A DVD REVIEW: CASINO - ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Universal)

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"Get this through your head you Jew muddah ****a you ---- you only exist out here because of ME --- thats the only reason ---- without me, YOU, personally, every wise guy in town will take a piece of your Jew ass ---- then where you gonna go......you've been warned....dont ever go over my ****in head again.....you mudder ****er you!"
-Joe Pesci, CASINO

Before I delve into this review of one of the most anticipated "special editions" in recent DVD history, I have to say that after relocating to the Las Vegas area recently from New York, I actually MET an actor from CASINO in person, and it was pretty exciting --- sure, it wasnt De Niro or Pesci, but, for those of you who have seen this landmark Martin Scorsese film, there is a scene towards the beginning where De Niro is watching Sharon Stone on a video camera in a security room as she steals chips at a dice table into her purse....there is a guy standing next to her with these big-ass typical "70s" type glasses on who accuses her of stealing chips from him all night --- and I actually MET that guy who plays in the film at a hotel here in Vegas on "The Strip"......I was having dinner one night with some friends at the Bellagio Hotel (one of the most beautiful hotels in Vegas, if not THE most) and I noticed him sitting alone at another table at the cafe we were in.....and he just looked SO familiar to me.....I said to the people I was with "that guy over there looks familiar.....he has to have been in a movie or something.....I know, it was CASINO!" And as crazy as everyone thought I was, it was indeed the actor from CASINO from that small part he had, which I found out after one of the bolder female guests I was with ran over to his table and asked if he was in CASINO, and then dragged me over to talk to him....he was so excited that a fan recognized him, and we got to talking (I dont remember his real name) but he was a really nice guy who lives in Vegas now (and who is originally from New York, like me) and who is doing acting work on a new series called "CAESARS 24/7" about the Caesars Palace hotel, (and he personally owns an upscale men's clothing store INSIDE Caesars Palace Hotel Casino). I THINK the show is called CAESARS 24/7....it may be just called CAESARS 24, but at any rate, we spoke for some length about what it was like working with Scorsese on the film, and working with the other actors, of which he said Sharon Stone was an absolute pain in the ass to work with. But I thought it was cool that I met someone from this film in person being that I'm such a big fan.

Often considered just about his best work to date, but argued by diehard fans, Martin Scorsese's CASINO, like his awesome GOODFELLAS before it, tells the true story of an organized crime operation, but on the other side of the country. Where GOODFELLAS, based on the novel by crime investigation expert Nicholas Pileggi titled WISEGUY, concentrated on the robberies and criminal activities surrounding characters in the New York City area (very close to where I lived --- some scenes in GOODFELLAS were shot in my own neighborhood in Long Island, New York) such as Jimmy Burke, Tommy DeVito and, of course, the main character, Henry Hill, who ended up going into the witness protection program after he ratted all these fellow mob guys out to the FBI, CASINO, also based on the same-titled novel by Nick Pileggi, follows and chronicles the true life story of how the midwestern mob took control of Las Vegas during the late 1970s and early 80s. Once again pairing up Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro, director Martin Scorsese created a brilliant vision of Pileggi's CASINO novel, with another electrifying, over-the-top performance by Pesci here. The only complaint I have about Scorsese's film versions of these true crime stories is the fact that he MUST take liberties to change the real names of the people involved, and must change some of the facts around for legal reasons, and for REAL fans that follow this material, such as me, this is dissapointing......but, in CASINO, Scorsese pretty much followed the real story of what happened during the mob's rule in Vegas, with some minor changes in character development and plot timing. He also got Joe Pesci SPOT ON with his role in CASINO, as the character he plays looked very much like him and was just about the same height as him (his real name was Tony "The Ant" Spolatro, but I'll go into that in some detail) , whereas in GOODFELLAS, the volatile character he played named Tommy DeVito was actually VERY tall in real life, much larger than Pesci, but Scorsese used him to portray DeVito's horrendous criminal behavior quite accurately.

