BACK HOME YEARS AGO: THE REAL CASINO

Written, Produced, Directed and Edited by Joseph F. Alexandre
Director of Photography - Matt Ehling

I didn't much care for Martin Scorsese's CASINO when I first saw it. It felt too similar to GOODFELLAS, but didn't posses the cinematic energy that made make GOODFELLAS so amazing. Both movies originated from factual material and were directed by Scorsese, but GOOFELLAS felt more alive. Perhaps that's because GOODFELLAS is a more romanticized view of the mob world than CASINO, I don't really know, but I just couldn't connect with CASINO. Forgive me Mr. Scorsese.

Joseph Alexandre's BACK HOME YEARS AGO: THE REAL CASINO lends a touch of tangability to CASINO that wasn't present for me the first time around. Not having read Nicholas Pileggi's book, CASINO, BACK HOME YEARS AGO puts the actual names and faces on the original participants. Getting to know what the reality behind the story is more frightening than either of Scorsese's movies.

For those unfamiliar with CASINO, the movie details the Chicago mafia's hand in the development of Las Vegas, long before it became the world's largest corporate playground. The movie details the rise and fall of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, portrayed by Robert DeNiro, an outsider whom the mob saw as someone who could help them cash on Vegas. The names and players in Scorsese's movie were all changed, but Alexandre sheds light on who the contributing players actually were.

BACK HOME YEARS AGO unfolds from Alexandre's point of view as he wanders Chicago interviewing relatives and listening to first hand accounts. Alexandre's first person perspective lends a Michael Moore feel without the hamperings of Michael Moore's self-indulgence, and in the end Alexandre's discoveries become our own.

Some of the interviews sound a bit inflated on part of the participants. Perhaps they are trying to make themselves sound more in-the-know then they actually were. Perhaps that's just the natural Chicago demeanor. I don't know, I'm not from Chicago.

To drive home the correlations between fact and fiction, Alenandre was able to get the rights to footage from not only CASINO, but from other high profile crime movies including GOODFELLAS and Michael Mann's THIEF. Often, the stories being told don't exactly match their portrayl and it's interesting to note just how much was embellished or changed for the big screen.

I'm not sure whether you can still purchase BACK HOME YEARS AGO from B-Movie.com or not. Recently it was licensed for inclusion on a 3-disc deluxe edition of CASINO due out the second half of 2003. It doesn't necessarily give you all the facts found in Pileggi's book, but it does paint an interesting Cliff's Notes version of what the players were like. If you plan to purchase the disc set, I'm sure BACK HOME YEARS AGO will drive home the material for you the same way it did me.

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