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Meet the cast of “Stealing Las Vegas,” a film by the UNLV Film Department, on “KNPR’s State of Nevada” at desertcompanion/hearmore
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Flip the script
Sure, you’ve seen “The Hangover” and “Casino.” Now catch these lesser-known Vegas screen gems
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By By Lissa Townsend Rodgers Las Vegas’ reputation has always preceded it — largely due to decades of starring roles on film and television. You can barely flip through channels without running across “Diamonds Are Forever,” “Viva Las Vegas,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” various “Ocean’s 11s”… But that’s only a fraction of the movies set in Vegas: There are more than 200. Actors from Roy Rogers to Dennis Hopper to Gwyneth Paltrow have starred in Vegas-based flicks, and directors such as Billy Wilder and Tim Burton have been seduced — or horrified — by its glitter. Here are our recommendations for some of Las Vegas’ less-seen films. We’re not promising every one’s a “Casino,” but none of them is a “The Las Vegas Hillbillys” or “Leprechaun 3.” B e st heist You think Sinatra/Clooney pulled together an eccentric crew for a ballsy casino robbery? They have nothing on the protagonists of “Hell’s Angels ’69” (1969). Two wealthy brothers decide to rob Caesars Palace for kicks. And, for even bigger kicks, they decide to infiltrate the Angels and use the gang as cover/patsy for their heist. It all goes off pretty smoothly, gliding through the then-new Caesars from porte-cochère to poolside, from the crystal casino to the kind of ice buckets they had in the suites. But, as you can imagine, the bikers are not pleased about being played for suckers — and since these are the actual Oakland Hell’s Angels playing themselves, there will be comeuppance. There’s also some glorious footage of their Harleys riding in procession down the Strip — when Circus Circus had fountains out front and the Bellagio was still the Dunes. Trivia: Among the Angels playing themselves are “Maximum Leader” Sonny Barger and Terry the Tramp, both of whom already had literary starring turns in Hunter S. Thompson’s first book, “Hell’s Angels.” B e st bender A part of Las Vegas’ nuclear history not in the Atomic Testing Museum is “The Amazing Colossal Man” (1957). While attempting to
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rescue a fellow soldier, Lt. Col. Glenn Manning is caught in an atomic blast. Mutations ensue and our hero becomes, well, colossal. The larger he grows, the less blood his brain gets (or so says the Brylcreem-haired scientist) and the nuttier he becomes. Soon, an incoherent 60-foot bald guy in a diaper is “moving toward the resort hotel section,” as they used to call the Strip. He lets the Dunes alone, respecting the giant genie, but spooks a lady bathing in her seventh-floor room at the Riviera. He pulls off the Royal Nevada’s crown, yanks off the Silver Slipper’s shoe and rips up the Tropicana’s palm trees, finally karate-chopping the sign of the Sands 39 years before Sheldon Adelson did. The Amazing Colossal Man’s Vegas blowout ends with a shot from a three-quart hypodermic needle and a fall from the Hoover Dam. Top that, “Hangover 3”! Trivia: Director Burt I. Gordon liked to go big. He also made “Earth