CASINO (1995) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | Reaction & Commentary | WOW!!! 

As a Las Vegas resident, I can tell you that Casino is a VERY accurate history of the town, just with the names changed. Nicki Santoro was based on the real-life Tony Spilotro, who really killed a guy in a vise grip and was buried in a cornfield next to his brother. Ace Rothstein was based on Lefty Rosenthal, who ran the sports book at the Stardust (what the Tangiers was based on) where Spilotro was the muscle. Lefty was really blown up in a car bomb but survived; that happened in the parking lot of a Tony Roma's restaurant that is still there today (on Sahara Ave, just off the strip). Oscar Goodman, who served as mayor Las Vegas, has a quick cameo as himself as a criminal defense lawyer. The Gaming Commission guy who Ace yelled at for taking comps was the late real-life US Senator Harry Reid (who was on the Gaming Commission in the 1970s), and the incident really happened; Reid was investigated for corruption back in the day before becoming a Senator. When Joe Pesci's gang robbed jewelry stores, that was the "Hole in the Wall Gang" that ended up in a famous criminal trial back in the day. Other characters are very recognizable to Vegas old timers. Several scenes were filmed in the actual locations where the real-life events happened.

Shannon Stone gets so much praise over Basic Instinct, but this movie by far showcases how amazing of an actress she is

You must know that the little old lady who plays the mother in both this movie and Good Fellas is acutally Scrocese's mom, right? The way she gets so mad at him swearing is the best thing in this film.

"...a lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes". So many great lines in this movie. Happy you covered it!

My biggest takeaway from this film has always been “Dig the hole first.” If you don’t, “you’ll be diggin’ holes all freaking day!”

One of the murders in the montage sequence is a guy getting shot in the top of his head. That was a hit by the real-life hit man Frank Culotta. Culotta plays himself in that scene. He was initially hired as a consultant to tell the actors how to commit the murder, but the actor kept doing it wrong, so Martin Scorsese told Culotta just to re-enact it himself and filmed it. So the scene is of Culotta re-enacting an actual murder he committed years earlier and got away with. (It's the one where the guy staggers out the door of his house bleeding, and Cullotta follows him into the yard and shoots him in the head from behind)

The no-blood gunshots were done by a .22 caliber pistol. The silencer slows it down even more so there's no exit wound.

And yes, I occasionally watched the "Frank Rosenthal" show on TV in Vegas. For some reason all of the stars appearing in town wanted to be on his show.

Dicky Smothers was the 1980 commissioner! I don't think I've ever seen him in a movie before!

I never understood why Lester wasn't "properly" dealt with, anonymously, in the beginning.

Even though The Tangiers is fictional , it is based on The Startdurst casino which was located where Resorts World is now on the north part of the Vegas strip

FUN FACT: The character that Dickey Smothers plays is actually Senator Harry Reid!

Never once, ever, watching this movie have I ever thought "poor Ginger" lol, and here I am, playing a drinking game every time you pity her.

My favorite scene is where DeNiro is upset about the blueberry muffin lol

The characters played by DeNiro and Pesci (among others) are based on real people. DeNiro's was Frank, aka Lefty, Rosenthal who operated the Stardust Casino (Along with the Fremont and the Frontier). Pesci portrayed Tony, aka The Ant, Spilotro. I lived in Vegas at this period, starting in 1979. I used to regularly eat at a fast food joint owned by Spilotro that was about two blocks from my apartment. The car-bomb scene at the beginning was something that really happened, and Rosenthal actually survived it. Tony Spilotro wound up buried in a cornfield in northwest Indiana. But he was not done with a baseball bat, just a bullet to the back of the skull. The bat was an homage to Goodfellas. This was about as accurate as to "historical facts" as any gangster movie I have ever seen.

Artie Piscano: "Ma, I got eyes in the back of my head!" *backs into a stack of olive oil, knocking them over*

You made a lot of astute observations about the lighting/cinematography in Casino. This was Scorsese's 1st collaboration with cinematographer/director of photography Robert Richardson, one of the best DPs of all time. He's worked with Scorsese many times. For example: The Aviator, Shutter Island, & Hugo. Scorsese had always been brilliant with lighting and camera movement but I think Richardson brought it to another level. Richardson has also worked many times with Oliver Stone. The cinematography in JFK and Natural Bork Killers is especially excellent. Richardson has worked with Quentin Tarantino on all his films since the Kill Bill films. And like he did with Scorsese, he made something that was already great (Tarantino 's films) into something even greater. My favorite cinematographers alive today are Roger Deakins, Emmanuel Lubezki, and then Robert Richardson.