Fans of this film have been CLAMORING for a better version than Universal's original DVD release of CASINO because, to be honest, it didnt look much better than the VHS transfer I owned for years. Scorsese's films, with his authorization, have been receiving special edition treatment one by one, first with his awesome GOODFELLAS, then with his just as awesome RAGING BULL (which I will do reviews on as well when I get a chance), and Universal, as I will explain, gave fans pretty much what they wanted with this ANNIVERSARY EDITION. There IS an essential documentary missing from the special features that I will get into at the end which would have made this one SPECTACULAR DVD release, perhaps the best of the year, in fact.

For those of you who dont know what CASINO --- the book and the motion picture --- is all about, Robert DeNiro portrays a real-life Jewish professional gambler from Chicago who moves to Vegas on orders of the Chicago mob named Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (his name is changed to Sam "Ace" Rothstein in the film) because he is making so much money for the mob bosses in Chicago due to his abilities to predict an outcome of a sporting event which seemed like a gift for Rosenthal, if you watch real interviews with him. The bosses talk him into taking control of a Las Vegas hotel they have ownership of called "The Tangiers" in the film, but in real life, it was the STARDUST Hotel/Casino in Vegas that Rosenthal took control of. But because the mob is concerned with putting a mob figure in charge of a hotel (in order to "skim" profits from the casino) especially one without a gaming license because of his past, they come up with the idea of putting a "front man" in "charge" of the Tangiers (Stardust) so there are no suspicions from local cops; the front man in the film version is portrayed by Kevin Pollack (A FEW GOOD MEN). While DeNiro (Rosenthal) runs the "Tangiers" with an iron fist along with his casino manager, Don Rickels, but from the sidelines, he soon gets word that a boyhood friend of his from Chicago, a ruthless hitman for the Chicago mob, will be joining him in Vegas to provide the "muscle" needed to enforce Lefty's control over the casino empire.

Joe Pesci portrays real life hitman Tony "The Ant" Spolatro, an absolute ruthless individual whose actions in the film version of CASINO actually took place, such as when he crushed a guy's head in a vice until his eye popped out of its socket; this was a true incident that was altered a bit for CASINO, whereby in real life, it was a government witness' head Spolatro crushed in the vice and in the film version, it was a rival Irish gang leader who tried to muscle in on DeNiro and Pesci's midwest mob bosses. This is where some minor changes were made for the screenplay, but Pesci still plays Spolatro with a brutality perhaps never before seen on screen in any mob film; his performance was sure over the top in GOODFELLAS, and especially striking here, as evidenced by a scene which I quoted in the beginning of this review when he confronts DeNiro about going over his head to report his actions and what he is doing in Vegas.

The plot of CASINO spirals into different directions, as we get DeNiro marrying casino hustler and ex-showgirl Sharon Stone who he falls in love with after one glance in his casino; in real life, Rosenthal's wife's name was Jerry McGee, and she was an exotic dancer in Vegas and hustler, and Scorsese does a good job, through DeNiro and Stone, in depicting just what this unstable woman put Rosenthal through in real life, which included cheating on him behind his back with friend Tony Spolatro, kidnapping his daughter with her ex-pimp boyfriend (played by James Woods) not to mention succumbing to an awful drug and alcohol addiction. As their marriage splinters, especially after DeNiro finds out Stone is cheating on him with Pesci's character, so does the friendship between Pesci and DeNiro's characters, as Spolatro wanted to come to Vegas to completely take over with violence and robbery (he started his own jewel thief crew once getting to Vegas) and this was something the Chicago mob bosses wanted to avoid because it was only going to bring too much FBI and police intervention into what they were doing there --- which was, essentially, robbing the casinos of their money in the count rooms. Plus, Spolatro made the deadly mistake of sleeping with Rosenthal's wife in real life.....something mob bosses dont stand for, either.

