Thanks to Scorsese’s dynamic directing chops and his eight-time collaborator De Niro’s brutal characterization, the film is a heart-pumping yet realistic telling of the height of Vegas’ most corrupt era.
The film explores the lives of its many characters as they are all embroiled in the alluring but dangerous world of mafia-run casinos. De Niro plays Sam Rothstein, a Mob-associate who is hired to run their Tangiers Casino in Vegas, exploiting gaming law loopholes to double their profits before lodging their takings with the IRS. Released in 1995, Casino is an epic crime film set in Las Vegas in the 1970s starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone in career-defining performances. If you liked Goodfellas, then this is the film for you. If not one of the best movies of the ’90s, Casino is certainly one of the best films of Martin Scorsese’s career.