Casino's an incredible flick. Martin Scorsese can do no wrong. He is a true master of his medium.

That intro line about the holes in the desert I will never forget. That was gold

In "hits" often a small caliber weapon is used [usually a 22 pistol]. That is so the bullets don't go through and make so much mess. Also, it is easily muffled [not being a large charge to start with]

This is awsome. And I love the ending, cause throughout the movie Sam is allways loyal and truthfull with everyone he interacts with, even when he's diabolic

that whole "metal plate under the driver's seat" thing is true btw. They put it in there to balance the car's weight, and it really did shield him from the worst of the car bomb. The deaths of the real life Nicky and his brother were MORE brutal in real life; they were buried in that cornfield, but killed in the city, and no bats were used. They were punched, kicked, and stomped to death, so it would've been more drawn out than in the movie.

Robert DeNiro's right-hand man was indeed Don Rickles.

The reason why Robert DeNiro's character didn't get arrested at the end is because he was actually an informant for the FBI. However, this was not revealed publically until well after the movie was released, when the actual person the character was based off of had passed away.

The real Tangiers was the Stardust Casino. They were known for a long time, to be the ones who came up with the opening lines for sports betting.

Every single outfit De Niro wears is straight fire.

Goodfellas and Casino are the best examples, IMO, of movie narration from the character perspective. I have re-watched multiple times, maybe once a year since they were released.

I saw it at the theatre on 6th Avenue and West 4th. Smoked a joint in Washington Square Park before it, lol. The movie was DAZZLING on a big screen. In between Goodfellas and Casino, Scorsese and De Niro actually had their biggest blockbuster together: the suspense thriller "Cape Fear" Definitely check that out! (And "Raging Bull"!) Some trivia not listed: When Andy Cohen asked Sharon Stone who was the best kisser she had to kiss in any of her movies, she didn't even hesitate: "Robert De Niro in Casino" was the shocking answer! (Or maybe it's not so shocking!). The funny thing is that a.) De Niro is known to be very professional, technical and choreographed in love scenes and does not like deviation. (ask Aubrey Plaza). and b.) Sharon Stone is not his "type", De NIro has dated only black women since before he was famous. So......whatever she felt from De Niro's kisses.....it was almost definitely all acting!!!!

True Story: Legendary character actor Richard Riehle, (from Milwaukee) who plays the straight-laced Banker in Casino and was in Office Space as Tom "Jump To Conclusions" Symkowski (and 100+ other movies) told me this story one night over drinks while he was in Milwaukee visiting relatives: Director Martin Scorsese gathered the entire cast together before the first day of filming and said, "There will be a quiet, solitary, older man watching each scene you film. Under NO Circumstances are you to speak to this man. However, if he pulls you aside and tells you to re-shoot the scene according to his wishes and experience, do EXACTLY as he says!" My mouth was agape when Mr. Riehle told me that. Scorsese had a "Made-Man" from the Vegas connected Mob on set, wow!

The guy playing the incompetent guy juiced in by the County Commissioner is played by Joe Bob Briggs, host of "The Last Drive-In" and host of the cult classic 1990s TNT segment "MonsterVision." And I know you recognized James Woods, the voice of Hades in Disney's "Hercules," playing Lester Diamond. Also, that scar on her arm is likely an inoculation scar for smallpox. I had a white spot on my skin where I got mine.

In case you didnt know, this was actually based on the Chicago mob. The city is never mentioned and i think “The Outfit” is only mentioned once when they introduce Remo. I say this because a lot of people i know automatically thought this was another movie about the NY mob and it wasn’t.

The preferred gun for an assassination is a .22. The bullet is soft lead and small caliber. It will penetrate the skull, flatten to a disk and bounce around. It doesn't have enough force and mass to punch out the other side of someone's head. It also leads a small entrance wound so it doesn't spurt blood everywhere.

