With the grand opening of
City Center, Las Vegas , and the comedy hit "
The Hangover" recently released on DVD, I have Vegas on the brain. But not the real Sin City. I’ve been thinking about ‘movie Vegas’, the town where I don’t blow the rent money, eat shovels full of bellyache buffet food, drink like Dean Martin and wake up the next afternoon wondering why I bet $500 on the Detroit Lions. Instead, I sit back and watch actors do these dumb things. And I love it.
I mostly enjoyed “The Hangover”. Though apparently not as much as some Vegas visitors, who after seeing the movie are hot to stay at
Caesars Palace, where many of the scenes were filmed. The painfully unfunny “
What Happens in Vegas” and the bust that is “
21," both filmed mainly at Planet Hollywood, never generated this kind of buzz for that hotel, so I suppose “The Hangover” got something right.
This recent crop of Vegas flicks inspired me to revisit some old favorites. From comedies and dramadies to heist pictures and reels of operatic tragedy, here’s a list of Vegas travel movies that make me want to hit I-15 and leave L.A. behind for a few days of mindless fun.
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
After going bust at the tables, who among us hasn’t wanted to grow into a 60-foot-tall giant and destroy Las Vegas?
If so, then this 1950s sci-fi B-movie is for you. Colonel Glenn Manning, exposed to radiation from a plutonium bomb test in the Nevada desert, mutates into a colossal man with a bad attitude to match. Among the Vegas rampage highlights: the supersized colonel smashes Vegas Vic, Freemont Street’s famous neon cowboy, and hurls it at a crowd of onlookers.
Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
The Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and pals) hatches a plan to rob five Vegas casinos on New Year’s Eve. The caper is a bit of a letdown, but who cares? It’s a kick to see these hepcats play it cool in their old Vegas Strip stomping ground,
where the
Flamingo hotel looks positively quaint compared to today’s Three Diamond super resort.
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
When it comes to Elvis in Vegas, I prefer to forget about bespangled jumpsuits and peanut butter-and-banana bloat. Give me a slim ‘King’ playing Lucky Jackson, in town to race in the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The movie’s
title song, which today you’ll hear blasting from the loudspeakers in front of
Bally’s Las Vegas, has become the town’s unofficial theme song. And for fans of old-school Sin City, there’s no topping the fabulous footage of 1960s Vegas, best seen in the
opening titles .
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
The seventh James Bond flick finds 007 (Sean Connery) undercover as a diamond smuggler in Vegas. ‘Diamonds’ has a fun car chase down Freemont Street (decades before the
Freemont Street Experience canopy was installed), plus scenes shot at the
Las Vegas Hilton, circa 1970. Connery looks bored with the whole affair (“Goldfinger” this ain’t), but I’m a sucker for all things Vegas—even this silliness.
Casino (1995)
The ultimate Vegas mob movie (sorry, “
Bugsy” ), Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” is often mischaracterized as ‘Goodfellas goes to Vegas’. Sure, DeNiro and Joe Pesci are back in leading roles, but this picture has a story and vibe all its own. The filming locations, including
Piero’s Italian Restaurant and the Peppermill Fireside Lounge, are classic 1970s Vegas.
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Break out the Prozac and prepare to be depressed by the tale of a Hollywood agent (Nicolas Cage in
an Oscar winning performance) who goes to Vegas to drink himself to death. Instead of Vegas glitz and glitter, we get fleabag motels, dive bars, pawn shops, and of course, a hooker with a heart of gold. If you’re in town and want to sip a cocktail at a down-at-the-heels, “Leaving Las Vegas”-esque watering hole, try legendary
Dino’s Lounge; fear not Nervous Nellies, it’s not scary. Bottom’s up.
Swingers (1996)
Though mostly set in L.A., “Swingers” hits The Strip for a spell when roadtripping hipsters Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn go to “Vegas, baby! Vegas!” to play blackjack and pick-up “beautiful babies.” Best line: “They’re gonna give daddy the
Rain Man suite, you dig that?”
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Hunter S. Thompson’s 1972 counterculture classic got the big-screen treatment
when director Terry Gilliam attempted to translate the book, including its more twisted passages (a psychedelic spin through Circus Circus), into film. The results are mixed, but Johnny Depp (doing a spot-on Hunter Thompson impression) goes a long way toward making the “savage journey” to the dark heart of Vegas a mostly successful ‘bad trip.’
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
This stylish remake of the Rat Pack’s 1960 heist flick nearly matches the original’s old-school cool (Clooney as smooth as the Chairman of the Board? Not quite), yet tops it as far as plotting, pacing and action are concerned. The clever caper (robbing the Bellagio’s casino vault) and flashy backdrops never fail to infect me with the Vegas travel bug. If you want to re-enact the final scene, load “
Claire de lune” on your iPod and head
for the fountains of
Bellagio.
The Cooler (2003)
William H. Macy plays the unluckiest man in Las Vegas (a title I was certain belonged to me). Alec Baldwin, in a juicy role as an old-school casino boss, employs Macy at his low-rent downtown establishment to cool off hot gamblers simply by playing next to them. Maria Bello is the cocktail waitress who’s going to reverse Macy’s misfortune. A bittersweet love story, sharp dialogue and terrific acting make this a Valentine to old Vegas (before it turned into Disneyland) and essential Sin City cinema.
So, Vegas movie aficionados, what favorite of yours have I snubbed? To jog your memory, here’s a
partial list of flicks set in Sin City.
