In a 2016 interview with Milwaukee magazine, comedy legend Don Rickles, who appeared with Pesci in Casino, said of his co-star, 'I think sometimes he believed he was with the Mob. But he got over it.' (JTA) – “Casino,” Martin Scorsese’s examination of the mob’s control of Las Vegas in the 1960s and 70s, debuted in theaters on Nov. 22, 1995 – 25 years ago this past week. Casino is a 1995 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Barbara De Fina and distributed by Universal Pictures.The film is based on the nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. Synopsis / Plot 'Ace' Rothstein (Robert De Niro), plays by the Vegas rules, while Nicky (Joe Pesci) and Ginger (Sharon Stone) lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want. This drama chronicles their rise to power in the gambling empire. Director Martin Scorsese uses comic firecracker Don Rickles in a unique way in Casino.

1. Casino Joe Pesci Don Rickles Commercial
2. Joe Pesci Don Rickles Casino

Don Rickles, who comically insulted Las Vegas audiences for seven decades and had a prominent role in Casino, died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 90.

Rickles played casino manager Billy Sherbert in Martin Scorsese’s classic 1995 film, which starred Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone. In notes about the movie posted on the American Movie Channel website, Rickles is quoted describing his character:

“Billy Sherbert is a combination of guys I’ve known. It didn’t take a great amount of concentration on my part because I grew up in this town.”

Rickles first played Las Vegas in 1959. As Mike Weatherford explains in Cult Vegas: The Weirdest! The Wildest! The Swingin’est Town on Earth, Rickles made his Las Vegas debut in May 1959 in the Sahara Hotel’s Casbar Lounge, performing between sets by jazz master Louis Prima.

“‘The Merchant of Venom’ worked the Casbar through 1967,” Weatherford writes. “His Las Vegas exposure opened the door to larger nightclub settings.”

Rickles had a close relationship with Frank Sinatra, exemplified by his ability to insult the hot-headed crooner without penalty. Rickles often palled around with members of the Rat Pack.

But he was playing a role on stage. As he told Weatherford, “I’m just a guy, a normal guy. I’m a very basic guy. It’s two different lives. When I get out there onstage, or when I’m at a big party with celebrities, I become that character that I do onstage.”

Casino Joe Pesci Don Rickles Commercial

Although he acted in several movies and television shows, Rickles is arguably best remembered for his role in Casino and for voicing Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story movie series.

During a Spike TV comedy roast of Rickles in 2014, De Niro recalled a scene from Casino: “The scene where Pesci beats the crap out of you turned out to be one of the most popular scenes in the movie. Who hasn’t wanted to do that?”

In more recent years, Rickles performed at the Orleans Hotel, just off the Las Vegas Strip. He recently was booked to appear at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, but the show was rescheduled.

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Casino

Joe Pesci Don Rickles Casino

Starring

• Robert De Niro
• Sharon Stone
• Joe Pesci
• Don Rickles
• Kevin Pollak
• James Woods

Casino is a 1995 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci. It is based on the nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. The two had previously collaborated on Goodfellas.

The film marks the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and De Niro, following Mean Streets (1973); Taxi Driver (1976); New York, New York (1977); Raging Bull (1980); The King of Comedy (1982); Goodfellas (1990); and Cape Fear (1991).

In Casino, De Niro stars as Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, a Jewish American gambling handicapper who is called by the Chicago Outfit to oversee the day-to-day operations at the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. His character is based on Frank Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont, and Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit from the 1970s until the early 1980s. Pesci plays Nicholas 'Nicky' Santoro, based on real-life Mob enforcer Anthony J. Spilotro, a 'made man' who could give Ace the protection he needed. Nicky is sent to Vegas to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and the mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Ginger McKenna, Ace's scheming, self-absorbed wife, based on Geri McGee.

Plot

In 1973, sports handicapper and Mafia associate Sam 'Ace' Rothstein is sent to Las Vegas to run the Teamsters Union-funded Tangiers Casino on behalf of the Chicago Outfit, which secretly controls the Teamsters, while Philip Green serves as the Mob's front man. Taking advantage of gaming laws that allow him to work in a casino while his gaming license is pending, Sam doubles the casino's profits, which are skimmed by the Mafia before they are reported to income tax agencies. Impressed with his work, Mafia boss Remo Gaggi sends Sam's childhood friend and mob enforcer Nicholas 'Nicky' Santoro and his associate Frank 'Frankie' Marino to protect Sam and the whole operation. Nicky's volatile temper soon gets him banned from every casino in Las Vegas, so he gathers his own crew and engages in independent shakedowns and burglaries, instead.

