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Actors: Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands, Richard Lewis
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Leaving Las Vegas |
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This is a brutal tale of a middle-aged alcoholic man named Ben Sanderson (Cage). He moves from Hollywood to Las Vegas after he has failed to keep his family or his job in the movie industry as a direct result of his drinking. He plans to drink his way into oblivion with the remaining money he has on him from his severance pay. Setting himself up at a decrepit motel, he stocks up on booze to quickly finish the job. As his need for companionship has him prowling the Vegas Strip looking for a hooker, he is drawn to a pretty, compassionate prostitute named Sera (Shue). They fall in love with one another, “warts and all.” When the two move in together she helps clean up Ben and gets him motivated to temporarily lead a semi-normal existence. Sera must face risks of her own as a streetwalker, as she has a pimp named Yuri (Sands) who abuses and mistreats her.
Ben is spiraling further into acute alcohol toxicity and each day becomes harder for him to manage; he shakes, vomits, and becomes confused when trying to perform simple tasks. Eventually, Sera's patience with him runs dry and she boots him out the door. Yuri was cruel in his treatment of Sera but at least he provided her with protection from outside harm. After he is killed she takes on a “trick” that goes horribly wrong. A group of school-aged boys violently rape and sadistically sodomize her in a Vegas hotel room.
--David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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Fired from a film production job, hard-core alcoholic Ben Sanderson (Cage) goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death within four weeks. Soon after arriving, he meets a gorgeous streetwalker named Sera (Shue) who often gets beaten by clients and pimps. Ben moves in with her, and they make a pact not to interfere with each other's chosen destiny, carrying on a twisted but tender romance during Ben's final weeks of life. Mike Figgis wrote and directed the screenplay for this dark 1995 tale based on an autobiographical novel by John O'Brien, who committed suicide two weeks after filming began. The story's hard to take, in more ways than one, but Cage and Shue are impressive. Trivia buffs may enjoy looking for Mariska Hargitay, later star of "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," as a hooker at a bar; Julian Lennon as bartender three at biker bar; "Five Easy Pieces" director Bob Rafelson as a man at mall; Xander Berkeley of "24" as a cynical cabbie; and singer Lou Rawls as a concerned cabbie, among others.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Leaving Las Vegas |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Taboo Sex Story?
Yes
Kind of sex:
- main character serviced by a prostitute
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- prostitute
Abuse on the job story?
Yes
Druggie/Wino problems?
- alcohol
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- obsessed
- mentally ill
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
- wild
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) very skinny
- (man) average
Unclothed?
- Chest
- Full Frontal
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- druggie/wino disease
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- blonde
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
Unclothed?
- buttocks and chest
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
- California
City?
Yes
City:
- Los Angeles
- dangerous
- Las Vegas
Misc setting
- resort/hotel
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- depressed/sad
- all mixed up
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- touching of personal anatomy
- actual description of sex
- seeing breasts
- seeing nude female butt
- seeing nude male butt
Any profanity?
- A lot of foul language
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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