Additional information
This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas--it has
a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein
and
Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live
and work in this paradoxical world. Seen through their eyes, each as a foil to
the other, the details of mob involvement in the casinos of the 1970's
and '80's are revealed. Ace is the smooth operator of the Tangiers casino,
while Nicky is his boyhood friend and tough strongman, robbing and shaking
down the locals. However, they each have a tragic flaw--Ace falls in love
with a hustler, Ginger, and Nicky falls into an ever-deepening spiral of drugs
and violence.