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Watched Casino for the first time, and I was riveted. I do have a question that's been puzzling me (open spoilers)

SaysWho?

By SaysWho?
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SaysWho?

SaysWho?

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This is one of Scorsese's gangster films that's eluded me for a long time.

 

First, Sharon Stone killed it in this movie. I was completely into her descent as she became less in control. As she smashed her car into DeNiro's and stormed in and ran to the bank, I turned to my gf and said, "This is freaking intense. I love it, but holy shit, I feel like the bottom's about to fall out."

 

But what's confusing me is Nicky's death.

 

 

First, nice touch having his narration end abruptly as he's hit with a bat. And I get why he's being offed -- he got too out of control, was sent there to protect Sam's interests but started doing his own thing, got into it with Sam's wife, and I guess they suspect him of the car bomb (though it's not actually verified, and I don't know if they figured it out in real life either) -- but what I don't get is why Frankie was so intense about it.

 

Frankie seemed like the one who was on Nicky's side in the movie. He lied to cover for him and met up with him to give him information near the end of the film while covering his mouth. I get the mindset of, "It's either him or me, so I gotta whack him," but I'd have expected him to look more regretful or remorseful about the whole thing considering his relationship with Nicky throughout the film.

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  • SaysWho? changed the title to Watched Casino for the first time, and I was riveted. I do have a question that's been puzzling me (open spoilers)
SimpleG

SimpleG

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From what I remember Frankie was under a lot pressure each time he had to report back to the bosses. He even mentions that he’s never sure if he will be kissed or killed. Nickys erratic behavior and contempt for mob rules put Frankie at odds and under constant threat of death he was pressure cooker waiting to go off.

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Slug

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1 hour ago, SaysWho? said:

but what I don't get is why Frankie was so intense about it.

 

Frankie seemed like the one who was on Nicky's side in the movie. He lied to cover for him...

 

That's your answer right there.  IMO he was frustrated and pissed that Nicky's actions had forced his hand and brought it to this end despite all of Frankie's efforts.  It all came out in that rage.

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Bloodporne

Bloodporne

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2 minutes ago, Slug said:

If you like gangster flicks it really should be on your list.  It's excellent.

 

That scene @SaysWho? is talking about though, it's tough to watch.

Absolutely. And I've seen probably most of Scorsese's filmography and love him as a director. Yet somehow I've managed to never see Casino. I think I might put it on the Must-Watch list for this weekend. 

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11 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

Absolutely. And I've seen probably most of Scorsese's filmography and love him as a director. Yet somehow I've managed to never see Casino. I think I might put it on the Must-Watch list for this weekend. 

 

I would. I can't imagine someone liking Departed, Goodfellas, or Irishman and not liking Casino.

 

Casino is more Irishman length (3 hours). The only thing I wasn't 100% on, mainly due to likely rewatching it down the line, is the first hour is very narration/exposition heavy. Irishman and Goodfellas have narration, but I swore I went, like, the first 30 minutes with barely an regular conversations and mostly narration, setting up all the pieces in the movie. The next 30 minutes had narration but I think a bit more dialogue.

 

Then the next two hours are more regular movie-heavy with some narration. It's not boring, but I felt the most interesting parts happened past that first hour when you just see people being. It may be because there are a ton of moving parts to the film, so it's best to understand everything from the start.

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Bloodporne

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3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I would. I can't imagine someone liking Departed, Goodfellas, or Irishman and not liking Casino.

 

Casino is more Irishman length (3 hours). The only thing I wasn't 100% on, mainly due to likely rewatching it down the line, is the first hour is very narration/exposition heavy. Irishman and Goodfellas have narration, but I swore I went, like, the first 30 minutes with barely an regular conversations and mostly narration, setting up all the pieces in the movie. The next 30 minutes had narration but I think a bit more dialogue.

 

Then the next two hours are more regular movie-heavy with some narration. It's not boring, but I felt the most interesting parts happened past that first hour when you just see people being. It may be because there are a ton of moving parts to the film, so it's best to understand everything from the start.

It's one of those movies I already KNOW I'm going to be way into so I kind of...saved it for a rainy day?? And yeah, I really liked The Irishman as well. 

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I would. I can't imagine someone liking Departed, Goodfellas, or Irishman and not liking Casino.

 

Casino is more Irishman length (3 hours). The only thing I wasn't 100% on, mainly due to likely rewatching it down the line, is the first hour is very narration/exposition heavy. Irishman and Goodfellas have narration, but I swore I went, like, the first 30 minutes with barely an regular conversations and mostly narration, setting up all the pieces in the movie. The next 30 minutes had narration but I think a bit more dialogue.

 

Then the next two hours are more regular movie-heavy with some narration. It's not boring, but I felt the most interesting parts happened past that first hour when you just see people being. It may be because there are a ton of moving parts to the film, so it's best to understand everything from the start.

Goodfellas has nearly as much narration in the beginning as Casino if not more. You don't get any real scenes in Goodfellas until he's an adult. The whole begining of the film is him narrating his childhood. Pretty sure like Casino, the whole first act is narration and exposition.

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Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

Goodfellas has nearly as much narration in the beginning as Casino if not more. You don't get any real scenes in Goodfellas until he's an adult. The whole begining of the film is him narrating his childhood. Pretty sure like Casino, the whole first act is narration and exposition.

 

I know it hasn't been that long since I saw Goodfellas, but I could have sworn there was much less exposition and much less of him as a kid. It certainly didn't last an hour, right? Before I knew it, we were at "How the fuck am I funny?"

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skillzdadirecta

skillzdadirecta

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3 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I know it hasn't been that long since I saw Goodfellas, but I could have sworn there was much less exposition and much less of him as a kid. It certainly didn't last an hour, right? Before I knew it, we were at "How the fuck am I funny?"