According to an EXCELLENT A&E documentary titled VEGAS AND THE MOB, which chronicled the beginnings of Vegas from the time of Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel to the downfall of Tony Spolatro and Frank Rosenthal, the midwest mob bosses all agreed that Vegas was going to be a violent-free city where no one would get killed over turf wars; as soon as Tony Spolatro came into town, that all changed, as bodies began showing up in the desert and all over the place because of his violent ways. It is VERY unfortunate that Universal did not include this documentary on this real story of what happened at the Stardust Hotel between Rosenthal, Spolatro and the mob, but they added other news fluff about this story which I will get to. As their lives spiral out of control, Rosenthal's wife Jerry, in real life, died in L.A. from a drug overdose (portrayed in the end of CASINO by Sharon Stone), and before they knew it, the FBI had enough information from bugs put into secret mob hideouts in the midwest to raid the Tangiers and begin arresting people involved in the illegal skimming operation. This was aided by the publicity Frank Rosenthal himself brought to the Stardust operation after being so obsessed with getting a real gaming license that he went to court to fight it; this was just bringing too much heat down for the bosses in Vegas, and before they knew it, anyone who knew anything was getting killed, including a Teamsters Pension Fund board president (played by Alan King in the film) who gave the money to the mob to build and operate these hotels in Vegas. There were other plans for Tony Spolatro and Frank Rosenthal, however.

Expertly rendered in the film version of CASINO, the mob just had enough of Tony "The Ant" Spolatro, who brought WAY too much police intervention to Vegas because of his violent ways, not to mention the fact that he slept with Frank Rosenthal's wife on more than one occasion. This was something they didnt stand for. In real life, and portrayed in a BRUTAL scene at the end of CASINO, Spolatro and his brother Michael (changed to "Dominick" in the film) were driven out to an empty Indiana corn field by fellow Chicago mob hitmen where they were BRUTALLY beaten with aluminum baseball bats until they were barely breathing, stripped, and dumped in pre-dug graves WHILE THEY WERE STILL BREATHING.....the mob bosses wanted to make examples of them, and their deaths completed the circle of violence and mistrust in the Vegas mafia situation. This actually happened to Spolatro and his brother in real life, and when authorities discovered the bodies after a farmer had called it in, the coroners couldnt tell, because the bodies were beaten so badly, if Spolatro and his brother died from the beatings themselves, or if they choked on the blood they swallowed in the dirt graves.

Rosenthal, on the other hand, escaped Vegas at the end.....but barely. As he walked out of a Marie Calendar's restaurant after dinner one night, he turned the ignition to his Cadillac Eldorado, and the car exploded --- by miracle, Rosenthal survived the blast, and to this day, it remains an unsolved mystery --- although the FBI suspect it was Tony Spolatro who bombed the car due to uneasy feelings between the two men. This is also nicely and accurately rendered by DeNiro in the film version of CASINO. To this day, Rosenthal has not been bothered by the mob, and in fact has moved to Boca Raton, Florida, where he continues to handicap and make money for "those who could use his services" if you know what I mean.....

This was definitely one of Scorsese's best works to date, and while not quite the caliber of GOODFELLAS, often considered one of the best films ever to be made in history, it does portray this little-known story of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and Tony "The Ant" Spolatro and their control over the city of Las Vegas for a short while, based on Nicholas Pileggi's novel, VERY powerfully. It would be the last time, as DeNiro and Pesci narrarate in the film, that "street guys" would ever be given something as valuable as a casino to run again because in the end, they ****ed it all up.

Pesci's over-the-top, out of control performance of Tony Spolatro makes reason alone for watching CASINO over and over again, if you can constantly sit through its long three hour running time --- its tough, but it does move at a good pace thanks to Scorsese's direction. Watch for two blow job scenes, both involving Pesci, where in one scene, he takes a showgirl out of his restaurant he runs with his brother Dominick (really named Michael) called The Leaning Tower, and into his car, where her head immediately goes down between his legs as he banters to her about "pink veal" they use in his restaurant.....there is also a scene where once he begins the affair with DeNiro's wife (Stone), they are alone in a construction trailer and Stone proceeds to go between Pesci's legs for a juicy blow job.....man, did Spolatro get around for a hit man!

