With LEAVING LAS VEGAS, director Mike Figgis spun critical gold out of what would appear to be a maudlin and hackneyed premise--a down-and-out drunk meets a hooker with a heart of gold. The reason for the film's success lies partly in its refusal to moralize, but mostly it is the strong performances of Nicholas Cage and Elisabeth Shue that make the story believable and poignant. Ben Sanderson (Cage) is a Hollywood screenwriter who has become an alcoholic. After being fired, he takes his severance pay to Las Vegas, where he plans to drink himself to death. There he meets Sera (Shue), a streetwise prostitute who responds both to Ben's wild antics and to his absolute gentleness. What Sera needs most is to be needed, and Ben needs her a lot. Figgis uses his whole bag of tricks--Sera talks to the camera, the exteriors are shot in grainy 16mm--but finally it is the perfectly-conceived relationship between these two wounded people that drew the rave reviews. The film was based on a novel by John O'Brien.
Product Identifiers
UPC
0027616630636
eBay Product ID (ePID)
3266640
Product Key Features
Genre
Drama
Director
Mike Figgis
Edition
Contemporary Classics
Movie/TV Title
Leaving Las Vegas
Rating
R
Leading Role
Elisabeth Shue, Nicolas Cage
Signal Standard
NTSC
Additional Product Features
Format
Vhs
Display Format
Contemporary Classics
LeafCats
309
Release Date
19970318
Film Country
USA
Best Selling in VHS Tapes
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