Another interesting piece of trivia: The older gentleman who asks John Nanz before putting one in his dome point blank, "Where you goin, jagoff!?" is the late Frank Culotta, a guy who was part of the Chicago Outfit who was at the center of the skim.

Three catalysts to the impending apocalypse - Sam gets Lester beaten in front of Ginger, Ginger shags Nicky, and when Sam fires the dumbass on the fruit machines that it all comes crashing down. It is Sam's attention to detail that stops him from employing someone that may damage his business. People like this that have to be employed are called empty suits, and they usually work at an empty desk. Sam should have made an empty desk role for the kid and that would have saved him.

The guy playing the part of “Andy” near the beginning who sat by the pool with Robert DeNiro that was “Alan King” he was an old time stand up comic like Don Rickles , always had a cigar in his hand and told little funny stories or one liners !!

The Tangiers wasn't exactly fictional. This movie is based on the real life of the Robert DeNiro character. The script was adapted from the book about his life. That means that the Tangiers while having a fictional name was actually based upon a real casino. That casino was the Stardust. I have been to the real Stardust many times back when it existed and it is really something to watch this movie when you have memories of the real casino. It was mentioned near the beginning of this movie that Ace was an innovator and one of the things he brought into the casino from the streets was the sports book. Let me tell you, the Stardust had an amazing sports book. At the time when I used to occasionally go to this casino, I had no idea that the sports book in the casino was the first sports book in a casino. They were common in casinos. But it all made sense once watching this movie. The sports book in the Stardust was huge and was very cutting edge for its time. If you have ever been to the Stardust and remember the history, this movie is that much better.

The old guy assassins at the end were real ex hitmen who were hired to help the films authenticity! Chilling stuff

The hitman near the end sequence is played by Frank Cullotta, a real-life mobster whose career in the Chicago/Las Vegas mob gave inspiration to the film. The informant his character kills towards the end in Costa Rica is based on an actual murder that Frank Cullotta himself actually committed.

I think the long takes in movies like this help keep the audience in the moment, and make it feel less like they are just watching a movie.

"It was amateur night, and you could tell" is my favorite line from the movie.

In that craps table scene, Ginger was stealing chips from the guy she was with (or standing next to, I don't remember if it's ever specified that she was actually WITH him). She was putting his chips in her purse when she thought he wasn't looking.

Kudos for noticing the smallpox injection site that everyone had way back then.. as I recall, they lined us up at school and used this gun-thingy... public health measures were VERY different once upon a time! Just a reminder to us old folks that some things DO change LoL Love your vibe, Shanelle :)

That circle scar was from polio vaccine back in the day, a lot of people got that scar, some of us got lucky and didn’t. Got my shot at school in kindergarten, two of my friends that got it the same time ended up with them.

Nice reaction Shanelle. This was an excellent film and well presented for a three hour film.

DeNiro just came from the Barbie premiere in the beginning

the guy on the left leading Nicky out of the courthouse is the real Lawyer who represented Nicky. he was also the mayor of Las Vegas for many years

Fun tip: The mom is Scorsese's mom, she and Scorsese's dad played the roles in Goodfellas.

The “old circular scar” on everyone’s arm you made a comment on is the scar left by the old way doctors used to vaccinate people against smallpox. Since smallpox was eradicated, people don’t get them anymore. I’m 49, I don’t have one of those scars but my dad did.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater when it first came out. The scene when Joe Pesci's character and his brother were killed was very disturbing. But it was still a great film.

Sharon Stone’s acting is incredible in this film

One of my favorite mob movies ever!!!! Glad you watched this. Sharon Stone’s performance in this film, she was nominated for an Oscar. She should’ve won!

I saw the animatronic they used for Nicki when he was being buried alive years ago at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas. It was gone the last time I was there. Always loved this movie.

Me and a friend went to the movies in 1995 to watch this on a monday night, the late show, and it turned out we were the only ones in the whole theater, so we could sit and watch this on a huge screen, yet talk like we were in someones living room which was kind of fun. We were both chain smokers at the time, and about 2 hours in we actually thought of lighting up in the theater but thought they might have smoke detectors so we didn't. Since the movie is more than 3 hours long we were also the very last visitors to leave a bit past eleven. It was a very special movie night, and since we are still close firends meeting fairly often, every now and then we still talk about that evening when we had an entire movie theater to ourselves.

