Think Las Vegas and you think bright lights, big city… lots of fun? You might also think casinos, gambling and more – the entertainment capital of the world. In this feature, in association with newfreespinsnodeposit.com, we look at Hollywood’s relationship with the city and count down the top five casino scenes in the movies.
5. Casino
25 years ago, Martin Scorsese delivered arguably one of the best Las Vegas movies of all time. Casino doesn’t feature one casino scene, but many during its near three hour running time. Robert De Niro leads the cast as Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein, a mafia associate brought to Vegas to run things for his bosses back in Chicago. His life is complicated by his friend Nicky (Joe Pesci), who is keen to make his own imprint on Sin City. The movie was released in the middle of awards season at the end of 1995 and bagged one Oscar nomination for Sharon Stone who portrays Sam’s wife, Ginger.
4. The Hangover
Almost set completely in Vegas, The Hangover comes to the screen from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Todd Phillips. The first in the trilogy, and definitely the best, The Hangover revolves around a bachelor party gone wrong when a group of friends ‘lose’ the groom during one wild night. The best scene comes in the opening reel when Alan, Stu and Phil (Zack Galfianakis, Ed Helms, and Bradley Cooper) wake up in a hotel suite in the luxurious Caesar’s Palace casino, one of them missing a tooth, the others half naked with a full-grown tiger (belonging to Mike Tyson) stowed in the toilet.
3. Rain Man
The Hangover riffs on this fave scene from Barry Levinson’s 1988 Oscar-winner when Charlie (Tom Cruise) and his brother Ray (Dustin Hoffman) head to Las Vegas to bag a handful of cash to pay off Charlie’s debts. They head to a famous Vegas casino where Ray counts cards during a blackjack game to come up with a quick $80,000 to pay their creditors. This film scored four Oscars in 1989, one for Best Picture, another for Best Director Levinson, Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for a near career-best Dustin Hoffman.
2. Honeymoon In Vegas
I’m including this because it is a very, very guilty pleasure and Nicolas Cage in one of his best romantic comedies. Teaming with Sarah Jessica Parker, Cage plays Jack, a guy in town with wife-to-be Betsy (Parker) for their wedding. However, Jack loses a whopping $65,000 in a poker game to James Caan’s Tommy Korman. In order for Jack’s debt to be cancelled, Betsy must spend the weekend with Tommy. A riff on the Indecent Proposal story with a more comedic edge, Honeymoon In Vegas hasn’t worn well in the twenty-something years since release, but it’s still an entertaining watch, even for Cage’s glorious performance or the appearance of a young Bruno Mars as an Elvis impersonator.
1. Con Air
It’s Cage again, though this time in a very different performance. Here he plays Cameron Poe, a parolee on his way home via a plane full of death row criminals. The party eventually reaches Vegas after their plane is forced to land on the famous Las Vegas strip in an explosive emergency. John Malkovich’s Cyrus The Virus still manages to get away, but a thrilling chase through the streets of Vegas speeding past some ots most famous hotels and casinos is the climax of one of the greatest, most indulgent action movies of the 1990s.
