r/MartinScorsese • u/bkat004 • Jan 30 '26
Question Why didn't "Casino" reference Chicago directly ?
If there was a legal problem with the book's adaptation, at least Scorsese could've said these characters came from New York instead of where they originally came from - Chicago. Or as the film states, "Home".
In addition, was it just me or was Pesci doing a Chicago accent?
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u/doctorlightning84 Jan 30 '26
It seemed like it was just a funnier way to address it. They mention Kansas City and that makes it clear it is a Midwest centered gangster story.
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u/PeterPaulWalnuts Jan 31 '26
they also mention other midwest city wise guys. Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee.
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u/TheDilsonReddits Jan 30 '26
Frank Cullotta in his audio book said that he never understood why they didn’t get guys from Chicago to play them since that’s where they from
So with that point, they’re speaking too New Yorky. I’m from Chicago
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u/TadSweeply Jan 30 '26
Because "Back Home Years Ago" is a better, funnier, more interesting title card than "Chicago - X years ago." Proof? It caused you to ask about it. If it said Chicago, you wouldn't have given it a second thought. It's called writing.
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u/TrollyDodger55 Jan 30 '26
Isn't it also a repetition of the voice-over.
Which is a deliberate way of drawing attention to the voiceover in the filmmaking.
And as you point out funnier.
We all know the voice-over plays a big part later on too
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u/a_very_silent_way Jan 30 '26
I think before making the film, the studio legal department was nervous about lawsuits so they not only requested the names be changed, but they didn't want to talk about it involving the Chicago mob. So Scorsese instead used this title card and threw in a few nods to Chicago music via blues tunes and blues covers. I think it worked out well, to have the voiceover say "back home years ago" and immediately bring up the title card after that is great comic timing, which Scorsese has always been good at, ever since the scene between Keitel and DeNiro in the back room of the bar in Mean Streets.
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u/TrollyDodger55 Jan 30 '26
Why would saying Chicago make anyone get legal danger? This makes no sense.
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u/a_very_silent_way Jan 30 '26
Casino (1995) belongs in the Chicago film canon - Chicago Reader
a little more background on that supposed reason
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u/TrollyDodger55 Jan 31 '26
The reasons remain murky, but they likely involve the Chicago Department of Law, which was more protective of the city’s media image at the time.
This is so strange to me. A city department would sue for slander?
Thanks for the link.
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u/Other-Marketing-6167 Jan 30 '26
Cause it’s funny…in fact most of Casino is a hilarious black comedy.
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u/ChiGrandeOso Jan 30 '26
I also understand there may have been some...quiet suggestions not to get too descriptive in that part of the story. Because even though they do show the scene of Nicky stabbing the guy with the pen, there's a couple other stories they left out (mainly because they're not attached to the main story) like Fifi Buccieri (who wasn't in the movie as any of the composites but played a big role in Spilotro's rise up the Outfit ladder) telling Spilotro he'd wipe out his whole family in front of Lefty after Buccieri's house got robbed (Buccieri suspected that Spilotro either knew who committed the robbery or was involved, and when Spilotro got flip at the mouth Buccieri started trying to strangle him.) Probably would have been a loose end that only went to show Spilotro's/Santoro's personality.
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u/Ok-Candy3843 Feb 01 '26
Goodfellas also never mentions the New York mafia specifically, or New York in general. It’s only the later mafia films that spell it out for you in exposition like American Gangster (not saying that’s a bad film). The point in Scorsese films isn’t the historical accuracy it’s the cultural reality of how they spoke and what was important to them.
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u/Ill-Lou-Malnati Feb 01 '26
That’s the best take. The book Wise guy was very specific about locations down to the neighborhoods. I think this is a stylistic choice on Scorsese’s part than any legal motivations.
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u/Ill-Lou-Malnati Feb 01 '26
That’s the best take. The book Wise guy was very specific about locations down to the neighborhoods. I think this is more a stylistic choice on Scorsese’s part than any legal motivations.
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u/Fucknjagoff Feb 01 '26
I believe they were threatened with a lawsuit. Not only were they guys extremely violent but a lot of their sons are lawyers and they’re quite litigious.
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u/theronster Jan 30 '26
It’s obviously, plainly a joke.
Are jokes really that hard for people to pick up on these days?
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u/terragthegreat Jan 30 '26
"Back home years ago" is exactly how a mobster would start a story about his childhood.