Scorsese's "Casino" - Critical Reappraisal?

I saw "Casino" the week it opened in 1995, and while I really liked it, I thought it was too similar to "Goodfellas" in many regards. My opinion of it has risen dramatically after watching on blu-ray last year, to where I think it is one of Scorsese's greatest works, behind "GF", "Raging Bull" and "Taxi Driver", and ahead of "The Departed" and "Wolf of Wall Street" and "Gangs of New York"

 

It's just OK with me. Too much voice-over stuff during the first hour. Too long overall. And too grotesque (though effective, I suppose).

I do utilize some of Pesci's quotes around the house, though. "YOU'RE **** WARNED DON'T EVER GO OVER MY HEAD AGAIN YOU MOTHER***** YOU!"

 

The 'follow the money' sequence is just wonderful. And I know he's done this before, but I'm just a sucker for those long shots.

 

I can appreciate it more now than when I first saw it. At the time, it seemed too similar to Goodfellas, which had really taken everyone by surprise when it came out. Now I can enjoy it for what it is.

 

There's only one cut; the 178-minute theatrical version... Marty doesn't do alternate versions.

 

TV Version 3 Hours . Only 2 minutes more
What about watching in the theatre /cinema (USA /Europe )when it came out. That's longer than any media available?

 

Nope, there's one version and one version alone of Casino... Marty Scorsese doesn't like later alternate versions of his works, he always states the cut that ends up in cinemas is his director's cut, for better or worse.

I wish he'd go back and restore his three-hour-plus version of Gangs of New York though (before Harvey Weinstein demanded cuts and changes)... with the original Elmer Bernstein score, and without the unnecessary voiceover narration, alas...

 

Canon Fodder: Martin Scorsese's Casino

 

It’s a fantastic film. Outside of the mob action, at its heart, Casino is about three people (De Niro, Pesci and Stone) and how their personal interrelationships brought down a criminal empire. Hence why the theme music from Le Mepris - also about a woman, her two lovers, and consequences - plays over the opening credits. Brilliant stuff, audacious filmmaking.

 

That and Sharon Stone's histrionics were enough for me.

 

It's kind of the last film he did that has that Scorsese feel to it & not just because it's a gangster film.

 

Why Casino is Scorsese's Best Film | ACMI

 

Wolf Of Wall Street?

 

I don't think Casino is his best, but that was a nice little read.

 

I certainly think there is a case to be made for Casino being Scorsese's greatest film. I like it better than Goodfellas--it is more epic in scope, the story of the rise and fall of the Tangiers is more interesting to me than the rise and fall of Henry Hill, and I vastly prefer Pesci and De Niro's more authentic narration to Liota's "nothing-like-a-Brooklyn-accent" droning in Goodfellas. Also the preceding film allowed Scorsese to perfect his craft and the cinematography by Richardson is better. I vastly prefer Lorraine Bracco to Sharon Stone, but the way Scorsese directed them made it almost a wash in terms of the love interest.

 

Wish I could give you a double like for that one!

 

Yea, but that scene where she really melts down is pretty awesome.

I give the edge to Goodfellas, but Casino is damn good.

 

Goodfellas was ground breaking for the genre. It set the wheels in motion for many good mob flicks.......Donnie Brasco, Gangs Of New York, The Departed, American Gangster, Kill The Irishman, and others. Casino is not one of my favorites, Sharon Stone's character is a little over the top.

 

best match ever of character to name = Lester Diamond

 

You expect a small puddle of grease to be left where he was sitting. The smell of cheap aftershave from six feet away.

 

With respect to these two observations: I thought it was kind of clever when Peschi's narration was abruptly cut short by the baseball bat.

 

In the latest episode of Billions, in the process if crushing a guy, Paul Giamatti refers to him as ' some kind of Lester Diamond character...', Ya gotta love how by saying that instantaneously let's you know what a slimeball this guy is!

 

This critic deserves a standing ovation for this review, especially this portion:

'Casino' (R)

 

Oh, I love the scenes at the bar with the fountain pen and the other scene with the guy's head in a vice. Those horrified me and made me laugh, which show you what kinda guy I am. I also like the opening lines, which basically say, "important rule in Vegas: always have the grave dug first, before you drive out to the desert, so there won't be any problem in case there's somebody around." That advice has been useful for me.

 

First time I saw it I thought it was an overdone attempt to cash in on Goodfellas. But I agree with the Wikipedia line. While I do think that there is too much Sharon Stone, and that there are ways that it could have been better, watching it in the mid-2000s after not having seen it since it came out, I found it much easier to appreciate. It's *not* a re-hash of Goodfellas, IMO, but a film that has some obvious parallels to Goodfellas. It felt like a rehash because it came out so soon after Goodfellas and because Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci played large roles in both films. But it's really its own story. The Robert DeNiro character is nothing like Henry Hill from Goodfellas, nor is the character much like DeNiro's Jimmy from Goodfellas. The Pesci characters obviously have more similarities, but there are significant differences, too. I think part of it was just the casting, as well as the fact that the characters - while pretty different, IMO - nevertheless filled very similar roles/purposes in both films. And there are only so many nuances one actor can give to two roles that have the similarities that those characters did. I truly believe that if someone else had been cast to play the Joe Pesci character, that there would not have been as much Goodfellas fatigue with respect to Casino. Harvey Keitel IMO could easily have played the Joe Pesci character. Or, I think he could have played Ace and DeNiro could have had a shot at bringing his own psychotic interpretation to Nicky.

So my reappraisal of Casino is that it is high caliber Scorsese. I'm not saying that it's as good as Goodfellas or some of Scorsese's great films prior to Goodfellas, but I do think that it's better than anything else he's done *since* Goodfellas, with the possible exception of Hugo, which is really apples and oranges anyway.

In short, if I'm going to go with a post Goodfellas Scorsese film that dips a bit into the established Scorsese bag of tricks in terms of style, I'm taking Casino over Departed, and I'm taking Casino in a very big way over Wolf of Wall Street.