Casino

EXT. RESTAURANT PARKING LOT, LAS VEGAS, 1983 - DAY

SAM 'ACE' ROTHSTEIN, a tall, lean, immaculately dressed man

approaches his car, opens the door, and gets inside to turn

on the ignition.

ACE (V.O.)

When you love someone, you've gotta

trust them. There's no other way.

You've got to give them the key to

everything that's yours. Otherwise,

what's the point? And, for a while...

I believed that's the kind of love I

had.

Suddenly, the car explodes. Flames, smoke and metal rise

into the sky covering the view of the Las Vegas casinos and

their signs.

Music in:
J.S. Bach - 'St Matthew Passion'.

Ace's body comes flying in - extreme slow motion. His body

twists and turns through the frame like a soul about to tumble

into the flames of damnation.

MAIN TITLE SEQUENCE.

INT. TANGIERS CASINO FLOOR - NIGHT

Vignette of ACE through rippling flames, we move in on ACE

ROTHSTEIN overseeing the casino. He lights a cigarette.

ACE (V.O.)

Before I ever ran a casino or got

myself blown up, Ace Rothstein was a

hell of a handicapper, I can tell

you that. I was so good, that whenever

I bet, I could change the odds for

every bookmaker in the country. I'm

serious. I had it down so cold that

I was given paradise on earth. I was

given one of the biggest casinos in

Las Vegas to run, the Tangiers...

INT. SAN MARINO ITALIAN GROCERY/BACK ROOM, KANSAS CITY -

NIGHT:

Vignette of MOB BOSSES sitting at a table surrounded by food

and wine like the gods of Olympus.

ACE (V.O.)

...by the only kind of guys that can

actually get you that kind of money:

sixty-two million, seven-hundred

thousand dollars. I don't know all

the details.

NICKY (V.O.)

Matter of fact...

INT. BAR, LAS VEGAS - NIGHT

Vignette of NICKY SANTORO standing at a bar with DOMINICK

SANTORO, his brother, and FRANK MARINO, his right-hand man.

NICKY (V.O.)

...nobody knew all the details, but

it should'a been perfect. I mean, he

had me, Nicky Santoro, his best

friend, watching his ass...

INT. NIGHTCLUB - NIGHT

Vignette of GINGER MCKENNA a dazzling thirty-one-year-old

blonde seated by a small fiery pool.

NICKY (V.O.)

...and he had Ginger, the woman he

loved, on his arm. But in the end...

INT. TANGIERS SPORTSBOOK/ACE'S OFFICE - NIGHT

ACE looks over the casino he rules.

NICKY (V.O.)

...we f***ed it all up. It should'a

been so sweet, too. But it turned

out to be the last time that street

guys like us were ever given anything

that f***in' valuable again.

EXT. LAS VEGAS - NIGHT

Aerial shot coming down out of the clouds over the brightly

lit Vegas Strip and off into the blackness of the desert

night.

ACE (V.O.)

At that time, Vegas was a place where

millions of suckers flew in every

year on their own nickel, and left

behind about a billion dollars. But

at night, you couldn't see the desert

that surrounds Las Vegas...

EXT. DESERT - DAWN

Aerial shot swooping along the desert floor, then rising

above the mist to reveal mountains in the distance.

ACE (V.O.)

But it's in the desert where lots of

the town's problems are solved.

NICKY (V.O.)

Got a lot of holes in the desert,

and a lot of problems are buried in

those holes. Except you gotta do it

right. I mean, you gotta have the

hole already dug before you show up

with a package in the trunk.

Otherwise you're talkin' about a

half-hour or forty-five minutes of

diggin'. And who knows who's gonna

be comin' along in that time? Before

you know it, you gotta dig a few

more holes. You could be there all

f***in' night.

EXT. LAS VEGAS STRIP, 1973 - NIGHT

TITLE IN:
'THE STRIP', 'LAS VEGAS', 'TEN YEARS EARLIER'

ACE is greeted by a casino exec and walked through the

brightly lit entrance to the Tangiers Casino.

ACE (V.O.)

Who could resist? Anywhere else in

the country, I was a bookie, a

gambler, always lookin' over my

shoulder, hassled by cops, day and

night. But here, I'm 'Mr Sam

Rothstein'. I'm not only legitimate,

but running a casino. And that's

like selling dreams for cash.

INT. TANGIERS CASINO - NIGHT

We see ACE enter alone. He is greeted by BILLY SHERBERT.

They are joined by top executives RICHIE and RONNIE in suits

and ties. They walk through the casino, past crowded and

noisy craps tables, spinning roulette wheels, blackjack

tables, poker-faced players at poker tables, and elegant,

cordoned-off, black-tie, baccarat tables.

ACE (V.O.)

I hired an old casino pal, Billy

Sherbert, as my manager and I went

to work.

SHERBERT:

(Introducing the EXECS

to ACE)

...And this is Ronnie, who takes

care of the card room...

ACE (V.O.)

For guys like me, Las Vegas washes

away your sins. It's a morality car

wash. It does for us what Lourdes

does for humpbacks and cripples.

And, along with making us legit...

INT. TANGIERS/HARD COUNT ROOM - NIGHT

Dolly back from a wall of money. An employee pours a bucket

full of coins into a trough. Camera follows progress as

numerous coins move on a conveyor system, through a sorting

machine. Camera reveals several rolls of coins on a lower

conveyor as they move up a ladder towards an employee's hands,

who then places the rolls on a rack.

ACE (V.O.)

...comes cash. Tons of it. I mean,

what do you think we're doing out

here in the middle of the desert?

It's all this money. This is the end

result of all the bright lights and

the comped trips, of all the champagne

and free hotel suites, and all the

broads and all the booze. It's all

been arranged just for us to get

your money. That's the truth about

Las Vegas.

INT. TANGIERS/FLOOR/SOFT COUNT ROOM - DAY

Camera follows JOHN NANCE carrying a small suitcase and

walking through the casino to a door leading to the cashier's

cage. The sign on the door reads 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

He walks through the cage, to another door: 'Notice - Keep

Out'.

ACE (V.O.)

We're the only winners. The players

don't stand a chance. And their cash

flows from the tables to our boxes

...through the cage and into the

most sacred room in the casino ...the

place where they add up all the money

...the holy of holies ...the count

room.

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