Starring...Las Vegas!

She’s got the moves, she’s got the grooves, she’s got the come-hither, seductive allure that plays well from every angle of the camera. No wonder Las Vegas has been a super star of so many movies…or at least an unmistakable backdrop against which are played out man’s best – and worst – moments of passion, pathos, and pandering.

In no particular order is our list of flicks that capture the essence of The Strip’s “reel” side.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Unless, of course, it involves an Indecent Proposal, a million dollars, and the future of a marriage. There they were - a couple of plucky but destitute lovebirds (Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson) - trying to parlay their bus fare into a fortune and save their beach house from foreclosure. Enter a suave gazillionaire (Robert Redford) with an overnight solution to their dire financial straits. Hmm...tough choice. A man whose smile alone is easily worth a million or a whiner whose last job was behind a bar in Boston. The novel on which this film was based actually cast a Saudi prince in the John Gage role; filmmakers, however, felt that an all American cast would find a warmer reception. Their original choices were Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and Warren Beatty. Also under consideration for Woody's part were Johnny Depp and Tim Robbins. Can you imagine if this movie were being cast today? Britney Spears and Fed-Ex would not only say "yes" in a nanosecond but probably even throw in a videotape for free.

"Never bet more than you can afford to lose." It's sage advice that Jack Singer (Nicholas Cage) should have heeded before he sat down to a high-stakes poker game with Tommy Korman (James Caan) and ended up making girlfriend Betsy (Sarah Jessica Parker) part of the wager. Singer’s reluctance to commit to matrimony stems from a deathbed promise to his mother and the dismal realities of his job as a P.I. who tails philandering spouses. Even when the long-suffering Betsy pressures him into quickie nuptials in the honeymoon capital of the world, Singer continues to find excuses to stall. Ultimately, the young pair's plans for a Honeymoon in Vegas will have to wait until he can figure out how to rescue her from the clutches of a smarmy Lothario who thinks she's the spitting image of his late wife, Donna. Not to worry, though, Singer’s got the Utah chapter of the Flying Elvises to show his sweetie that deep down he’s a hunka hunka burnin’ love. The proliferation of Elvis songs, cameo appearances and Elvis impersonators of every size, age, and ethnicity make this a Vegas gem.

It's every Elvis for himself in 3000 Miles to Graceland starring Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner. While the premise of Elvis impersonators committing a casino heist has comedic potential, the plot's execution is as violent as it is mindless. For trivia buffs, however, it’s interesting to note that Russell not only has the chords to carry off a plausible impersonation but voiced young Elvis in Forrest Gump and appeared in a made for TV flick as The King in 1979. In addition, the album he signs in the elevator, It Happened at the World’s Fair, is for an early film Russell appeared in as a kid who kicks the real Elvis in the shins.

If "Build it and they will come" hadn't already been taken as a tagline, Benjamin Bugsy Siegel might have appropriated it for his own vision of a glittering Mecca in the middle of nowhere. Warren Beatty, in the title role, decides to launch a high-class casino and name it after his mistress' legs - The Flamingo. That he helped himself to a lion's share of mob money in order to do it, however, may not have been the best short-term solution to a long-range dream. While Bugsy himself may not have been cured of glamour, glitz and gambling in this film, Beatty was cured of his long-term playboy bachelorhood and was so besotted with his co-star, Annette Bening, that the two married shortly thereafter and are the parents of four children.

The world has often found itself divided on hot-button issues and 2006 was no exception. What, for instance, were producers thinking when they cast the latest James Bond? Yes, Daniel Craig harkens fond reminiscence of Steve McQueen but while advances in cinematography have made 007's escapades more harrowing and slick than ever before, there are just some things that time and technology can't improve upon. Sean Connery's unflappable cool is one of them. In Diamonds Are Forever, the quintessential agent with the trademark smirk is out to thwart his arch-nemesis, Ernst Stavros Blofeld, in a Vegas kidnap scheme involving a character based on Howard Hughes. The plot was literally dreamt up by producer Albert Broccoli, a friend of the enigmatic mogul. Hughes, in fact, granted Broccoli's production company permission to film inside the casinos in exchange for a copy of the completed film. Also of note in this 1971 flick is the goofy scene in which Bond makes his escape in a moon buggy stolen from a film set depicting the lunar landscape. Conspiracy theorists were exhilarated by this bit of movie magic because they felt it proved once and for all that Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind the previous year had just been a Hollywood gimmick to reignite interest and support for the space program.

In the late Katharine Hepburn’s memoirs, she defends her loyalty to the troubled Spencer Tracy as saying that it wasn’t so much how he felt about her but, rather, how she felt about herself whilst undertaking the monumental task of caring for him: Needed. Necessary. Loved. Elizabeth Shue as Sera takes a page from the great Kate’s book in Leaving Las Vegas, a disturbing drama wherein a hooker with a heart of gold takes pity on Ben (Nicholas Cage), a former TV exec who is determined to drink himself into a coma. Ben questions whether he lost his family because of his drinking or whether his drinking was the reason they became lost to him. The fine line between the have’s and the have not’s is expertly explored here, exemplifying that even in one of the most crowded, noisy and eclectic cities of the world, it’s still possible to feel a profound sense of inescapable loneliness.