But there are some AWESOME argument sequences between Pesci's character and DeNiro's, one of which I quoted in the beginning, and these performances, while probably not as dramatic in Pileggi's book, are worth watching CASINO alone for. These argument and confrontation scenes between the two men they are portraying (Spolatro and Rosenthal) come rapidly and constantly, espcially towards the end, where the mistrust between them reaches a boiling point. Spolatro and Rosenthal, in real life, were boyhood friends from Chicago, but as someone once said, "Rosenthal KNEW thugs.....Tony WAS one..." Spolatro was fascinated with the way Rosenthal could predict the outcome of a sporting event and they immediately became buddies within the Chicago mob for different reasons; Spolatro being the muscle and Rosenthal being the bookie. Once they got to Vegas, everything splintered out of control for the two men. CASINO portrays this quite nicely, although, like I said, liberties were taken by Scorsese to change certain things, and main character names were changed (I dont understand why in GOODFELLAS, Scorsese had to change the name of the real guy DeNiro played, named Jimmy Burke, to Jimmy Conway, and the guy Paul Sorvino played, changed to Paul Cicero, but the guy Ray Liotta played, Henry Hill, was allowed to remain the same in the film. These must be legal matters Scorsese had to deal with).

It was a long time a' comin, but fans finally got what they wanted from a CASINO special edition in this ANNIVERSARY EDITION version, in the tradition Warner Brothers did with GOODFELLAS and its Special Edition, although GOODFELLAS was a two-disc set and CASINO only holds one disc, with special features on the flip side; this was dissapointing, as there is no artwork on the actual disc for CASINO ANNIVERARY EDITION because it must be flipped over to access the plethora of special features, which I'll get to. One thing that dissapointed me in the packaging department was the fact that for such a loved, cult-followed film, Universal really didnt give this ANNIVERSARY EDITION of CASINO any real special boxing or packaging, much like Warner Brothers did in the same boring token with GOODFELLAS. I mean, we get the same artwork with Pesci, DeNiro and Stone on the cover, with some added gold badging, but how about some raised lettering on a nice fold-out tray package like MGM did with JOHN CARPENTER'S ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK COLLECTOR'S EDITION or 20th Century Fox's PREDATOR COLLECTOR'S EDITION? Lets take a look at how Universal definitely improved this version of CASINO over their previous bare-bones disc which wasnt that great to look at.....

PACKAGING SPECIFICATIONS:
Standard "keepcase" box housing one disc with DreamWorks Home Video-style "box locks"; carryover artwork from original release with faces of Pesci, DeNiro and Stone on cover; "ANNIVERSARY EDITION" in gold banner across top of cover, with accompanying "WIDESCREEN" banner in gold on bottom

VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS:
ALL-NEW DIGITALLY REMASTERED ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN 2:35:1 TRANSFER

Wow. Thats the only word I can describe Univeral's efforts on this new version of CASINO. From the moment you begin the film, fans who possessed the first pressing of this release will notice the apparent lack of grain, noise and "fuzzyness" from the opening Universal logo and then onward; this entire remastered print has been given a STELLAR treatment here by Universal, and it really shows. The grain from the previous DVD is gone, and although some scenes are not PERFECT --- there are some moments the quality of CASINO will vary from scene to scene but NOTHING negative worth noting --- this remastered print is an absolute LIGHT YEAR ahead of the previous release of CASINO. Fleshtones and colors seem much richer here; do yourself a favor, like I did, if you have the first version of CASINO, sell that one and get this new ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD......this is one title worth spending the money on. I only spent $13 at Circuit City for this title ON RELEASE DAY instead of the advertised $17; it was a steal in my opinion for this title. Plus, you'll enjoy looking at Sharon Stone and those short white skirts she wears throughout the film a heck of a lot more. There is a separate fullscreen version of CASINO: ANNIVERSARY EDITION available in stores, which I cannot comment on because I went with the widescreen edition, but at 2:35:1, ratio positioning seemed correct on my screen with small letterboxing to the top and bottom of the image, as expected. CASINO never looked better --- applause to Universal on this transfer; will high definition bring an even BETTER version? I dont see how, but only time will tell.

