What are the great Las Vegas films (i.e., ones shot there and having to do with some aspect of the industry and culture of L.V.)? For me the top four are Mike Figgis‘s Leaving Las Vegas, the 1960 Ocean’s 11 (not a great or even an especially high-calibre caper film but a timepiece that lets you savor what Las Vegas looked and felt like back in the good old Rat Pack days), Barry Levinson‘s Bugsy and Albert Brooks‘ Lost In America. Sidenote: Of all the places in the world to enjoy your last spiritual and sensual hurrah before dying, could there be an uglier setting than this plastic palatial hell-hole?
