The Academy Awards are Sunday and we started thinking about all the Vegas movies that must’ve earned hugs, kisses, and oodles of Oscar love over the years. As it turned out, most of ‘em deserved more. Co-host Dayvid Figler and I put our heads together to come up with a list of flicks recognized by the Academy.
🌧️ Rain Man (1988)
This is the closest thing to a “Vegas film” to win a Best Picture Oscar. Most of it takes place elsewhere, but the scenes of Dustin Hoffman as a savant counting cards at Caesars Palace are among the most iconic moments in the film. Barry Levinson's film won four awards out of eight nominations, including Best Actor for Hoffman.
🍸 Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Nicholas Cage earned a Best Actor win for playing a drunk who wants to drink himself to death in Vegas. It's the only win of the film's four nominations.
🦩 Bugsy (1991)
Barry Levinson's Bugsy Siegel biopic, featuring Warren Beatty in the title role of the mobster and Flamingo founder, had plenty of Oscar buzz upon release and was favored to win Best Picture at one point. It scored nine Oscar nominations, but only picked up trophies for art direction and costume design.
🎰 Casino (1995)
Everybody loves Casino, but it only scored a Best Actress nomination for Sharon Stone. At the time, Martin Scorsese's masterpiece earned strong reviews, but some viewed it as too similar to the director’s earlier film, Goodfellas, which may have hurt its Oscar chances.
🐴 The Electric Horseman (1979)
Sydney Pollack's Western-tinged drama, featuring Robert Redford as a rodeo champ trotting down the Vegas Strip, was nominated for Best Sound, but didn’t win.
✈️ Con Air (1997)
This action flick, featuring a mullet-strong Nicolas Cage and a hijacked plane attempting a landing on the the Vegas Strip was somehow nominated for two Oscars: Best Sound and Best Original Song for “How Do I Live” by Trisha Yearwood (and LeAnn Rimes, whose version became a bigger pop hit). Both lost.
👎 One From the Heart (1981)
Francis Ford Coppola’s musical dud was set in Las Vegas, but filmed entirely on a Los Angeles soundstage. It still wrangled Tom Waits a losing Oscar nomination for Best Original Song Score.
Ultimately, it looks like Vegas’s biggest contribution to the Oscars is hometown hero Jimmy Kimmel, who hosts for the fourth time Sunday.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many Vegas movies we love and hate. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
