By Nermeen Nabil Khear 
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Unexpectedly, one-time critical punching bag Pamela Anderson is garnering rave reviews for her performance in Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl (opening in theaters this weekend). She plays a veteran Las Vegas entertainer who suddenly finds herself out of a job, as her once-popular revue became tired and outdated without her even noticing. She’s forced to look ahead to an uncertain future in a city unlike any other.
Visions Las Vegas vary wildly: It’s a place for adventure in the sun, where anything goes; a city of infinite possibilities. It’s also home to sleazy degeneracy; a city that never escaped its origins as a side-hustle for east coast mobsters. It’s simultaneously Disneyland for adults and a desert metropolis where sin goes unchallenged, if not necessarily unpunished.
The real Las Vegas (which happens to be my hometown) is another thing entirely, but strict adherence to dull reality isn’t the business of the movies. Frank Sinatra made his film debut in 1941’s Las Vegas Nights, celebrating the city even as it was only just rising up out of the desert. Here are 15 movies that have helped shape our collective vision of the city of sin.
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Essentially an excuse for the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop) to hang out and make a movie together, the film finds Danny Ocean and Jimmy Foster (Sinatra and Lawford) plotting to recruit some of their old comrades-in-arms to rob, simultaneously, five different Las Vegas casinos. As a heist drama it’s just OK, but as a record of a long-gone era, you can’t do much better. Not only are we talking peak Pack, but the movie (filmed on location, largely after the actors were done with their club gigs) also records a lost Vegas: Of the five major casinos that the group rob, only two survive undemolished. You can rent Oceans’s 11 from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Over the Top (1987)
Menahem Golan, the man behind some of the finest cinematic cheese of the 1980s (The Apple, Masters of the Universe, Superman IV, Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo) produced and directed this sports drama that takes itself very seriously, while also being about arm wrestling. Sylvester Stallone plays Lincoln Hawk, a long-haul trucker looking to win back the affections of his estranged son while training for the World Armwrestling Championship (a real thing, I’m told) in Las Vegas. Not much of the movie was actually filmed there, but we come to a Menahem Golan movie not for verisimilitude, but for the goofy good time that results when you apply all the beloved ’80s action/sports film tropes to a movie about armwrestling. You can stream Over the Top on Tubi and Pluto TV or buy it from Prime Video.
at Tubi
Showgirls (1995)
One of the best, most misunderstood “bad” movies ever. Las Vegas is a city of dreams and nightmares in Paul Verhoeven’s wild erotic satire (at least: I think it’s satire) in this Vegas-set spin on All About Eve. Elizabeth Berkley stars as Nomi Malone, a small-town gal who dreams of becoming a Las Vegas showgirl, hitchhiking to sin city only to find herself pole-dancing in less reputable establishments than she’s imagined. As she works her way toward her goals, the drama escalates to uncomfortable, but also fully camp, proportions. You can stream Showgirls on Tubi and Pluto TV.
at Tubi
Viva Las Vegas (1964)
One of cinema’s great meet-cutes occurs when swimming instructor Rusty Martin (Ann-Margaret) throws Lucky Jackson (Elvis Presley) into a pool while he’s in the middle of trying to raise money to buy a new engine for his car. His dream, you see, is to compete in Las Vegas’ inaugural Grand Prix race. I’m not the world’s biggest Elvis fan, but the chemistry between the two leads is electric—Presley never had a better love interest/foil. A classic scene involves the Folies Bergere at the Tropicana Hotel, the longest-running show in the city’s history (it lasted until 2009), and the climax takes place at the Little Church of the West, the city’s famous wedding chapel that also happens to be the oldest surviving building on the Strip. You can stream Viva Las Vegas on Hoopla or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Indecent Proposal (1993)
With the Demi Moore renaissance fully upon us (see The Substance, unless you’re squeamish), it’s high time to revisit the triumphs of her classic era. Though this is definitely not one of those. It is, however, a charmingly goofy erotic thriller from the master of the form, director Adrian Lyne, and one that feels like it couldn’t have been set anywhere other than the sleaziest corners of Vegas. It stars Moore and Woody Harrelson as a down-on-their luck couple who are handed the titular proposal: A slick businessman (Robert Redford) offers them $1 million to buy a night of passion with Demi, an idea that was extremely scandalous back in 1993 (I’d call it a no-brainer, but maybe that’s just me). It’s all fairly sexist, and none of it makes a whole lot of sense, but it was one of the highest-grossing movies of its year, and had everybody talking. You can stream Indecent Proposal on Paramount+, or rent it from Prime Video.
