Las Vegas is an iconic city, and is particularly popular not just among gamblers and sun-seekers, but also with screenwriters, directors, and filmmakers. From the lights of the Las Vegas hotels and casinos of the Strip and downtown areas, to the views of soaring mountains and desolate desert, the city never fails to provide a dramatic backdrop to any storyline and cast.
Before we get down to the list of the best movies set in Las Vegas, we have a few honorable mentions to go over. These three films are all iconic and beloved for various reasons, but they are only really partially set in Las Vegas. Swingers took 1996 by storm and brought fame to Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn. The Godfather Part II is a classic film, largely considered to be better than its predecessor, and not just an influential film in the gangster/mafia genre, but also one of the greatest films of all time. And finally, Rain Man with Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman introduced the world at large to the art of card counting. These are the best movies set in Las Vegas.
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In Sean Connery's final outing as the iconic secret agent James Bond, the epic spy film Diamonds Are Forever chronicles the debonair Ian Fleming character's efforts to infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring and the rich business tycoon behind it. Bond must head to Sin City to investigate the illegal activity and realizes his longtime nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld is tied to the plot in order to create a lethal laser satellite; he goes undercover as a smuggler alongside Tiffany Case. The film contains a memorable car chase scene in which Bond flies through the streets of Vegas in a Ford Mustang and later on two wheels, doing so to elude the police and showcasing his legendary hero status at the same time.
In 1964, Elvis Presley (always so synonymous with Vegas) and Ann Margaret were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Viva Las Vegas was an enormous hit and is largely considered to be one of Presley's best films, and audiences fell for the chemistry between Elvis and Ann Margaret and their musical numbers. Elvis played Lucky Jackson, who traveled to Las Vegas to race in the city's first Grand Prix Race. Unfortunately, his car needs a new engine. He encounters further trouble when the hotel's swim instructor Rusty Martin (Ann Margaret) pushes him into the pool. Lucky then must work as a waiter at the hotel to pay the Las Vegas hotel bill, and he enters the hotel's talent contest in hopes of winning the cash prize to fix his engine. Fun fact: Viva Las Vegas is one of Teri Garr's first films.
Pay It Forward is the only film on this list that is set in Las Vegas but not in a casino on the Strip or Downtown. In the film, seventh grader Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) is starting school in Las Vegas. He lives with his alcoholic single mom (Helen Hunt). His teacher, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), is emotionally (and physically) scarred. Trevor starts a goodwill movement known as "pay it forward" that soon changes the lives of the struggling adults surrounding him in this poignant motivational movie which actually inspired many similar movements out of schools and businesses.
Comedies set in Las Vegas are usually highly underrated, at least until 2009, when Todd Philips unleashed the first of the films in The Hangover franchise. A group of four friends who call themselves The Wolf Pack travel to Las Vegas for one of the men's bachelor parties, which turns into an epic blackout. After they wake up in a trashed Las Vegas hotel room, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis play the group to locate the groom (Justin Bartha) who goes missing during their night of debauchery. The Hangover is the cinematic expression of the tagline "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas," except with Mike Tyson and a tiger.
The Cooler stars William H. Macy as Bennie, a professional cooler employed by a casino to end winning streaks of gamblers. A cooler is a person who, when he or she is on a casino floor causes people's luck to fail and winning streaks die. Maria Bello plays a cocktail waitress named Natalie who falls for him, and Alec Baldwin is casino manager Shelly. It turns out Bennie is a former gambling addict who is working for Shelly to pay off his gambling debts. When Bennie and Natalie fall for each other, his luck changes, much to the anger of Shelly. Baldwin and Bello were nominated for Golden Globes for their phenomenal, melancholic work on this excellent film about gambling.
A great Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Caan, and a plane full of skydiving Elvis impersonators are just a few reasons Honeymoon in Vegas earns the top spot for a comedy set in Las Vegas. Cage plays Jack Singer, who swore to his mother on her deathbed that he'd never get married. When the film opens, he and his girlfriend Betsy (Parker) have been dating for years, so she wants to get married and have a family.
He proposes that they fly to Las Vegas to get married, where Jack gets involved in a rigged high-stakes poker game and loses Betsy.A series of hijinks ensue that find Jack stealing a taxi in Hawaii, ending up stuck in San Jose, and eventually donning an Elvis costume and parachute to literally drop in and get Betsy back. One phrase sums up the ridiculous hilarity of this film: "Flying Elvises, Utah Chapter."
The Academy Award for Best Actor went to Nicolas Cage for his role as a suicidal alcoholic screenwriter who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death in Leaving Las Vegas. The film is based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien who died by suicide after selling the film rights to his novel. Cage plays Ben Sanderson, a man from Los Angeles who lost his family and his job; once in Las Vegas, he gets involved with Sera, a hardened prostitute played perfectly by Elisabeth Shue. The film is dark, with Shue's character getting violently gang raped and evicted, and Cage's character determined to die, in this emotionally devastating look at alcoholism, depression, and loneliness.
Martin Scorsese's Casino is one of the best films of all time. The film is based on the book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with the great Scorsese. It revolves around Sam "Ace" Rothstein (Robert De Niro) at the Tangiers Casino, a gambling expert and handicapper who oversees the Las Vegas hotel and casino's operations.
Other characters include Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a "made man," and Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), who marries Sam. The film perfectly captures the look and feel (from fashion to interior design to architecture) of Las Vegas in the 1970s and early 1980s, as well as all the changes the city underwent during that period. It is an epic love letter to and dissection of the iconic 'sin city' that is Las Vegas.
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, both recognizable to American audiences, are lifelong friends breaking apart in this Irish masterpiece. If you love film and have a chance to see a movie so perfect, you should never pass up such a chance as you have now.
COVID-19 UPDATE: The store has a limited capacity of 200 people. A line forms in front of the store and down the sidewalk. We waited in line for about 20 minutes before we were able to enter the store. The 4-D film is also not playing. Face masks are required. (Updated Feb. 15, 2021) 2ff7e9595c
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