The result is a work of startling visual poetry. “In the sequence, the main character’s excess energy and flashiness are rendered simultaneously distorted and hyperreal, repulsive and desirable, not unlike the strip of casinos itself.

Visually, after the coral-tinted, mob-tainted Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) walks out to key his Cadillac, the resulting explosion of surreal color and motion a pinnacle for the medium. That graphic style and history climaxes this sequence, and spectacularly so. Also, the seventh of ten title sequences Saul Bass designed with his wife. I highly recommend reading both as they encapsulate one of Saul’s last title efforts, and one of his best, which says a lot considering the breadth of his work 3Ĭasino the final of the five he did for Scorsese ( Goodfellas, Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence, and A personal journey with Martin Scorsese the others). This, care of a fine summary post at the Art of the Title site by Pat Kirkham, who authored Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design. The above quote from Peliggi himself to what the famed graphic designer, Saul Bass (in close collaboration with wife Elaine) achieved with their opening title sequence for the film.

With that, seemed timely to return to one of my favorite Martin Scorsese films - Casino - for its rendering of Nicholas Peliggi’s chronicle for “…Las Vegas in the 1970s, and for descent of the Mafia into Hell.” 2 During our time of “lockdown”, “safer-at-home”, or whatever your state, country, local government have named their attempts 1 at stemming the spread of COVID-19, many of us have retreated to the relative safety of watching movies at home or on mobile devices.

Casino soundtrack 1995