Intouchables (french 2011) ...... Amelie (french 2001) ...The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) ..... Grand Tourino (2008)

24:25 That’s Scorsese’s mom. She makes cameos in a lot of his films.

There should absolutely be an equal number of blueberries in each muffin.

Funny, I said today at work that I was going to download this movie when I get home. And I am. Now I'm watching this reaction. 😂

I’m a native Chicagoan. The movie is loosely based on The Chicago Mob aka The Outfit. Robert Deniro’s character, Sam “Ace” Rothstien is based on Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal. Joe Pesci’s character, Nicky Santorro is based on Anthony “The Ant” Spillotro. Sharon Stone’s character Ginger is based on Geri Mc Gee. The character Rino Gaggi is based on Tony Acardo who was the boss of The Outfit at the time in which this was. Tony Spillotro was beaten to death and found in a cornfield in NW Indiana in 1986.

From what I understand the real "Ginger" was much more a victim of Lefty "Ace" than the Stone performance

I attended UNLV in the early nineties and I got a job in the summer working the hard count room at the Dunes hotel before it was imploded of course and I worked taking the coins out of the slot machines at night and bringing them into a count room just like you see in the movie, I saw hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of assorted coins while being escorted by armed security. It was something to be seen in quite impressive.

Rosenthal used to run a gaming site where you could pay for membership and get his picks. I remember looking him up years ago when he was still alive and coming across it.

It's not as good as Goodfellas, but Casino has grown on me over the years. I now consider it one of the best crime movies ever made.

I seen this movie more time then I can count and never noticed the light. It might be the a spot light because in a casino everyone is watching everyone else and the audience is watching the movie. Also I hear a rumor or fan theory that "Lefty" Rosenthal was a unnamed CI and unindicted co-conspirators and helped make the case against the bosses.

You can take your chips off the table whenever you want. She was stealing chips from the other player (not the dealer) which was the problem. The blackjack cheater was signaling the other cheater what the dealer's hidden card was. In Blackjack, you only get to see one of the dealer's cards before you make your own play. You make a guess on what the other card is, because that affects how you play. If you guess wrong, you can bust your own hand or stand on a weak hand when it would have been more advantageous to play it differently. Knowing BOTH cards gives the player a significant advantage as they will know whether or not the dealer has a strong hand and what their chances of busting are.

I find it really hard to believe someone as much into movies as you only now "first time" watches so many classics :)

This movie is epic and is one of my all time favorite movies ever. One of my top favorite scenes is when they show Tony Dogs and his goons shoot up Remo's bar. Which pretty much sums up the style of the Irish Mob kill a few guys and no one will dare challenge them. While the Italian Mafia doesn't stop killing until no one dares challenge them. Also Artie Piscano's mom is played by Catherine Scorsese who is Martin Scorsese's mother. Trudy is played by Claudia Haro who is Joe Pesci's ex-wife. The hitman wearing glasses is played by Frank Cullotta who was a real life mobster and friend of Tony "The Ant" Spilotro. Frank Cullotta also inspired the character Frankie Marino played by Frank Vincent.

The real Ace Rothstein's name was Lefty Rosenthal

I think Shanelle would make a great gangster. I liked hearing the accent come out during this reaction.

The gunshots didn't bleed because the mob used small-caliber .22 pistols. .22's are what kids used to use for target practice, they're not much more powerful than a good BB gun. If you're 10 feet away they only cause minor injuries, but at point blank range they can kill if you fire several shots, especially into the head. The mob used them because they're so weak that they're silent and there's no explosive effect and very little blood.

The circle thing on the arm was from the old polio vaccines

I saw the Movie when it came out, and was living in Vegas and reading about it as this all went down. I even saw the Rosenthal show when he had Frankie Avalon on.

it was based on a true story. inspired by the life of Frank Rosenthal who managed a few casino's in Las Vegas for the Chicago mob back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Goodfellas, Casino, and The Irishman are kind of a trilogy

Scorsese is definitely my favorite director (Kubrick is a close second). If you haven’t seen it, you should check out his movie from the 80’s called “After Hours”. It’s unlike anything else he’s ever made, but it’s so interesting. Without spoiling anything, it’s just about a guy in NYC that is having the craziest night of his life and DESPERATELY wants to go home lol. It’s intriguing, hilarious, and one of the best time capsules of what mid-80’s NYC was like.

