POV: Casino E-5

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In this installment, we continue our analysis of Martin Scorsese's movie Casino by analyzing the view from Ace's Penthouse at night

360 Vegas POV: Casino E-4

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In this installment, we continue our analysis of Martin Scorsese's movie Casino by analyzing the view from Ace's Penthouse when Nicky comes to visit and the car ride Ace and Nicky take around Fremont St. 

360 Vegas POV: Casino E-3

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In this installment of 360 Vegas POV, we continue our analysis of Martin Scorsese's movie Casino by analyzing the scene when Andy Stone asks Ace to run the Tangiers as well as the introduction of Ginger, Ace's future wife. 

So far we've been able to establish that..

• Ace's car bombing happened in 1983 which does not match with when it happened to Lefty in 1982. 
• However the car bombing scene is a flash forward to the climax of the film, so all we've really learned is that eventually Ace and Lefty's timelines will break from one another
• The bombing happened at a Tony Romas but located at what we know today as Main St Station Hotel & Casino, not at the real location at 602 E Sahara Ave
• The Strip has been reconfigured, significantly in some cases, however we've not seen anything to compromised the integrity of the geographic infrastructure, 
• ie, the movie hasn't shown us anything that couldn't theoretically exist in the existing footprint for the strip
• The Tangier's is one of the tallest hotel/casinos in Las Vegas, existing where Cromwell does today on the north east corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo road
• The Flamingo is about a decade further along in it's evolution than the real property was in 1973
• The Dunes has been reduced in size and relocated to the north west corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Flamingo rd, where the Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace exists today
• Caesars 3rd expansion tower, the Fantasy Tower, exists 6 years before it did in reality and was relocated along with the Centurion Tower closer to the Vegas strip
• The Frontier and Stardust have been relocated south west of the curve in Las Vegas Blvd and the Convention Center is located where Bally's Grand Bazaar is today

360 Vegas POV: Casino E-2 The Strip

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Movies are a heightened sense of reality. Mix that medium with Vegas and even bad movies are somehow made better, because at least it’s in Vegas.  360 Vegas POV, or Vegas Point of View, is our opportunity to look beyond the narrative of a film and see the filmmakers vision for the city of Las Vegas.    

In this installment of 360 Vegas POV, we continue our analysis of Martin Scorsese's movie Casino by breaking down two scenes that will help to establish the geographic layout for the movie's version of the city of Las Vegas.  While we do that, we'll compare the films version of Vegas to the one that actually existed at the time as well as today.  But before we do that, lets reestablish the rules.

We want to see how close the movie storyline matches what really happened.  We'll start by assuming both are exactly the same and analyze the movie to either confirm this or establish that they're different.  As we encounter moments that conflict with the chronological events, we'll acknowledge them, then remove them from the equation so we can move on connecting the moments in time that still match up.  We'll continue doing this until we're finally shown something that breaks the last connection we have, to the continuity of the real events.

Regarding the landscape, we will allow it to help us progress in the timeline but not to establish a break in it.  Conflicts will simply be documented differences between the movie landscape and the real one.  That being said, one rule we will make is you can only reconfigure, either in location or in its evolution.  The moment something can't simply be reconfigured to explain what you are seeing, the game is over.  That includes making changes to the infrastructure.  IE, things like roads and landmarks exist exactly as they are, or were, in the Las Vegas until something is shown to force us to relocate them.  So if we are driving along the strip and after the Flamingo we see the Golden Nugget, then that's where the Golden Nugget exists in films version of Las Vegas.  It doesn't become a problem until we see the Golden Nugget shown again but located in a different geographical location

360 Vegas POV: Casino - Episode 1: Ace's Car Bombing

 

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Casino is the story of Sam "Ace" Rothstein and the events that occurred while he ran the Tangiers hotel and casino in Las Vegas.  The movie is based on the real life of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and what happened while he was running the Stardust.   

What's fun about this movie are the choices Scorsese makes, how often his story accurately mirrors the real events that inspired it and where they deviate from one another.  Not only the differences in the narrative but in the movie version of the city of Las Vegas.  Both are set in the 1970s through the early 80s.  However since the movie was filmed in 1994, without the use of modern CGI, differences between how the landscape looked during the time the story is set in and what it looked like during filming were unavoidable.  Despite that challenge, Scorsese made the conscious effort to represent the city as it existed during that time when he could, changing it when it benefited the story. 

In that spirit, lets play a game.  We want to see how close the movie storyline matches what really happened. While doing that, we'll compare the landscape in Scorsese's version of Vegas to the real one.   

We'll start by assuming both are exactly the same and analyze the movie to either confirm this or establish that they're different.  As we encounter moments that conflict with the chronological events, we'll acknowledge them, then remove them from the equation so we can move on connecting the moments in time that still match up.  We'll continue doing this until we're finally shown something that breaks the last connection we have, to the continuity of the real events. 

Regarding the landscape, we will allow it to help us progress in the timeline but not to establish a break in it.  Conflicts will simply be documented differences between the movie landscape and the real one.  That being said, one rule we will make is you can't make things up.  The Tangiers will be the only fictional landmark.  The rest of the landscape can only be reconfigured, either in location or in its evolution.  The moment something can't simply be reconfigured to explain what you are seeing, the game is over.  That includes making changes to the infrastructure.  IE, things like roads and landmarks exist exactly as they are, or were, in the Las Vegas until something is shown to force us to relocate them.  So if we are driving along the strip and after the Flamingo we see the Golden Nugget, then that's where the Golden Nugget exists in films version of Las Vegas.  It doesn't become a problem until we see the Golden Nugget shown again but located in a different geographical location 

Also, understand that an argument can be made to challenge any of this.  This is just a chance to over analyze a movie and talk about Vegas while doing it.