asino is an Academy Award nominated 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. Robert De Niro stars as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, a Jewish chain-smoking top gambling handicapper who is called by the Mob to oversee the day-to-day operations at the fictional Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The story is based on the late Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont and the Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s until the early 1980s.
Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, based on the real-life Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, an intimidating enforcer and psychopath. Nicky is sent by the Chicago Outfit to Vegas to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and that the casinos and mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Ace’s wife, the self-obsessed, spoiled, devious and sly Ginger, a role that earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
When released, Casino had the most uses of the word “fuck” (422) in a feature length film, but was outdone two years later by the film Nil by Mouth although it remains the highest number of uses of the word in an American film excluding documentaries. Casino has been considered a companion piece to Scorsese’s earlier film, Goodfellas (1990), which also starred De Niro and Pesci.
Reception
While the movie was heavily criticized for its excessive violence and sometimes-superfluous blood, it garnered a mostly-positive critical response. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an 83% “fresh” rating. On Metacritic, the rating is 73(Generally favourable reviews) out of 100 based on 17 reviews.
Cast
- Robert De Niro - Sam “Ace” Rothstein Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal
- Joe Pesci Nicky – Santoro Tony “The Ant” Spilotro
- Sharon Stone - Ginger McKenna Rothstein Geraldine McGee Rosenthal
- Frank Vincent - Frankie Marino Frank Cullotta
- Don Rickles - Billy Sherbert Murray Ehrenberg
- Pasquale Cajano - Remo Gaggi Joseph Aiuppa
- James Woods - Lester Diamond Leonard Marmor