at Paramount+
Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Given Bond’s penchant for gambling, it’s almost surprising it took him so long to make it to Las Vegas—perhaps the neon and kitsch don’t fit with Bond’s whole aesthetic as well as the comparatively cool casinos of, say, Monte Carlo. This one saw Sean Connery return to the role for the almost-last time (depending on whether you count the semi-unofficial installment Never Say Never Again) in order to take revenge on arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld for the murder of his wife in the last one (in which both hero and villain were played by different actors). Bond impersonates a diamond smuggler as part of a scheme that lands him in several different casinos, including the Las Vegas Hilton, doubling for a fictional gambling den called the Whyte House. You can rent Diamonds Are Forever from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
While Bond (James Bond) feels like an awkward fit in sunny, kitschy Vegas, Austin Powers (Mike Meyers) slots right in. Much of the movie’s Sin City sequences were filmed at the now-demolished Riviera. You can rent Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
The Hangover (2009)
A triumph of the weekend-gone-bad genre, The Hangover stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis as three friends who take their soon-to-be-married pal Doug (Justin Bartha) on a trip to Vegas with the goal of finding some hijinks at Caesars Palace, starting with a few shots on the roof. The next morning, they all awaken with no memory of what happened the night before. The clues aren’t subtle: a missing tooth, a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, and a mattress impaled outside. Heather Graham joins the trio as Jade, the escort who helps them reconstruct their lost night. You can stream The Hangover on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
at Max
Army of the Dead (2021)
My favorite Zach Snyder movie (which, OK, isn’t saying a ton) is set in a near-future in which Las Vegas has been overrun by zombies and sealed off from the rest of the world. The government is planning a nuclear strike, intending to blow the city off the map and be done with it, but a former casino owner has a plan in the meantime: he’s hired a bunch of mercenaries led by Dave Bautista to sneak into the abandoned (except by zombies) city and come out with $200 million left behind in a vault. A zombie heist action movie is pretty unbeatable as a premise, and the resulting movie is a lot of fun. You can stream Army of the Dead on Netflix.
at Netflix
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Though it’s hard to compete with the original for its breezy Rat Pack swagger, the Steven Soderbergh-directed spin on this concept is the extremely rare remake that outdoes the original in almost every other regard. Where the 1960 version was mostly an excuse for Sinatra and company to make a few extra bucks while already working in Vegas, here we have a superior heist film with an A-list ensemble (George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle, Scott Caan, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner). Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan (Clooney and Pitt) assemble a team to rob three casinos simultaneously: the Bellagio, the Mirage (closed in 2024), and the MGM Grand. It’s as fun as it is smart, and endlessly rewatchable. You can rent Ocean’s Eleven from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Bugsy (1991)
Las Vegas has never been particularly enamored of its own history, as made clear by the excitement that typically attends the implosions of outmoded casinos and hotels, no matter how venerable. But here we have a movie that tells the (heavily embroidered) story of the birth of Sin City through the lens of the life of gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (Warren Beatty), who moved west with other mobsters in the 1930s looking for new opportunities and less interference from law enforcement. Abandoning Hollywood for an obscure patch of desert, Siegel became key in the development of the Flamingo, his prescient dream of a Vegas yet to come becoming so passionate that it ultimately gets him killed. Beatty’s real-life future wife Annette Bening plays his mistress and confidante Virginia Hill. You can stream Bugsy on MGM+ or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Casino (1995)
Marin Scorsese takes on a bit of real-life Las Vegas history here as well, moving the timeline forward to the 1970s. Names have been changed, but the film chronicles the dying days of the city’s mob-run heydey, beginning with the arrival of low-level gangster Ace Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro, and based on the real Lefty Rosenthal) and his takeover of operations at the Tangiers casino (which you may know better as the Stardust). Sam’s job becomes increasingly precarious over his tenure, in no small part thanks to his temperamental enforcer (Joe Pesci) and his hustler ex (Sharon Stone). Before it’s all over, we’ll witness the beginnings of the slightly more respectable corporate-run Vegas of today. You can stream Casino on Starz or rent it from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
Based on Hunter S. Thompson’s stream-of-consciousness gonzo-journalism narrative, Fear And Loathing sends Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp, honing the whacked-out cinematic persona that would become his signature) and Dr. Gonzo (Benicio del Toro) to the titular city to cover first the Mint 400 desert motorcycle race, and then a district attorney convention. Both the real and a hallucinated Vegas provide a backdrop to all their drug-fueled shenanigans. Your enjoyment of the film will vary depending on your tolerance for psychedelic weirdness in place of a plot, but director Terry Gilliam certainly sells the visuals—and it’s not like nobody’s ever experienced Vegas while as high as Duke and Gonzo. You can rent Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
No movie captures the grim side of the vision of Las Vegas quite like Mike Figgis’ acclaimed but notoriously downbeat drama. “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” is a slogan used to imply uninhibited fun, but it also suggests something darker: a liminal space where nothing (and no one) matters. Nicholas Cage gives a phenomenal performance as Ben, an alcoholic screenwriter with nothing left to lose, whose only remaining life goal is to drink himself to death in Sin City. On that journey he connects with Sera (Elisabeth Shue), a sex worker whose prospects aren’t much better. Though not a feel-good movie by any means, the essential decentness of these two characters, whatever their circumstances, makes it hard to look away. You can stream Leaving Las Vegas on Max or rent it from Prime Video.
at Max
Go (1999)
By far the best of the post-Pulp Fiction Tarantino imitators of the late ‘90s, Go features an impressive cast (Taye Diggs, Sarah Polley, Jane Krakowski, Timothy Olyphant, etc.) and a clever, tricky script, telling the overlapping stories of a holiday drug deal gone wrong. Only one of the narratives really centers around the city in question, but it’s a doozy: Simon (Desmond Askew) crashes a wedding, sleeps with two of the bridesmaids, sets a hotel room on fire, and shoots a strip club bouncer. Ya know: a typical night in Vegas. You can rent Go from Prime Video.
at Prime Video
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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