Created by visionaries, fueled by mythic ambition and directed by larger-than-life personalities, Las Vegas is pure performance all the way, which has made the Entertainment Capital of the World a perennial setting and backdrop for the movies.
The cameras rolled here earlier this year on Jason Bourne, the fifth installment of the Bourne franchise, with Matt Damon back in the title role. Set for release next month, the action includes a high-speed car chase along the Strip in which a SWAT vehicle plows through a dozen cars in front of the Fountains of Bellagio, which were reportedly choreographed in sequence with the filming. In another scene, a SWAT vehicle crashes through the doors of the Riviera Hotel & Casino, which has been featured in multiple films over the decades and is now being demolished as part of the expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The movie was among several previewed in April at CinemaCon 2016, the annual convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners. Participants at the four-day fest, hosted by Caesars Palace Las Vegas, included Jason Bourne producer Frank Marshall, who described the chase scene as “the best ever” in the series.
Also present were director Todd Phillips and actor Bradley Cooper of The Hangover fame, scenes for which were shot at Caesars. For the show, which included preview screenings, panel discussions, awards presentations and evening receptions, the organizers used spaces that included multiple ballrooms, the Colosseum, the high-energy Omnia nightclub and the fabled Pool of the Gods.
As the city continues to build for the future, yesteryear Vegas is increasingly fading from view. Even Elvis Presley, who gave the city its immortal Viva Las Vegas theme song, is reportedly on the way out, with much press of late on how the Elvis brand is falling out of vogue.
In the movies, however, Elvis and the past can live forever. From still-active resorts and venues to long-demised sites, here are six Las Vegas films offering Tinseltown tie-ins for groups.
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Filming during the day after performing their regular acts at night, Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin, along with Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, headline this heist caper. Led by Sinatra as Danny Ocean, the gang, all paratrooper buddies from World War II, hatch a plan to rob the Sahara, Flamingo, Riviera, Sands and Desert Inn casinos. Angie Dickinson also stars, Sammy and Dean sing in the film, Shirley MacLaine does a drunken cameo, and the picture, like its players, generally romps along.
Of the five casinos, only the Flamingo Las Vegas survives today. Opened by mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel as The Pink Flamingo Hotel and Casino in 1946, it was the third hotel on the fledgling Strip, following El Rancho Vegas (1941) and The Last Frontier (1942), where Liberace played his first Vegas show in 1944. Renamed the Fabulous Flamingo in 1947, the property, after several ownership and physical changes through the decades, is now owned by Caesars Entertainment.
The Sahara was reborn as SLS Las Vegas, its three towers—one scheduled to become a W Hotel this year—managed by Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The Sands paved the way for The Venetian, while the Desert Inn, where Sinatra made his Vegas debut in 1951, is now Wynn Las Vegas.
In the 2001 remake Ocean’s Eleven, George Clooney, as Danny Ocean, leads a similar scheme to knock off the Bellagio, Mirage and MGM Grand.
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Having quit the series following 1967’s You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery reprises his role as 007 (donating his $1 million-plus fee to the Scottish International Education Trust) and comes to Las Vegas for his final official outing as James Bond. Saving the world from old SPECTRE foe Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Connery and “Bond girl” Jill St. John stay at Tropicana Las Vegas, evade the cops in a high-speed chase along Fremont Street, and plot their way through Circus Circus.
Featuring vintage trapeze artists and clown water balloon games (still there today), this extended scene is pure time capsule—including legendary Circus Circus Las Vegas and Caesars Palace founder Jay Sarno camping it up as a mad scientist in a carnival act.
With casino scenes shot inside the Riviera, and the iconic International Hotel (now the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino) standing in for the fictitious Whyte House, The Sands (now The Venetian), Dunes (now Bellagio) and Mint (now part of Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel) also appear in the film.
Connery also rides the external elevators on the Landmark, which was imploded in 1995 (featured in the Tim Burton film Mars Attacks!) and now serves as a Las Vegas Convention Center parking lot.
The Electric Horseman (1979)
Starring Robert Redford as Sonny Steele, a former rodeo champion now serving as a breakfast cereal pitchman, this movie captures Las Vegas at a moment of major transition, with Steele serving as a symbol of disillusionment.
PageBreakWearing an electrified cowboy suit, Redford rides his employer’s new brand logo—a $12 million racehorse named Rising Star—from the parking lot of Caesars Palace (how different it looked back then) onto the resort’s Circus Maximus stage during a convention sponsored by the company.
Learning that the horse has been drugged, he bolts across the casino floor, down the Strip and off into the desert. The montage of places he passes along the way—most now gone—is mesmerizing, as is the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, about 17 miles west of Las Vegas, where Redford is pursued by a TV reporter played by Jane Fonda.
With the meetings-capable Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa providing a luxury base, groups can retrace the star’s footsteps along the canyon’s scenic drive and a number of hiking trails.
Casino (1995)
Starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone and James Woods, director Martin Scorsese relied on multiple Vegas and area locations for his epic saga of the days when organized crime controlled the city’s casinos.
Once again, the Riviera got the spotlight for much of the gaming action, serving as the fictional Tangiers Hotel and Casino. Downtown locations included the iconic Atomic Liquors, the city’s oldest freestanding bar. Opened in 1945 as Virginia’s Cafe, its patrons once ascended to the roof to watch nuclear detonations just 50 miles away. Another location was Oscar’s Steakhouse (from legendary former mayor and current tourism ambassador Oscar Goodman) at the Plaza Hotel & Casino.
Serving as “The Leaning Tower” restaurant in the film, Piero’s Italian Cuisine, which opened in 1982 directly across from the Las Vegas Convention Center, specializes in private dinners and banquets for convention groups of up to 170 people.
Former mobster Frank Cullotta, who served as a consultant for Casino and appeared in several scenes, offers guided tours (www.frankcullottascasinotour.com) of locations featured in the film, along with the real stories behind some of the scenes and the occasional “special” guest.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
In this film adaptation of late “gonzo journalist” Hunter S. Thompson’s 1972 novel, Johnny Depp, as Thompson, and Benicio Del Toro as his psychotic lawyer, recreate the pair’s true-to-life 1971 drug-fueled rampages in the Nevada desert and Las Vegas. The book, first published in Rolling Stone, includes their attendance at the 1971 National District Attorneys Association’s Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
Challenged to recreate the look of 1971 Las Vegas, director Terry Gilliam, of Monty Python fame, filmed scenes inside the Riviera, but was refused access to Circus Circus. Instead, he shot exteriors for the fictitious “Bazooko Circus” at the former Stardust Hotel & Casino, with interiors, including the hallucinatory Carousel Bar scene, shot in Hollywood.
Imploded in 2007, the Stardust’s sign is preserved in the Neon Museum Boneyard, while its location is currently being developed as the $4 billion Asian-themed Resorts World Las Vegas. The film also features Downtown’s still-active Binion’s Horseshoe (now Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel) and Plaza hotels.
The Hangover (2009)
Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and a scene-stealing Zach Galifianakis, this smash hit about the comic misadventures of four friends on a Vegas bachelor party is every bride’s nightmare—and box office gold. Shooting locations included multiple interiors of Caesars Palace (although the friends’ penthouse villa was staged) and the Riviera casino, with passing exterior shots that include Paris Las Vegas, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and Luxor. Downtown’s Atomic Liquors also appears in the film.
Anticipating the 2015 arrival of Caesars’ new Mr Chow restaurant, one of the film’s characters is called Mr. Chow.
