Las Vegas and its casinos have always been an inspiration for filmmakers
looking to inject excitement and intrigue into their movies. One of the
most famous movies with a Las Vegas backdrop is 1960's 'Ocean's
Eleven', which sees the members of the original 'Rat Pack' - Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis - planning to rob five of the top
casinos in Vegas in just one night. Things go according to plan - at
least until after the heists.
'Ocean's Eleven' was remade successfully in 2001 by Steven Soderburgh,
who cast George Clooney in the leading role of Danny Ocean and Brad
Pitt, Matt Damon and Elliott Gould as gang members, amongst others. The
2001 version updated the storyline while still putting across the same
glamorous image of Vegas as in the first movie.
Nicolas Cage visited Las Vegas in 1992 for his film 'Honeymoon in
Vegas'. This comedy tells the story of Jack Singer (played by Cage) who
decides to wed his long-time partner Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) in
Vegas. However, when they arrive, Betsy is spotted by a high-stakes
gambler who decides he wants to spend a weekend with her. He engages
Singer in poker games in an attempt to wrestle her from him. With Cage
acting his best as the love-struck bridegroom, James Caan as the
sinister gambler, and a number of parachuting Elvis impersonators,
'Honeymoon in Vegas' offers plenty of laughs.
Matt Damon is Mike McDermott, one of the world's best poker players in
the 1998 film 'Rounders', who has given up the game in order to
concentrate on finishing law school. When his old friend Worm (Edward
Norton) is released from prison, he persuades McDermott to return to the
game in order to pay off some bad debts he's accrued. McDermott
consequently finds himself playing in a series of poker games where the
stakes are forever increasing and the tension is forever building.
Finally, a list of casino movies is incomplete without a mention of the
1995 Martin Scorcese movie 'Casino', which is considered by many to be
the definitive casino film. This tells the true story of Sam 'Ace'
Rothstein, a mobster who moves to Las Vegas and becomes the operator of
the Tangiers casino. Robert De Niro makes the lead role his own, as
Rothstein copes with marriage to a drug addict (played by Sharon Stone)
and friendship with Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a fellow mobster slowly
spiralling into a world of violence.
