Issue #3: Leaving Las Vegas

Sometimes the best performances are the toughest to watch

Spoiler alert: Nicolas Cage won his first and only Oscar for Best Actor with his portrayal of Ben Sanderson, a severe alcoholic who heads to Las Vegas to drink himself to death after he’s fired from his job. That’s all in the trailer, but I did say there’d be spoilers. He was up against some heavyweights that year, including Anthony Hopkins and Sean Penn.

It’s a nice speech, to be sure, but doesn’t quite rise to the pantheon of Oscars greatness.

Variety has a great rundown of memorable speeches and moments, although it does leave out the whole Moonlight debacle. Which, in my opinion, is the most memorable moment from any Academy Awards ceremony ever.

At any rate, I highly recommend watching Leonardo DiCaprio’s plea to treat the planet better (how prescient) and Halle Berry’s 2002 speech for her victory from Monster’s Ball.

And, of course, Joe Pesci’s excellent acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor in 1991, which I’ll post here in full:

“It was my privilege. Thank you.”

Now, on to the movie.

The Feature Film

This is already the second movie we’re covering that’s based in Las Vegas, which isn’t too terribly surprising given Cage’s love for the place (The Trust was the first). And it won’t be the last. Just wait until Con Air lands on the strip.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995, available on Amazon Prime) was genuinely tough to watch for a variety of reasons, including an ugly but accurate view of the ravages of alcoholism, as well several scenes of violence against Elisabeth Shue’s character. I don’t normally need to split up viewings but I had to save the last half an hour or so for the next day.

Shue is excellent as Sera, a prostitute with a controlling, jealous pimp and a penchant to fall for exactly the wrong guy. I’m glad Shue was nominated for Best Actress for her performance because she drove the movie every bit as much as Cage. Unfortunately, she lost out to Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking. Remind me to get to work on my next newsletter: If The Shue Fits.

I can’t imagine this is one I’ll be returning to. I respect the process Cage went through to give a believe performance (getting hammered and filming himself to study his own drunk speech patterns, etc.) but that doesn’t mean I need to watch him do it all twice. I have a whole IMDb list to work down anyway.

I think next week I’ll choose something a bit more… fun.

I’ll give Leaving Las Vegas 2 1/2 bottles of Stolichnaya out of 5.

Aaaaand freeze frame!