T's Take on CASINO

 

The top five most badass entities, living or dead, real or fictional follows in this order:

1: Jaws
2: Leonidas
3: Nicky Santoro
4: Predator
5: Conan

Nicky Santoro is a personal hero of mine. He was an innovator. He made a lot of smart plays and balanced home life against a hectic work schedule extremely effectively. Very few characters I've come across are capable of that type of violence while maintaining approachability and a high sense of order. Nevermind being all-around Radical. Who's chewing on a toothpick? Total douchebags. And Nicky Santoro. He's the only other one.

Nicky doesn't care about you. You're not appealing to Nicky's fucking good nature. If he's helping you out, it's because it helps him, or because it stabilizes the natural order of things. That's it. You are an insect. And really, he doesn't see himself as much more either. It wasn't about how cool he was or how people ought to think of him: Nicky was doing what Nicky was doing because it got him further along. He saw people as creatures and the world as a big jungle. As far as his see-want-have process went he didn't let much stand in the way of his pursuits. He didn't feel bad about robbing or stealing or killing or torturing. If you weren't strong brave and creative enough to win, protect yourself and prosper, you didn't deserve it. It's not Nicky's fault you suck.

That's really what constitutes badassness, in my opinion. Pursuing what you want in the boldest and most practical manner without apology or self-doubt is the mark of a truly remarkable being. We look to Nicky in awe because we, the common Lower Being, understand that living your life in this way is to forgo philosophical fulfillment and any chance at happiness in the traditional meaning of the word. We understand that we couldn't be happy spending a large portion of our lives in jail. We understand that there is no joy to be had in storming through bars and casinos and betting joints stabbing and smashing and grabbing at lowlives. This is not work we wish to do. The very nature of that undertaking is the absolute lowest of the low, the worst kind of existence most of us can possibly imagine. Constant subjection to this lifestyle would ruin most people.

Herein lies Nicky's gift. By simple virtue of who he was by the time he reached adulthood the man had completely disregarded the world and society we all seek to thrive in. He happily accepted the Worst Part of Everything as his domain. A lot of people attempt that, but few pull it off to this degree. He was very reactionary. When he realized the FBI was watching him, he just went to the people selling surveillance equipment to the CIA and watched the government right back. His "Well, fuck you then!" attitude and penchant for violence was very shocking in juxtaposition to his more reasonable moments. If something wasn't politically sound as per his money making arrangement and The Grande Scheme (sic), he was the first to encourage other characters to step back and think about what they were doing. Not that he wasn't the instrument of his own demise ultimately, but I doubt even he was shocked at that.

The real guy, Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro (named as such after being publicly referred to by an FBI agent as a "pissant") seems very much to the same tune. Reading up on this guy's life, the movie played very close to reality in many ways. Not much seems to have been changed. I can imagine Nicky Santoro having multiple "mopery" arrests in his youth, as well. Mopery apparently means exactly what it sounds like: moping around in the streets aimlessly. This is the kind of bullshit law that gets made so that police have something to slap onto people they know are out bumming around looking for crimes to commit. That sounds like Nicky to me, in his shoplifting and purse-snatching phase. Nobody's born this hard-line, but you can believe certain paths will get you there in a hurry. Apparently The Ant finally got Made in the Italian mafia before he ever got to vegas for, you guessed it, popping some dude's eyeball out of his head by cramming it into an industrial vice and tightening.

Nicky: [about beating Tony Dogs to get information out of him] You better hope he gives me a fuckin' name soon, or I'm gonna give him yours, Frank.
Frank: Yeah, thanks a lot.
Nicky: I know you woulda ratted by now.

(... Torture ensues.)

Nicky: Give me the fuckin' name!
Tony: Ch-Charlie M.
Nicky: Charlie M?
Tony: Charlie M.
Nicky: Charlie M? You made me pop your fuckin' eye out of your head to protect that piece of shit? Charlie M? You dumb motherfucker!
Tony: Kill me.
Nicky: I'll kill you. You motherfucker you! Frankie, do him a fuckin' favor.

So anyway. Nicky Santoro knew how to Get Things Done, and for that I'll always cherish the gold cinematic moments he gave me. Joe Pesci nailed this performance and stole the show, hands down. Robert De Niro is a genius, of course, but I would call Mr. Pesci's work here the finest I've seen, maybe of his career. Some of his monologues still give me chills just to think about.

