There is no doubt that Las Vegas is a legendary city. It’s a place where millionaires are born overnight and vast fortunes can also disappear in a matter of days or even hours. This movement of vast sums, combined with infamous nightlife and a whole subculture of gambling, has inspired many filmmakers throughout the history to use Las Vegas as the stage for their movies.
It’s quite common that characters in movies elope to Las Vegas to get married by an Elvis impersonator or simply just to escape everyday routine and blow off some steam. We will take a closer look at some memorable movies that take place in Vegas. Online resource CasinoDailyNews has chronologically listed 5 cool movies about Vegas that you might enjoy watching.
1. Ocean's 11
Modern movie fans probably know the Oceans’s 11 movie made in 2001 that starred Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts. But do you also know that the original Ocean’s 11 was already made back in 1960? It featured actors: Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who were commonly known as The Rat Pack. Both Ocean’s 11 movies focus on a group of expert criminals who decide to clean out some of the most prominent Las Vegas casinos. Since the remake of the classic casino heist movie enjoyed vast popularity it also received sequels Ocean’s 12 (2004) and Ocean’s 13 (2007).
2. Viva Las Vegas
This 1964 movie stars Elvis Presley and the title song of the film became the unofficial anthem of Las Vegas (In addition to Elvis, a group called ZZ Top also sang the famous Viva Las Vegas song years later). Elvis plays a racecar driver named Lucky Jackson, who arrives in Vegas with a broken car and high hopes to raise some much needed cash for a new engine for his racer. He gets sidetracked by a pretty swimming pool manageress played by Ann-Margret and must compete for her attention with a fellow race driver Elmo Mancini.
3. Casino
Released in 1995 and directed by Martin Scorsese, “Casino” features Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein and Joe Pesci as Nicholas “Nicky” Santoro. Using a lot of graphic violence and highly realistic imagery common to many of his movies, Scorsese paints a grim picture of early Las Vegas. Back then the mob controlled a large portion of Vegas and the characters Nicky and Ace are superb examples of what went down and how the rules were enforced. In addition to Pesci and De Niro wreaking havoc and spreading violence, the movie features Sharon Stone as Rothstein’s wife. Her performance was so good that she received a Golden Globe award for the role.
4. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Based on a classic novel by journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is a hilarious comedy about a journalist who is sent to Vegas in order to write a report about a race taking place in the desert. Playing the journalist Raoul Duke is legendary actor Johnny Depp and his lawyer and psychopathic sidekick is played by Benicio Del Toro. The dynamic duo sets course on Las Vegas, carrying with them a suitcase containing every drug known to mankind. Mixing the drugs with plenty of booze they set in motion a chain of events that includes wrecking hotel rooms, cars and lives. The visually enjoyable dark comedy was directed by a master of the genre – a former Monty Python frontman Terry Gilliam.
5. The Hangover
The newest movie on our list was released in 2009 and became an instant box office smash hit. “The hangover” also won a Golden Globe Award in the category of best musical comedy. The movie features a group of friends travelling to Vegas in order to have a rockin bachelor party. One of the guys spices up their welcome drinks with some drugs and a crazy adventure begins. When the gang wakes up the next morning they find out, that they have stolen a tiger from the home of boxer Mike Tyson. There’s also a strange baby in the closet of their hotel sweet and their friend, the groom who is about to be married the next day, is missing.
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