_Where_ was I when I first saw 'Casino'? Actually, I watched it first on a DVD playing in a black Lincoln Continental drop-head traveling in a motorcade through Deeley Plaza, Dallas. The scene with Ace's car blowing up, played just as I past a pretty grassy hillock off to the right there, by the roadside. lol

Best opening credit sequence in a movie. It’s so over the top Las Vegas.

Thanks for the great reaction. I love how you are able to "read between the lines" of dialogue, notice how reactions, mannerisms, etc. mean things. You don't just take the writing, directing, and acting in a simplistic, one-dimensional way. BTW. I highly, HIGHLY recommend reacting to The Sopranos. It's an iconic and revolutionary show with fantastic acting, directing, and what many consider to be the best writing of any TV show in the past 30-40 years.

Love ya stuff Shanelle "Baby Face" Riccio! 2 guesses on what I just watched lol

Now you need to see ' A Bronx Tale'

You facial reactions are absolute GOLD!

My first time here. Just discovered your VHS 📼 review. I LOVE that you played the VHS tape. You're the ONLY reviewer who I saw pressed PLAY.

I read the book first, years before the movie was filmed. I also read The Last Mafiaso, about Jimmy Tge Weasel, and The Green Felt Jungle, about Las Vegas in the 1950s. I lived through the movie, from the newspaper headlines, I read in the 70s and 80's.

23:47, the guy on nickyi's right is a real life, famous mob lawyer who later became the mayor of Las Vegas.

I read the story of Casino many years earlier in Robert Blakeys 1981 book, the Plot to kill the president. Blakey had been chair of the 1977 house select committee on assassinations. And this was his personal book on the findings. In it he uncovers the whole Vegas mob story.

Behind every high-powered Italian man is his mom yelling at his ass shanell that was epic

FYI Nikki's lawyer was the real lawyer in the real story. And future mayor of LV

“Wacked” is the word you were looking for at the beginning when a guy gets taken out!!

As I'm sure other people will mention, the Tangiers was based on Stardust.

Shanelle Riccio The smallpox vaccine usually left behind a distinctive round scar on the upper arm during the healing process.

I remember when it was weird to see someone, without, the Smallpox or TB (Tuberculosis/BCG) Vaccine Inoculation scar on their upper arm. Sharon Stone's must be a TB/BCG scar because it's raised where the Smallpox scar would be depressed or indented like a pot mark.

Shan you are fun to watch these mob films with. Great job!

After this you got to watch "Jane Austin's Mafia" which is a spoof of this movie, Goodfellas and Godfather made by the same guys that made Airplane and Top Secret. Hilarious!!!

Supposedly the desert meeting scene was supposed to be more DeNiro dialogue, DeNiro told Scorcese, make this one of Joes big moments, let him go all out, even the dirt in his face, thats a true friend

As Always Love Seeing Your Reactions To All These Great Movie's 😊😊

I remember seeing this as a kid, and didn't understand the editing. I thought he dodged multiple car bombing attempts thanks to the steel plate under seat.

Great movie, but I always found it disturbing with how violent and real it was. But amazing cast and performances.

One of my fav all-time movies, I saw about 15 years ago for the first time...I still haven't seen Goodfellas actually! I love mafia movies but the mafia's gotta lose out, and the more they suffer the more I like it. Casino is Coen Brothers-esque in how everything goes wrong, and nobody's really that redeemable...Sam most of all, but it's relative to the company he keeps. Ginger going off the rails is so hard to watch and yet such a great performance. The score's great though I think it's probably what ages it the most these days. Overall I feel this movie can genuinely be called underappreciated in this day and age. You're right about Scorcese's camera work and the lighting!

Thank you!! One of my favorite movies of all time. I'm ready, let's go!

A good companion film to Casino would be Bugsy(1991). Bugsy is a bio-pic of gangster Busby Siegel who in 1940’s was instrumental in building the first casino in Las Vegas. Stars Warren Beatty and his future wife Annette Bening. Ten Oscar nominations.

721 very good that is Donald Rickles 👏 👌 good job shannel you surprised me with your knowledge of actors 👏 👍 👌 😉. Thanks for your reaction,enjoy watching you explain the different shots the camera men are getting 😉.