Nicky: I think in all fairness, I should explain to you exactly what it is that I do. For instance, tomorrow morning I'll get up nice and early, take a walk down over to the bank and... walk in and see you... and if you don't have my money for me, I'll crack your fuckin' head wide-open in front of all those cocksuckers down there at the bank. And just about the time that I'm comin' out of jail, hopefully, you'll be coming out of your coma. And guess what? I'll split your fuckin' head open again. 'Cause I'm fuckin' stupid. I don't give a fuck about jail. That's my business. That's what I do.

So there you have it. One of the finest examples of what it is to be a striving human animal in the world. If you don't own Casino already you can get it at most big box stores for less than fifteen dollars now, so there's no excuse. Casino has long been one of my all-time favorites, and I could talk about the masterwork script or nail-on-the-head acting, the set design or the tone... Whatever. It's awesome. You need it. Watch Casino. You don't know shit about movies.

Rest in Peace, Nicky.

M's Musings on CASINO

Casino.  Dir. Martin Scorsese.  Written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese.  Based on a book by Nicholas Pileggi.  Ft.  Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci.  MCA/Universal, 1995.

For years I have been telling T how much I disliked this movie, without even having had the decency to watch it.  When I suggested we take it on several days ago, T was shocked but willing to let me watch it as long as I was a good girl and didn't complain.  I told him I would be good, as long as we were allowed to watch it in several sittings.  Thus, a deal was struck.

And, I'll be the first to admit it, I was wrong.

I liked Casino.  For the first hour, I kept waiting around to discover what the central plot of the film was going to be.  Once I learned that the action was set around a decade, not just a few key events, I eased off a little and just let Ace or Nicky tell me where they wanted the deal to go.

To get over a really too straightforward narrative, the film opens with an explosion and then backtracks twenty years, letting the events unfold leading up to that moment.  Not exactly original, but useful enough for the viewer, who now has a marker to look for several hours later, when the film begins to wind down.  The "perspective" of the film, which shows events while they are narrated by Ace or Nicky, is inconsistent.  The back and forth style is by no means trying to be "he said/she said", as the camera angles and style of shooting doesn't change based on who is doing the voiceover.  This keeps a sense of omniscience which I think is kind of confusing with the multiple narrators.  Are we seeing things as they are, or as they are remembered or told?

We know we can't trust either character to "tell us the truth".  Ace constantly blames Nicky, and vice versa, as they point to events and problems that first elevate them, and then shatter their success.  At one point, another guy has a minor voice over... and for me, that blew it entirely.  They need to find explore some other ways of expressing interiority for that character.  Too many cooks, if you know what I mean.

Most notable, in my opinion, is the role Sharon Stone plays as Ginger.  While a fascinating character at the beginning of the film, she quite quickly becomes one dimensional.  Her status as a top swindler and prostitute is glorified by Ace, who really sees her as a woman with exceptional talent and beauty.  I was excited to watch her help build up the empire and continue to surprise us...  But instead she sells out to Ace for some jewelry, and is just a pathetic, unhappy loser for the rest of the film.  Her drug use is somewhat downplayed in terms of screen time, but her consistent coked-out fits show the after effects of her extensive drug and alcohol abuse.   Her screaming is so irritating... but I really felt like it made the performance.  She acted the way I would project that the wife of a gangster might act. Her affair with Nicky was both disgusting and the icing on the cake.  It was clear she had completely lost her edge, and was no longer capable of being top of her field (if she ever was to begin with).

I found it interesting that both Nicky and Ace really emphasized their children as a priority, far more than their wives.  The idea of family in gang culture, of maintaining solidarity at all costs... was something I really hadn't thought that much about.  I liked that Nicky cooked his son breakfast every morning.  And, I liked that Ace was happy to let Ginger go, as long as she left his daughter alone.  I figured there would be a gender divide... but it seemed that the divide seemed to prioritize children and de-prioritize spouses, not prioritize men and de-prioritize women.

One last thing:  I hate Joe Pesci's grading voice throughout this film.  It made me want to hurt somebody.  But, I suppose that is how he was supposed to sound and be.  I was kind of glad when he was bludgeoned to the point of death and buried alive.  And that isn't a very nice thing to say!