Question of the Day - 16 November 2017

[Note: We handed this one off to LVA's long-time editor Deke Castleman, whom we can always count on to come up with strong opinions on subjects that interest him. We don't always agree with him, but his take is usually at least entertaining (more so in prose than in person, though don't tell him we said so).]

The gambling movies tend to fall into three categories: soap operas that use casinos as a backdrop, like Indecent Proposal, Havana, Leaving Las Vegas, and Showgirls; the Great Vegas Heist, like Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12, The Good Thief, even a movie like The Sting; and compulsive gamblers like Let It Ride, James Caan’s The Gambler, and California Split.

There are also mob movies, like Casino and Bugsy.

The movies that are more about Vegas itself and less about gambling tend to be either fluff or farce, like Viva Las Vegas, Vegas Vacation, and Honeymoon in Vegas. Once in a while, a harder-hitting one, like Leaving Las Vegas, comes along. We'll return to movies in a bit. 

As for television, there’s always been a market for a TV series on Las Vegas: “Vegas” with Robert Urich, “CSI: Las Vegas,” “Doctor Vegas" with Rob Lowe, and Dennis Quaid’s “Vegas.” Doctor Vegas" barely made it through one season; "Vegas" completed one season, but didn't return for a second.

NBC’s “Las Vegas” with James Caan was episodic ensemble TV and very popular -- 106 episodes over five seasons. There was only one problem with it. It was bogus. It was all wrong. It was “The Young and the Restless” — cotton-candy, sickly sweet, dumbed-down, superficial, happy-face, brightly lit bullshit.

Now, to do it right, you'd have to merge NBC’s “Las Vegas” with, for example, “The Sopranos” or “Homicide” or "The Wire,” etc.

But that probably won't happen, because there’s only one way for Hollywood to do a deep, authentic, theme-driven, episodic TV series centered on the casino business and its people — and that’s to let Vegas do it.

It has to be inside and only Vegas really knows Vegas. I’ve seen it for nearly three decades. I went through it myself. A lot of out-of-town writers come to Vegas for a weekend or a week or two weeks or even three months, six months max, and think they’ve got the whole place all figured out. And then they write their article or book or movie or TV show and the insiders take a look and recognize another wannabe celebrating his or her newfound knowledge about the place.

It just doesn’t work that way. This town’s been doing what it does for 85 years. It’s taken me half my lifetime to understand it, if I even do. And I’m nowhere near as inside as it gets.

To do Vegas right, to really capture this scene, a show has to be deep. There are so many undercurrents in this town, it’s mind-boggling.

Take a typical blackjack table. Everyone’s playing a different game. One guy’s a comp wizard, trying to slow things down so he can get more credit for time-on-table. Another is a card counter who’s trying to move his bets up and down without getting caught. A third is a compulsive gambler who doesn’t care if he wins or loses, so long as he can be in the action. A fourth is a first-timer who’s just trying not to make a fool of himself. A fifth thinks he’s James Bond and is just trying to look real cool for his girlfriend, who’s hanging over him. And, of course, the dealer has his own thing going on, and the floorman, and the pit boss, and the host, and surveillance …

So the show has to be complex. Complexity is key. You need a ton of characters, all tightly woven into intricate relationships. The characters must arc in every direction and intersect all over the place. Lots of subtlety, slow-developing scenarios, six degrees of separation. You have to plumb the depths of these characters, hidden meanings all over the place. Ideally, the audience can watch each episode five or six times and always see something new. I understand it’s good for DVD sales.

The show has to be edgy, gritty, dark. These casinos don’t have a drop of natural light. And this town happens at night. Dark and dim restaurants. Smoky bars. Strip joints. Limos. Also, the Vegas themes are basic, elemental: the primal appetites. Most of them aren’t too pretty in the light of day. The whole thing needs a sort of subterranean feel.

And it has to be theme-driven. It has to tackle the tough issues. Gambling. Sex, which includes prostitution. Alcohol and drugs, addiction across the board. Money mania and greed. The unforgiving desert. The wild wild west.

You'd need 12 episodes in the debut season, 12 hours of solid TV, just to introduce it all. It's practically impossible to do in a 90-minute feature movie. That's why, to answer your question, movies about Vegas and gambling barely scratch the surface.

Don't hold your breath for an authentic Las Vegas movie. Or, for that matter, a good TV series, though that's the best bet for getting it right.

End of sermon.