Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #5 Casino
Box Office: $42.5 Million Dollars
Oscar Nominations: Best Actress (Sharon Stone)
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 91/100
Available To Stream: Peacock
For a movie with so much happening in it from murders to Las Vegas to showgirls to political corruption, Casino is really just about trust and relationships. You can be brilliant and have all the right ideas but if you trust the wrong people, you're fucked.
When this came out, it got very little award buzz (outside of Sharon Stone) and mildly positive reviews because it kept getting compared to Goodfellas. I get it. Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci in another gangster movie directed by Martin Scorsese that came out only five years later. I'm not going to say there aren't similarities. Both take place in the 70's and 80's, both use Pesci as the violent guy in the crew, both even use Rolling Stones songs.
So while I can admit, these might be cousin movies, the themes are different. Goodfellas is about Henry Hill, who can never be in the mob but loves everything about it and wants to get as close as possible. Sam "Ace" Rothstein (De Niro) doesn't like the mob but knows it's the only way he can get ahead. Henry laments going legit and even bitches about lousy tomato sauce by the end. He wanted to be in the mob forever. Ace sees the whole thing as a giant albatross around his neck.
Ace's biggest downfall is his ego. He believes he can change a woman like Ginger (Sharon Stone in an all-time great performance) even though she herself warns him he can't when he proposes. He thinks he can change how they've done things in Nevada because he's right about one guy being an idiot. Ace is so stubbornly principled that he can't see anyone else's perspective. Life isn't a pass/fail like it is with picking football winners on a Sunday. These are the most interesting elements of Casino and the things that stick with me the most. That's why I have a hard time saying this is a twin movie with Goodfellas. I see them more as a mob trilogy along with The Irishman that show why the mafia might be fascinating from afar, the core is rotten and will leave you ruined.
We have to talk about Lester Diamond, who might be the biggest piece of shit in movie history. James Woods is so great to just dive in to be Lester. There is nothing redeemable about this child molesting, drug addicted pimp but Ginger just keeps going back to him. I respect the movie for not going overboard to explain why. Is she self-destructive? Does she like the risk? Did she just want to make Sam jealous? I think it's all of the above. Sam and Ginger are very different people but they are both wildly selfish and don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks.
This isn't my favorite Scorsese movie ever (but it's damn close).However, it might be his finest job directing. It's shot so fucking well. The way he makes Vegas look. The explanations of how the casino operates and watches over us. The mixing in of humor. How he allows and shows the brutality of the end. It's his most beautiful looking movie. That shot of Nicky driving in the reflection of Ace's sunglasses. Does it get any better than that?
I know he won Best Director for The Departed and that's a great movie…but to not even get nominated for this is a shame. Chris Noonan got nominated the same year for Babe. Babe is a very good kid's movie but what are we doing here?
I first saw Casino in the theaters on Black Friday in 1995. I had just turned 16 and it absolutely blew my mind. How it looked, how they spoke, seeing a casino from the point of view of someone running it. I couldn't believe how good it was and how badly I wanted to see it again.
29 years later on the same day, I love this movie just as much.
5. Casino
6. Groundhog Day
7. The Silence Of The Lambs
8. Office Space
9. The Sixth Sense
10. Boogie Nights
11. Jurassic Park
12. Jackie Brown
13. A Few Good Men
14. The Fugitive
15. The Truman Show
16. Fargo
17. Swingers
18. Reservoir Dogs
19. There's Something About Mary
20. Sleepers
21. Schindler's List
22. Rushmore
23. Fight Club
24. Saving Private Ryan
25. True Romance
26. Dumb & Dumber
27. Kingpin
28. Donnie Brasco
29. Heat
30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
31. Rounders
32. Unforgiven
33. Trainspotting
34. The Game
35. Out Of Sight
36. Carlito's Way
37. Seven
38. L.A. Confidential
39. Speed
40. Gattaca
41. Misery
42. Tombstone
43. Ransom
44. Wayne's World
45. The Insider
46. Back To The Future Part III
47. A Bronx Tale
48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks
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