"Casino" is a 1995 movie starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese. It has been available on DVD in a barebones edition for years, but now there is an Anniversary Edition that comes loaded with extras. The Anniversary Edition consists of a single two-sided DVD. Side A contains the movie and a commentary track, while Side B contains featurettes and a documentary.
"Casino" is about the Mob in Las Vegas during the years 1973 to 1983. De Niro and Pesci portray mobsters who relocate from the Midwest to the glitzy Nevada city. Stone plays a hustler who marries De Niro's character.
The movie is based on factual material put together by Nicholas Pileggi, who published it in book form about the same time the film was released. The DVD contains the 44-minute History Channel documentary titled "True Crime Authors: Casino With Nicholas Pileggi" that explores the real-life people on whom the movie's major characters are based. Also on the DVD is the 14-minute featurette "Vegas and the Mob," an NBC News production that outlines the 40-year period when Sin City was dominated by organized crime.
The DVD contains four production featurettes. The eight-minute "Casino: The Story" is about Scorsese and Pileggi developing the screenplay. The 20-minute "Casino: The Cast and Characters" is about the actors who appear in the movie. The 16-minute "Casino: The Look" is about filming locations, sets, and costumes. Finally, the nine-minute "Casino: After the Filming" is about editing, music, and theatrical release.
The DVD provides deleted scenes, but they run a total of only three minutes. In addition, there are production notes given in the form of 27 screens of text.
On Side A of the DVD, there's a feature-length audio track where segments of commentary by several people are interspersed. The commentary can be heard by selecting the "On" option under the words "Moments With Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone, Nicholas Pileggi and More."
There are two versions of the "Casino" Anniversary Edition DVD, one widescreen, the other full-screen. They are identical except for the aspect ratio of the feature film. Below I've listed all the details for the widescreen version of the "Casino" Anniversary Edition DVD.
DVD Details:
Release Date: June 14, 2005
Number of Discs: 1 (Two-Sided)
Feature Run Time: 2 Hours 58 Minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Strong Brutal Violence, Pervasive Strong Language, Drug Use and Some Sexuality
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1), Color
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
French Dolby Digital 5.1
English Captions for the Hearing Impaired
Spanish Subtitles
French Subtitles
Moments With Scorsese, Stone, Pileggi
Casino: The Story (8 min.)
Casino: The Cast and Characters (20 min.)
Casino: The Look (16 min.)
Casino: After the Filming (9 min.)
Deleted Scenes (3 min.)
Vegas and the Mob (14 min.)
True Crime Authors: Casino With Nicholas Pileggi (44 min.)
Production Notes (text)