Sam meets and falls in love with a hustler and former prostitute, Ginger McKenna. They conceive a daughter and marry, but their marriage is proven difficult by Ginger's covetousness and love for her manipulative former boyfriend, con artist-turned pimp Lester Diamond. Lester is beaten severely by Sam and Nicky after they catch him conning Ginger out of some money. Ginger subsequently turns to alcohol. Meanwhile, Sam makes an enemy in county commissioner Pat Webb for firing his brother-in-law Don Ward for incompetence. When Sam refuses to reinstate him, Webb pulls Sam's license from the backlog, forcing him to face a hearing for his gaming license while secretly arranging for the board to deny Sam. Sam blames the incident on Nicky's recklessness and the two argue furiously in the desert after Sam attempts to tell Nicky to leave Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the casino counters begin stealing some money for themselves, prompting the Midwest Mafia bosses to put Artie Piscano of the Kansas City mafia in charge of overseeing the transactions. Piscano is unable to find the thieves, but keeps tabs on everything he knows about Las Vegas in a private notebook, ranting about it in his grocery store. The FBI, investigating a separate crime, have wired Piscano's store, and Piscano's detailed complaints, complete with names, spurs the FBI to begin investigating the casino. Meanwhile, Sam finally seeks divorce from Ginger, tired of her alcoholism. She then kidnaps their daughter, Amy, taking her to Los Angeles, and plans to flee to Europe with Lester. Sam convinces her to come back with Amy, and then scolds her for stealing his money and kidnapping their daughter. After he overhears Ginger talking on the phone about killing him, he kicks her out of the house, but soon relents. Ginger then approaches Nicky for help in getting her valuables from their shared vault in the bank, and the two start an affair. Sam discovers this after finding Amy tied to her bed by Ginger, who is with Nicky at his restaurant. Sam disowns Ginger, as does Nicky. A furious and drunk Ginger crashes her car into Sam's driveway, making a scene, and retrieves the key to their deposit box after distracting the attending police. Even though she succeeds in taking her share of the money from the bank, she is arrested by the FBI as a material witness.

The FBI moves in and closes the casino. Green decides to cooperate with the authorities. Piscano dies of a heart attack upon observing federal agents discover his notebook. Nicky flees Las Vegas before he can be caught. The FBI approaches Sam for help, but he turns them down. The bosses are arrested and put on trial, and decide to eliminate anyone involved in the scheme to prevent them from testifying. Among those killed are three casino executives, Teamsters head Andy Stone, and money courier John Nance. Ginger travels to Los Angeles and ultimately dies of a drug overdose in a motel. Sam himself is almost killed by a car bomb, and suspects Nicky was behind it. Before Sam can take revenge, Nicky and his brother Dominick are ambushed by Frankie and their own crew, beaten and buried alive in a cornfield, the bosses having had enough of Nicky's behavior and suspecting his role in Sam's car bombing.

With the Mob now out of power, the old casinos are purchased by big corporations and demolished. The corporations build new and gaudier attractions, which Sam laments are not the same as when the Mafia was in control. Sam subsequently retires to San Diego and continues to live as a sports handicapper for the Mob, in his own words, ending up 'right back where I started'.

Cast

• Robert De Niro as Sam 'Ace' Rothstein
• Joe Pesci as Nicholas 'Nicky' Santoro
• Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna
• James Woods as Lester Diamond
• Frank Vincent as Frankie Marino
• Don Rickles as Billy Sherbert
• L. Q. Jones as Clark County Commissioner Pat Webb
• Kevin Pollak as Philip Green
• Alan King as Andy Stone
• Pasquale Cajano as Remo Gaggi
• John Bloom as Donald 'Don' Ward
• Dick Smothers as Nevada State Senator Harrison Roberts
• Philip Suriano as Dominick Santoro
• Bill Allison as John Nance
• Vinny Vella as Artie Piscano