![]() ![]() A friend suggested that since he visited the place so often on gambling excursions, he should build a casino there, where he could gamble, but also own the house, said historian Larry Gragg, author of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel: The Gangster, the Flamingo, and the Making of Modern Las Vegas, published in 2015. Though Siegel saw the Flamingo through to completion, as the movie depicts, the idea for it originated not with him, but with Billy Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter and owner of successful Los Angeles nightclubs.Ī compulsive gambler, Wilkerson had been going to Las Vegas since the late 1930s, drawn to the action in legal casinos. But inevitably the guessing game - “Did that really happen?” - becomes part of the movie’s legacy.īelow are important storylines in Bugsy that are based on true events but aren’t always factual.ġ. The goal is to create a compelling story, not a documentary. Like many movies based on true stories, however, Bugsy, directed by Barry Levinson, compresses some events to save time and invents others, such as the “epiphany” scene, for dramatic effect. “The Flamingo, the most respected casino of its time in America, put Vegas on the map,” writes Jeff Burbank in his 2005 book Las Vegas Babylon. During the post-World War II years, the lavish resort would attract widespread attention. The scene is a pivotal moment in the movie, highlighting a major event in Southern Nevada history, the apparent creative spark that led to the December 26, 1946, opening of the Flamingo Hotel. Harvey Keitel plays Siegel’s sidekick, Mickey Cohen, in Bugsy. ![]()
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