugged-out story of these two characters as they explore the city of Las Vegas.

Casino Movie: Casino Royale

This Martin Campbell movie featured a totally new star for the James Bond franchise. Gone was the trite, witty, suave and slightly self-conscious Pierce Brosnan as 007. In came Daniel Craig with a script that bought a grittiness and a more grounded approach to playing the famous character. He also managed to lose two teeth whilst filming a fight scene in Prague in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, this new, tougher Bond, went on to reach number four in the highest-grossing movies of 2006.

Interestingly, when the film was shown in China, they had to redub parts of the casino scenes to explain the gameplay of Texas Hold’em, as this is not a game which the Chinese are familiar with. We love the fact that Bond, a public servant, was so generous with UK taxpayers money when he casually tipped the dealer $500,000! 

A Casino Movie Experience

Of the many casino movies, it matters not whether the story is fictional or based on fact, though one thing is certain. That is that the director will try his hardest to create a realistic casino environment. That means when James Bond is sitting at the gaming tables in Montenegro, the dealer will deal the cards exactly as he would in a real-life casino. In this case, they used an Austrian casino card dealer called Daniel Andreas. With some movies, it’s interesting to see the gameplay attached to various games featured. And in other movies, it’s not all glamour and glitz.

We’re not sure that you could actually learn a basic strategy or any of the top playing skills necessary to bring the subject to the silver screen, but it’s not a bad place to start. In fact, for many players, it’s an equally enjoyable experience to be watching the casino movie, and also, at the same time, looking out for the way that the casino and its employees operate. We’re not sure if you could learn enough to win the jackpot online. If you head over to the Tangiers Casino, you can try your luck along with their massive welcome bonus of 750% up to €7500, you can feel like a real high roller.