The Real Casino

Exploring the real people and events portrayed fictionally in Nicholas Pileggi's book and Martin Scorsese's feature film Casino, this quirky, delightful video focuses on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, Tony Spilotro and Alan Dorfman (portrayed by Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Alan King under the names Sam H. Rothstein, Ricky Santoro and Andrew Stone, respectively), Chicago and Las Vegas denizens with alleged mob ties. Combining face-to-face interviews with family and friends of the principals, documentary footage of same in easily recognized Chicago street scenes, and clips from the movie, The Real Casino is a little rough around the edges, with the lighting occasionally off, but the grainy, gritty effect certainly matches the subject. Basically we learn that underworld figures are people, too, and knowing the real stories about Scorsese's fictionalized gangsters adds depth to our appreciation of the film based on their exploits. True crime collections and Hollywood history collections will benefit greatly from inclusion of this primary source, which won the Best of Show at the intriguingly named Rough and Ruined Film Festival and was aired on Bravo and the Independent Film Channel. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Tribby)