That scene is about 20 minutes in... but you're still getting a lot of set up and narration at that point. The whole "Fuck you pay me" scene. and that's BEFORE we even get introduced to the wife who has her OWN exposition and narration for several scenes. I love Goodfellas but I always preferred Casino over it. I felt like Scorsce was at the height of his filmmaking powers around the time of Casino and Cape Fear.

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Bloodporne

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11 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

That scene is about 20 minutes in... but you're still getting a lot of set up and narration at that point. The whole "Fuck you pay me" scene. and that's BEFORE we even get introduced to the wife who has her OWN exposition and narration for several scenes. I love Goodfellas but I always preferred Casino over it. I felt like Scorsce was at the height of his filmmaking powers around the time of Casino and Cape Fear.

It's unfair and nonsensical but for some reason I always assumed Casino would be 'lesser GoodFellas in Vegas' and maybe that's why I had no urgency to see it?

 

That part in GoodFellas where he fucks the dude up for being a creep to Lorraine Bracco is one of my favorite scenes in that movie. Her response is so good. 

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10 minutes ago, Bloodporne said:

It's unfair and nonsensical but for some reason I always assumed Casino would be 'lesser GoodFellas in Vegas' and maybe that's why I had no urgency to see it?

 

Lesser Goodfellas is what I thought as well, and I figured it wasn't a must-see as Goodfellas was, but it's just a different film. It has Pesci and De Niro in it, and Pesci is a hothead, but it's a totally different dynamic, De Niro is a different character, the main woman in the film is a different personality entirely, it's its own thing.

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skillzdadirecta

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43 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

For when anyone has finished Casino and wants to know how true to the real life story it is. 
 

 

Tagged for later. There's also an episode of Mobsters: America's Most Evil that deals with the guy Joe Pecci's character is based on. 

 

 

and a LOT of people made the mistake of thinking Casino is lesser Goodfellas... I love both but I've always thought Casino was the better made film. It's definitely the better looking Cinematographically than Casino. Scorsece experimented a lot with lighting in Casino and it's MUCH more colorful and vibrant than Goodfellas was, not just because it's set in Vegas. I think a more accurate way to think of it is a more mature, louder version of Goodfellas lol. All of these movies are fresh in my head because I recently binged all four of Marty's gangster epics. Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed and The Irishman. I would rank them in this order

 

1. Casino

2. Goodfellas

3. The Irishman

4. The Departed

 

They last two aren't as good as the first two but they're ALL worth watching.

 

 

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I’m weird because I’ve liked Departed the best since it came out.

 

I think it may be personal preference since it’s a story rather than a biopic? Like, there’s a well defined “Both the gang and the cops have rats in each other’s operations” whereas the others usually are character studies that don’t have an easier to define story. Not a critique, but i think that’s why I really love Departed.

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skillzdadirecta

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The Departed was a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and while its grown on me over time, I wasn't impressed when I first saw it. In addition to being a remake, it's also loosely based on notorious Boston Crime figure Whitey Bulger who was in hiding for something like 20 years before he was finally caught hiding in Santa Monica in the late 2000's.  So it's less of a biopic than the other three films but is still based on other material... like the other three films.

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1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The Departed was a remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs and while its grown on me over time, I wasn't impressed when I first saw it. In addition to being a remake, it's also loosely based on notorious Boston Crime figure Whitey Bulger who was in hiding for something like 20 years before he was finally caught hiding in Santa Monica in the late 2000's.  So it's less of a biopic than the other three films but is still based on other material... like the other three films.

 

Yup, know about Infernal Affairs. I've never seen the full movie (I think there are multiple parts), but I've watched some scenes that are in both movies. It's so different in feel, I can tell. Infernal Affairs seems so cinematic, while in Departed, there's no slow-mo or set-up to someone dying. They're fucking dead.

 

That's Scorsese, of course.

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10 hours ago, thewhyteboar said:

The Irishman is so good.

 

I love how it goes from all this oldie music that we know from Scorsese films to pure suspense as all music ceases. 

 

6 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I watched it a long time ago and don't remember much about it anymore. It is a trilogy but The Departed is only based on the first one.

 

I know the trilogy was different since 

 

Spoiler

Dignam and I think Baldwin's character were created for Departed, and with Dignam, that allowed for retribution against Damon's character, whereas in Infernal Affairs once the character Martin Sheen played in the remake dies, that's it for people who know who the main character is.

 

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Greatoneshere

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7 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

I watched it a long time ago and don't remember much about it anymore. It is a trilogy but The Departed is only based on the first one.

 

4 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I love how it goes from all this oldie music that we know from Scorsese films to pure suspense as all music ceases. 

 

 

I know the trilogy was different since 

 

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Dignam and I think Baldwin's character were created for Departed, and with Dignam, that allowed for retribution against Damon's character, whereas in Infernal Affairs once the character Martin Sheen played in the remake dies, that's it for people who know who the main character is.

 

 

Having seen the trilogy and The Departed relatively recently, The Departed takes bits and pieces from the second and third films to fill out The Departed, particularly character work, though it is primarily based on the first film but not only. I actually like the trilogy more than The Departed though I like The Departed as well.

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Keyser_Soze

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Just now, Greatoneshere said:

 

 

Having seen the trilogy and The Departed relatively recently, The Departed takes bits and pieces from the second and third films to fill out The Departed, particularly character work, though it is primarily based on the first film but not only. I actually like the trilogy more than The Departed though I like The Departed as well.

 

 

@SaysWho? will be the judge of what you like more than The Departed. :|

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