AUDIO SPECIFICATIONS:
ENGLISH, SPANISH & FRENCH DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1, ENGLISH CAPTIONS, SUBTITLES IN SPANISH & FRENCH

While rumor had it this was supposed to be a carryover Dolby Digital 5.1 mix from the previous version of CASINO, as I confirmed with Universal's press department, I have to tell you.....SOMETHING, somwhere, has been tinkered with this Dolby track because to me, everything sounds brighter, louder and cleaner than on the previous version. Sure, CASINO stays in the center channel for 90 percent of the time, because it is mainly dialogue driven, and there isnt much surround usage save for the opening title sequence and when DeNiro's car blows up at the end, but something seems to have been tweaked here for this ANNIVERSARY re-release; DeNiro and Pesci's voices both sound cleaner and louder in the center channel, and it seems overall levels have been bumped up.

But dont be mistaken --- CASINO is NOT the DVD you are going to reach for on your shelf to "wow" guests with what your home theater system can do --- leave that to THE HAUNTING and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Still, this soundtrack accompanies this now classic Scorsese mob picture just fine, with most of the classic rock soundtrack being directed to the stereo mains and VERY subtle sounds making it to the rears. There is some LFE to speak of, although not much, mainly when the car bombing scenes are onscreen.

But it is perhaps the EXTRA FEATURES fans of this film were dying for when this DVD came out, and while they wont be dissapointed all that much, they WILL be dissapointed in some ways.....let me explain.

SPECIAL FEATURES on this ANNIVERSARY EDITION of CASINO include:

-Deleted Scenes
-CASINO: THE STORY - Go behind the scenes for a fascinating exploration of the script, the book, and how director Martin Scorsese collaborated with writer Nicholas Pillegi to bring the story and characters to life
-CASINO: THE CAST AND CHARACTERS - Discover who the real people are behind the characters and how the filmmakers cast them
-CASINO: THE LOOK - Nothing captures the essence of the world of gambling like the decor of the casinos
-CASINO: AFTER THE FILMING - Once the scenes are shot, its time to edit, add music and prepare for the theatrical release
-MOMENTS WITH MARTIN SCORSESE, SHARON STONE, NICHOLAS PILEGGI AND MORE
-VEGAS AND THE MOB
-TRUE CRIME AUTHORS: CASINO WITH NICHOLAS PILEGGI

First, let me say, while a VERY comprehensive collection of special features here, I am extremely dissapointed that Universal decided to leave off the ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING two hour A&E documentary from their AMERICAN JUSTICE series called VEGAS AND THE MOB, which chronicles this WHOLE story so well with Bill Curtis as host; the VEGAS AND THE MOB featurette on this disc is NOT the same as the A&E special, and is basically a watered-down 20 minute copy of that A&E special made for NBC News. It was terrible. The most interesting feature on this above list was the True Crime Authors piece, where author Pileggi talks about Tony Spolatro and Frank Rosenthal.

I would have GLADLY given up all these extra features if Universal would have dropped all these featurettes and added a second disc to house that awesome VEGAS AND THE MOB special from A&E; if you get a chance, try to get a copy of this documentary from A&E.com.

Run --- dont walk --- to get this new version of CASINO, and sell your old DVD, because the improved video quality alone is worth the purchase price, believe me. This is the best CASINO will look, as I have said, until HD-DVD arrives, and then I still wont be sure if they can clean this film up any more than they already have........