Heat vs. Casino (1995)

[skimpole]

In 1995, as part of the end of the year Oscar season two nearly three hour movies appeared as major contenders. Both were complex crime movies, and both were the last major performances for a very long time from Robert De Niro, staring as bookie Ace Rothstein in Casino and as thief Neil McCauley in Heat. As it happened neither movie did well at the Oscars, with that year being one of its less defensible line-ups. But both movies have an afterlife and given their similarities one would think one might compare them. I suspect more people would prefer Casino, which certainly shares much of the panache of Martin Scorsese's previous film Goodfellas along with Joe Pesci. However, if people are interested I'm certainly willing to make the argument that Heat is actually the better movie.

[MissWonderly]

I agree, Heat is argueably at least as good as Casino, possibly better. The pairing of the two iconic "gangster" actors from the '70s, Robert de Niro and Al Pacino, is inspired casting. And it's interesting to speculate that these two actors could have switched parts, and the film would have been equally effective.

[Intrepid37]

Whatever happened to Joe Pesci?

My God, but he could be loathsome in some roles.

[skimpole]

One of the things about Casino, is its contrast with Scorsese's other movies. The three other "official" Scorsese mafia movies (Mean Streets, Goodfellas, The Irishman) all deal with the corrupting consequences of criminal behavior. And one can see themes of corruption and warped masculinity in the "Mafia-adjacent" movies (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) or otherwise financial corruption (The Wolf of Wall Street) One contrast between Casino and Goodfellas is whereas Henry Hill is just a parasite, even a "cool" one, Sam "Ace" Rothstein is extremely able and competent. Moreover, Rothstein's problem in the movie is that everybody else is so unreasonable, from the Nevada politico who insists Rothstein employ his idiot brother-in-law, to the businessman front who has a metaphorical skeleton in his closet (which turns into a literal body quickly thereafter), to the psychotic "friend" who runs the local Mafia, to the treacherous and unfaithful wife, to the Mafia bosses who want to cut all their losses.

[skimpole]

Another thing about the two movies are the romantic relationships in it. The key relationship in Casino is, of course, the unhappy marriage of Ace and Ginger Rothstein. Unhappy relationships are usually the standard for Scorsese movies. And Scorsese builds up this relationship, using the theme from Contempt as a leimotif and having De Niro, in his first scene, saying that ultimately you have to trust your spouse for any such relationship to work. Yet if you leave aside the "contract movies" like The color of Money and Cape Fear, and the relationship Harvey Weinstein insisted on inserting in The Gangs of New York, this may be the least interesting romantic relationship in all of Scorsese movies. Granted that it is based on a real marriage, and granted that Rothstein has his own problems, there is no good reasons why Rothstein should stay with such an obviously treacherous and unstable gold-digger.



By contrast, the three relationships in Heat are much more plausible (Pacino/Venora, Kilmer/Judd and DeNiro/Brenneman). That they should all come to a crisis in the course of the movie is much more understandable since the relationships all under the same stress (two of the man are tying to carry out a big heist and the other man is trying to stop it).