In the glitzy, twinkly world of online casino gambling, there are many factors that go into making a site a success. These include a mobile app, fast transactions, and bonuses on deposits and winnings. Then there are the games themselves: blackjack, slots, and more.

While other movies set in Las Vegas glamorize it with neon signs, opulent suites, and gamblers throwing down big money, Casino digs deeper. It lays bare Sin City’s past ties with organized crime, showing the seedy side that’s hidden away behind a veil of glitz and glamour.

It’s an epic story, covering three decades and chronicling a faction of mob-controlled casinos. Robert De Niro is fantastic as bookie Ace Rothstein, a fearless operator who takes over the Tangiers hotel and casino after being endorsed by mob bosses back home. He tries to balance the family he’s building with his friendship with loose-cannon Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) and his dealings with mob enforcers.

Casino is a violent movie, but it’s also a very human one. Unlike many Hollywood movies of the time, Scorsese didn’t use violence simply for shock value. The torture-by-vice sequence and the gruesome baseball bat beating of Sam’s trophy wife Ginger are realistic depictions of the kind of violence that was happening in the real world of the mob at the time. And Stone’s performance is a revelation; she’s the type of addict-to-anything femme fatale that any man would be proud to tame.