Main Cast: Nicolas Cage, Gary Sinise, John Heard, Carla Gugino, Stan Shaw
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Brian DePalma directed this taut thriller, set in Atlantic City, where a corrupt cop investigates a political assassination. Outside an Atlantic City arena-hotel-casino, a TV news reporter stands in a pre-hurricane storm to report on the heavyweight boxing match about to begin inside. A transition to the stadium interior focuses on Atlantic City homicide Detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage), a father with a wife and son, yet also a dishonest cop who maintains a mistress and cheerfully accepts bribes. DePalma's Steadicam follows Santoro on a fast-paced tour of the stadium as the laughing, yelling detective travels stairs and hallways, talks to a gal with a between-rounds placard, visits the dressing room of champ Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw), rides down an escalator to squeeze money from a small-time hood, enters the arena of 14,000 fight fans, talks on his phone with his girlfriend and wife, and sits ringside next to his lifelong buddy, Navy Cmdr. Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise). Behind Dunne, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) is seated alongside billionaire casino owner Gilbert Powell (John Heard). As the fight gets underway, Dunne abandons his position protecting the defense chief to pursue a suspicious redhead. From his ringside vantage point, Santoro has a close view of the champ, curiously conscious despite taking a kayo punch. At that moment, an assassin fires at Kirkland. Santoro immediately concocts a good cover story for his pal (to explain why Dunne left his post protecting Kirkland). Just after the shooting, Dunne kills a Palestinian extremist, the apparent killer, and Santoro orders the stadium doors locked, hoping he can locate other suspects among the fleeing crowd. One such is Julia Costello (Carla Gugino), an injured woman in a blond wig who spoke with Kirkland seconds before the gunfire. After a video replay reveals the champ took a fall, going down to the floor from a punch that never touched him, Santoro becomes more curious and suspicious, comparing witness accounts, and he attempts to locate Julia, convinced she's the key to truth behind the assassination. As it all comes to a head, Santoro peels through successive layers of corruption, ultimately confronting himself in a self-examination of his own values. Filmed at Montreal's old Forum. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Réal Proulx - Art Director, Theresa Carriker-Thayer - Art Director, Isabelle Guay - Art Director, James Fox - Art Director, Chris Soldo - Associate Producer, Jeff Levine - Associate Producer, Mary Colquhoun - Casting, Odette Gadoury - Costume Designer, Chris Soldo - First Assistant Director, Brian De Palma - Director, Eric Schwab - Second Unit Director, Bill Pankow - Editor, Louis A. Stroller - Executive Producer, Ryuichi Sakamoto - Composer (Music Score), Anne Pritchard - Production Designer, Stephen H. Burum - Cinematographer, Brian De Palma - Producer, Beth A. Rubino - Set Designer, Daniel Carpentier - Set Designer, Industrial Light & Magic - Special Effects, James J. Sabat - Sound/Sound Designer, Patrick Rousseau - Sound/Sound Designer, Eric Brevig - Special Effects Supervisor, Brian De Palma - Screen Story, David Koepp - Screen Story, David Koepp - Screenwriter, Alex Funke - Second Unit Director Of Photography
noun A throw of two ones with a pair of dice. Since this is the lowest possible score, by extension the term is also used to refer to bad luck.
Etymology Either from the apparent resemblance of such a throw to a snake's eyes, or from the association of snakes with treachery. The origin of the word craps, where this term is often used, is also derived from an animal: crab. A synonym of today's term is ambsace ambsace. ]
Usage "Detroit's bet on big trucks and sport-utility vehicles has turned snake eyes." — David Kiley; Michigan: Epicenter of Unemployment; BusinessWeek (New York); Jun 24, 2008.
A term describing a player who holds A-A as their hole cards. This term refers to the games Texas Hold'em or Omaha.
SoundPoker Says: In Texas Hold'em this is the strongest possible pre-flop hand. Although this is the strongest hand before the flop, the odds of winning with it on every hand are 1 in 3.
Snake Eyes is a crime thriller film directed by Brian De Palma, one featuring his trademark use of long tracking shots and split screens. Released in 1998, the film was written by David Koepp and De Palma, and rated R when released to theaters on August 7 of 1998. It cost an estimated $73 million to produce, returned $103 million worldwide and received a mixed response from critics.
A boisterous and corrupt Atlantic City police detective, Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) attends a heavyweight championship boxing match. Also there is his best friend, U.S. Navy Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), who is part of a group at ringside that includes Defense Secretary Charles Kirkland.
With the fight in progress, a woman named Julia Costello (Carla Gugino) sits beside Santoro to speak, furtively, to the Secretary of Defense. Suddenly there are gunshots, wounding her and mortally injuring Kirkland. There is chaos in the arena as the fight is stopped and fans stampede toward the exits.
During his investigation, Santoro realizes gradually that the assassination was planned by a conspiracy which includes his friend Kevin. Kirkland, a politician, was killed because he intended to cancel a missile project of which Kevin approved strongly and which was contracted to a corporate executive who was also part of the conspiracy. The plan included the death of Julia Costello, who had been trying to warn Kirkland that some of the project test results had been falsified. Santoro has been bullying people and accepting payoffs for years, and is offered a million-dollar payoff from the conspirators to conceal the evidence and tell them the location of Julia so she can be killed, but Santoro chooses instead to risk his life to rescue Julia and publicize the conspiracy. He does this, and the publicity resulting causes scrutiny of his behavior which results in his being charged with crimes. Instead of turning himself in, Kevin shoots himself. At the end of the story Julia finds him on Atlantic City's boardwalk: he has been convicted and will have to serve some prison time, but she asks him to meet her after he is released.
Released on August 7, 1998, Snake Eyes was #2 at its opening weekend (behind Saving Private Ryan), with $16 million.[1] It grossed $55 million in North America, and $103 million worldwide. [2]. Critical reaction was mixed, with the film receiving a 41% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes - though raised to 50% when only counting audience reviewers. [3]
The movie features actor Kevin Dunn while Gary Sinise's character is named Kevin Dunne in the film.
The movie is notable as the first twelve minutes were filmed in what seems to be one continuous shot from the opening sequence featuring the reporter to the assassination. The shot actually has 8 cuts.[citation needed]
A huge special effects sequence was created by Industrial Light and Magic but cut from the final edit of the film. This sequence involved a huge tidal wave crashing through the casino. Deemed too expensive, the sequence was entirely removed during post production. Several references to it remain in the final edit of the film, most notably the fallen globe and Rick's line "I keep thinking about that tunnel, and what would have happened if I'd drowned." ILM is still credited in the end credits.
