A Las Vegas movie tour is easy. You just crawl from one casino to the next along the Strip. Before leaving Las Vegas, check out these locations from movies made in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Movies: Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) is a man who pursues killing himself as a way of drinking. He also pursues a prostitute named Sera (Elisbeth Shue). They come together in Las Vegas in a touching and supportive relationship between two flawed people. One harrowing scene is when Sera is attacked by college students, suggesting that the characters who seem the most superficially normal may have the deepest pathologies. It’s directed by Mike Figgis and based on a novel by John O’Brien, who killed himself in real life.
Leaving Las Vegas follows Ben and Sera along the strip from one famous casino to the next. At Circus Circus Casino, Ben and Sera talk in front of the big clown (2880 Las Vegas Boulevard South). Sera gets a cab in front of the waterfall at the Mirage Hotel and Casino (3400 Las Vegas Boulevard South). Ben and Sera also have encounters at Bally’s Casino Resort (3645 Las Vegas Boulevard South) and the Flamingo Hotel (3555 Las Vegas Boulevard South). Sera encounters those college students at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino (3850 Las Vegas Boulevard South).
Las Vegas Movies: Casino (1995)
Directed by Marin Scorsese, Casino uses a pseudo-documentary style to tell a chapter in the history of organized crime in Las Vegas. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone all give outstanding performances in a tale of brutal gangsters and doomed relationships. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman makes a cameo appearance.
Visit the Riviera Hotel and Casino (2901 Las Vegas Boulevard South) that played the part of the fictional Tangiers Casino. Have dinner at the Ruth’s Chris Steak House (3900 Paradise Road) where Sharon Stone performed her death scene.
Las Vegas Movies: Rain Man (1998)
Las Vegas is one stop on the cross-country road trip in Rain Man. Tom Cruise wants quick money but inherits something much better in connecting with his long-lost brother Dustin Hoffman in a touching and funny look at autism and brotherhood. It’s directed by Barry Levinson.
Visit Caesar’s Palace (3570 Las Vegas Boulevard South) where Tom Cruise takes Dustin Hoffman to try to use his savant abilities to win big in Vegas. Revisit these great movies and you’ll be leaving Las Vegas with your own payoff.
Sources: IMdB
