Leaving Las Vegas **** (1995, Nicolas Cage, Elisabeth Shue, Julian Sands) – Classic Movie Review 2,725

Nicolas Cage won the Best Actor Oscar as a suicidal alcoholic who decides to move to Las Vegas and drink himself to death, in the 1995 drama film Leaving Las Vegas.

Writer-director Mike Figgis’s 1995 drama film Leaving Las Vegas stars Nicolas Cage, who won a Best Actor Oscar as Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic screenwriter who lost his family and is fired by his Hollywood studio for his drinking, and heads for Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There he meets troubled prostitute Sera, and moves in with her.

Elisabeth Shue was also Oscar nominated, and unlucky not to win, as she gives her career-best performance by miles in a scalding piece of work as Sera, the unhappy hooker on the run from her pimp who tries to save old Nic.

Leaving Las Vegas is an experience so sobering that it could drive teetotallers to drink, but it has got quality stamped all over it. It is very slickly made and skilfully directed, with two great performances, an intelligent, involving screenplay by Figgis based on the novel by John O’Brien and a wonderfully vivid flavour of Vegas.

The result is a far, far better thing than director Figgis has done for many a moon. He was also Oscar nominated as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and again unlucky not to win either.

It’s a sign of how brilliant the stars’ performances are that they manage to swing us round to sympathise with two largely appalling, deadbeat characters you wouldn’t normally give the time of day to.

Also in the cast are Julian Sands as Yuri Butsov, Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Kim Adams, Emily Procter, Stuart Regen, Valeria Golino, Thomas Kopache, Laurie Metcalf, French Stewart, R Lee Ermey, Mariska Hargitay. Julian Lennon, Graham Beckel, Al Henderson, Carey Lowell and Anne Lange.

Rated R for strong sexuality and language, violence and pervasive alcohol abuse.

It is based on the 1990 semi-autobiographical novel by John O’Brien, who died by suicide after signing away the film rights to the novel.

With a tiny budget of $3.5–4 million, Figgis decided to film in super 16mm and compose his own score. It was a great success at the box office, grossing $49.8 million.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2.725

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