He’s got a hot car and wants to win the big race; she’s got a hot body and teaches swimming at the local pool. Throw in a couple of catchy songs and what have you got? Well, who needs much of a plot when you’ve got Elvis? Viva Las Vegas paired The King as Lucky Jackson and Ann-Margaret as Rusty Martin in a glamorous locale that satisfied the 1960s fans’ needs for gyrating tunes and a silly romance. And hey, it’s hard to beat riveting dialogue like this:

Lucky Jackson: Where you from, Rusty?

Rusty Martin: Debuke.

Lucky Jackson: Well, whaddya know, I've never been there myself but its interesting that you're from good old Debuke.

Rusty Martin: Before you get too attached to 'good old Debuke', we moved there from Chillicothe, Ohio.

Lucky Jackson: Chillicothe, Ohio, well how about that, I've never been there, either.

As a Communications major, Hunter S. Thompson and “Gonzo-journalism” were on the must-read list at my college. To this day, I still don’t know why. Nor am I sure why Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was ever made into a film. This drug-infused mocu-mentary stars Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro on a hallucinogenic road-trip through Sin City. Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando were originally pegged for the Duke and Gonzo roles but got too old before the project got underway. Dan Akroyd and John Belushi were also serious contenders until the latter died of a drug overdose. When Thompson finally met Depp, he enthusiastically announced that he had found his altar ego, even going so far as to loan Depp some of his own clothes he had worn in the 70’s. Clearly, it’s not a look for everyone.

Danny Ocean is a man who thinks big. So do his cohorts, whose latest scheme in Ocean’s Eleven is to steal millions from not just one but a handful of Las Vegas casinos all at the same time. Both the 1960 original script with Frank Sinatra and the 2001 remake with George Clooney rely on suave actors delivering snappy lines and evoking audience empathy. We secretly want them to get away with their outlandish caper because (1) they’re pretty likable guys, (2) who among us hasn’t cheered for Robin Hood robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, (3) define “poor” and (4) the casinos will probably never miss it. By the way, with the exception of Danny, all of the other main characters assumed different monikers in the remake.

There’s always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you,” says Cristal Connors, a bisexual Stardust showgirl in the 1995 Joe Eszterhas film Showgirls. It’s a plot device straight out of All About Eve yet with a darker, seamier side of Vegas career advancement. The “leave your inhibitions at the door” storyline, such as it is, involves a young girl who comes to the big wicked city in order to find her future and becomes a lap dancer at The Cheetah Club. Charlize Theron and Sharon Stone respectively auditioned for the roles of novice Nomi and veteran Cristal. At the same time, Eszterhas was hoping to land Madonna and Drew Barrymore in the lead parts. Instead, he made due with newcomer Elizabeth Berkley and Gina Gershon and produced a film for which the phrase “gratuitous sleaze” is probably much too charitable. It does, however, point up an interesting correlation regarding the depiction of horror and sex at the cinema – specifically, that which is left to the intellect and imagination has much more shock and titillation value than that which is stripped away and exposed in its entirety.

You win some. You lose some. Playing fast and loose with the mob, however, is a mighty quick way to find yourself wearing cement shoes and sleeping with the fishes. Martin Scorsese’s Casino may be dated in its feel but is timeless in its message about the consequences of misplaced trust. Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci headline this explosive cast about greed and glamour. Filming of the casino scenes occurred during the Riviera’s “down time” of 1-4 a.m.; the owners, however, hoped to lure more patrons inside during regular hours by posting catchy banners that suggested the lead actors were on the premises.

Among the many television roles of the late Robert Urich, the 1978 series Vega$ cast him as a former Vietnam veteran turned P.I. who lived in a funky flat behind the Desert Inn. While Dan Tanna only occupied prime time for three years, the appeal of charismatic detectives with quirky cohorts in exotic settings would soon open the door to a new hero with a wardrobe of Hawaiian shirts: Magnum, P.I. Urich would subsequently trade one coast for the other and become Spencer, For Hire.

Casino surveillance is a full-time job. Just ask James Caan and Joshua Duhamel whose series, Las Vegas, debuted in 2003. Not a lot of substance but no shortage of eclectic characters trying to beat the house in order to finance their castles in the sky.

And last but not least, he’s not really a doctor but he played one, briefly, on TV. In the short-lived series, Dr. Vegas, Rob Lowe took leave of his West Wing spin-meistering to portray an in-house physician dealing with the medical crises of the high roller casino lifestyle. Who could forget his endearing dimples and captivating bedside manner? Suffice it to say, probably more than can forget his duet with Snow White singing “Proud Mary” at the 1989 Academy Awards…