Movie "Casino"

First, the purpose of this thread was not to be political.

One day I might get around to reading the Pileggi book. It's on my list with Mario Puzo's "Fools Die". I was surprised to hear that Pileggi had been married to Nora Ephron. After Carl Bernstein, Pileggi was turned out a good fit for Nora, according to her (by the way, I have to like Nora Ephron because I was in one of her movies).

As for other Scorsese movies, I'm not a big fan of his. I don't like Taxi Driver. I don't like Ragin Bull. I'm not saying he isn't good. I'm saying I don't like them. I did enjoy the "Color of Money" quite a bit. The "Aviator" was okay, but I found a bit boring (very much like "Catch Me If You Can").

More "Casino" trivia, it's ranks fourth on the list of movies that drop the f-bomb the most.

Mob Tour...and the Mob Museum..., CLV's review has sparked an interest. I know there's someone else on these boards that shares this opinion, but I have a bit of a problem with romanticizing the Mob.

I like Casino as a movie. However, I don't think it accurately represents Rosenthal. From what I've read, he was a yahoo -- and I think the movie makes him sympathetic, wanting to be a good casino manager while surrounded by mobsters who won't act legit.

That's just another reason to read the book and see the aforementioned A&E show "American Justice" with the episode called "Vegas And The Mob" (which also has Rosenthal in it). I wouldn't call anything that I read and saw in either place "romanticized." It's actually why I previously said that I liked the book and TV show more (because it was more accurate and told the real story).

Let me make something clear about the book "Casino." It is NON FICTION! It is not a fictionalized account of things that happened. It is the real story about it all and uses the real names of all of the real people involved (including Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Gerri [Geraldine] Rosenthal, Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, Alan Glick {who was the frontman for Stardust and ARGENT}, Oscar Goodman) as well as other Mob people involved and includes photographs of many of them.

This book is not a Novel like "Fools Die." It's actually the real story of what really happened then.

RecVPPlayer

RecVP

Thanks! I've seen one of the shows on the mob in Vegas. It was "The Money and the Power" by Sally Denton (based on her book). I don't believe everything she says -- but there's stuff she definitely knows. And it was not romantic. But I didn't know "Casino" the book was non-fiction. Was "Casino" the book that really documented the mob working in Vegas in the 70's and 80's. "Green Felt Jungle" explained the 1950's.

When I started reading about Vegas (when I started traveling there) in the early 1990's, I had no idea the mob was still active well into the 1980's. I thought the mob's best days were the 1950's and had been cleared out by the 1960's. But the mob had skimmed the corporations well into the 1980's.

I'm reading a book right now that takes place in Montana, but mentions Bugsy Seigel. The main character/protagonist asks why people romanticized the mob. I think the word "romanticize" is even used. And he says something like, "The glamour days of 1950's Hollywood, the sweet sewer it was, is as much a part of this country as the graves of Shiloh". Wow. It may be the only explanation I'll ever except. I also have never seen GWTW, nor will I ever. I can't romanticize the antibellum South.

You're very welcome, TB! Yes, the book "Casino" is the real deal! There are not any made-up people in there.

It actually corroborates what's in that "Vegas And The Mob" episode that the A&E show "American Justice" did.

So again, if you want to read about the real incident, do read "Casino" by Nicholas Pileggi.

I do have an interesting story about Stardust and the Mob. I went to LV and stayed at Stardust in the 1990's more than once with an old family friend -- the wife of our plumber. She was in her 80's. She said that she loved them because they were from Chicago.

I had no idea what she was talking about until I read "Casino." Then I was horrified but I had actually lost contact with her (she had been put into a home somewhere in the San Fernando Valley by her daughter) by then to ask her more about that stuff.

I actually do have the book "The Money And The Power" but I haven't gotten around to reading it. Actually, if I remember correctly, my mother got it for me when she found it at the 99 Cents Only Store!

But yes, read Casino!

RecVPPlayer

I remember when Godfather 1 came out that it was considered a scandalous movie and an insult to Italian Americans

My preference, but I love them all

Godfather 1
Godfather 2
Goodfellas
Casino

The merged Godfather 1 & 2 where it was done in chronlogical order is also great.

The Sopranos although a tv show is right there with Godfather 1

Godfather 3 was weak; it's only redeeming feature was that it tied up everything. Best scene was Michael dying alone in what looked like the garden his father died in while playing with his grandson

Coppola initially declined the offer to direct The Godfather, decrying the book and what he saw as Italian American defamation. It was Robert Evans who convinced him to do it, redefining the story in Coppola's mind as a grand saga of corruption and opulence, and an empire in decline. He told the young, angry director to think of Vito Corleone as Richard Nixon.

The Godfather was not only scandalous, it was panned by critics. Elements that were ultimately lauded were dismissed at the time by short-sided scribes as liabilities (like Gordon Willis' decision to use brash, overhead lighting.)

The Godfather III, on the other hand, ruined Christmas. The Godfather III is why we can't have nice things.

I was invited to an exclusive casino event a couple of years ago, "An Evening with Al Pacino"

It was like one of those actor studio things where he talked, acted, read poetry and took questions.

The most interesting part I thought was when he talked about acting in The Godfather movies.

Included with the invite was a framed Anniversay Edition of the Godfather Movie Poster.

Rick