In a moment when violent, profane criminality was in vogue thanks to the breakthrough of Quentin Tarantino-one of several millennial auteurs indebted to Scorsese -Casino looked like a monster hit in waiting. The film was packaged as a sort of spiritual sequel: another organized crime epic from a fact-based book by Nicholas Pileggi-this one based on the life and times of casino executive Frank Rosenthal-and prominently featuring two of Goodfellas’ goodfellas (De Niro and Joe Pesci, completing a collaborative trilogy begun in Raging Bull). More specifically, it was the healthy return on investment of Goodfellas-which penetrated the popular consciousness and grossed more than $46.8 million in the United States-that prompted Universal to sign off on Casino.
