It’s now regarded as a modern classic, but “Casino” got off to a rocky start. Its exterior was portrayed by the Landmark, while the rest was brought to life by the Riviera during six weeks of grueling late-night shoots, starting around 11 p.m., while the casino floor was at its emptiest. While Rosenthal secretly ran the Stardust, Hacienda, Marina and Fremont for the Chicago Outfit, the movie’s Sam “Ace” Rothstein, portrayed by Robert De Niro, was only in charge of the fictional Tangiers. Las Vegas casino operator Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, left, looks over paperwork with attorneys Harry Claiborne and Oscar Goodman in an undated photo. Sam “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro), left, and casino manager Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) talk on the casino floor of the Tangiers (the Riviera) in “Casino.” (Universal Pictures) Ginger (Sharon Stone) and Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) have dinner at The Plaza in a scene from "Casino." (Universal Pictures) The entirety of the roughly three-hour movie - the barely fictionalized story of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, his longtime friend Anthony Spilotro and the woman, Geri McGee, who came between them - was filmed in and around Las Vegas over the course of a staggering 21 weeks. “Casino,” which turns 25 on Sunday, is ABOUT Las Vegas - from the rise of Mafia-built casinos and their seemingly limitless opportunities for skimming profits to the corporations that imploded those landmarks and replaced them with megaresorts that, in the language of the movie, made the Strip look like Disneyland. Sure, it lacks the record-breaking box office receipts of “The Hangover,” the effortless cool of both incarnations of “Ocean’s Eleven” and the titular song from “Viva Las Vegas,” which has become the city’s unofficial anthem.
Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) just may be the quintessential Las Vegas movie.
Carl Ciarfalio poses with his prop head from an iconic scene in "Casino." Ciarfalio was a stuntman who portrayed Tony Dogs, the mobster whose head Joe Pesci squished in a vise.
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