Las Vegas: An Unconventional History

Given the fact that the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Authority provided funding for Stephen Ives' lengthy blown kiss to Sin City, this entry from the characteristically outstanding (and usually far more objective) PBS-aired American Experience series is anything but “unconventional” (it's even been named the official documentary celebrating Las Vegas' centennial). When it sticks to solid history (tracing the city's evolution from backwater burg in the desert in 1905, through its rise as a Mob-controlled gambling center in the 1940s-‘60s, and its rebirth in the 1990s as an entertainment capital for the whole family), Las Vegas is often both insightful and entertaining (though Barry Levinson's Bugsy and Martin Scorsese's Casino frankly covered the organized crime angle better), particularly in its look at atomic bomb testing during the 1940s and ‘50s, which took place a mere 65 miles from the city (and was billed as a tourist attraction!). The film is less effective, however, in its contemporary profile of Vegas, which offers a couple of token cautionary stories (a gambling-addicted construction worker facing a trial for attempted robbery, a homeless family headed by a single mother trying to find a service industry job) amidst a steady stream of bright and shiny images of the Las Vegas Strip and happy-talk comments about the “fastest growing city in the U.S.” from authors such as Nicholas Pileggi and Marc Cooper, as well as Senator Dina Titus and casino entrepreneur Steve Wynn. What you won't see here, however, are the vacant, soulless eyes of the elderly as they methodically yank slot machine levers, or the hordes of young men who literally line the strip trying to force sex show flyers into the hands of the crowds, because those images do not fit the sanitized vision of Las Vegas promoted here. DVD extras include a brief “making-of” featurette and a vintage short on nuclear testing. Optional. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)