The Vegas Strip War
The Vegas Strip Wars (also called The Las Vegas Strip Wars) is a 1984 American made-for-television drama film directed by George Englund and starred Rock Hudson (his final television film), Sharon Stone, James Earl Jones and Pat Morita.
| The Vegas Strip War | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | George Englund |
| Directed by | George Englund |
| Starring | Rock Hudson Sharon Stone James Earl Jones Pat Morita Madison Mason Robert Costanzo Dennis Holahan |
| Music by | Jimmie Haskell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | George Englund |
| Producer(s) | Michael Greenburg |
| Production location(s) | Las Vegas |
| Cinematography | Fred J. Koenekamp |
| Editor(s) | Gary Griffin William J. Waters |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Production company(s) | George Englund Productions |
| Distributor | ITC Entertainment ITV Studios Global Entertainment Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Picture format | Color |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | November 25, 1984 |
Plot
The plot involves a charming Las Vegas hotel owner named Neil Chaine (Hudson) who gets fired by his superiors from the hotel-casino where he operates. Determined to seek revenge on his former employers in a subtle way, Chaine uses his severance pay to purchase a decaying casino next door to his former hotel to turn it into the Strip's top attraction. Help for Chaine comes from an assortment of people who include Sarah Shipman (Stone) a young casino hostess who tries to help him gain a gambling license, as well as Jack Madrid (Jones) a flamboyant sports promoter who is asked to hold a boxing match at Chaine's hotel, while Madrid may or may not be on Chaine's side... depending on where the money should be.
Towards the end when Chaine's new hotel looks like it will be closed down because of various debts having rung up during his opening of the place, he decides to settle his debts by playing high-stakes roulette and craps at his former partners hotel to get the money the honest way and not through various and less-than-legal means.
Foreshadowing
When his show aired in November 1984, the public did not know that Rock Hudson had been diagnosed with AIDS on June 4, 1984. In a scene with Sharon Stone in a cell at Alcatraz Rock, Hudson quotes an Oscar Wilde line from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol". The quote is "that little tent of blue which prisoners call the sky" and Rock remarks that Oscar Wilde was put in prison for being a homosexual. Of course the film cuts to an implied heterosexual sex scene between Rock Hudson and Sharon Stone in the prison cell.
Cast
- Rock Hudson as Neil Chaine
- Sharon Stone as Sarah Shipman
- Madison Mason as Gray Ryan
- Robert Costanzo as Stan Markham
- Dennis Holahan as Jimmy Weldstrom
- Robin Gammell as Marvin Berman
- Tony Russel as Morgan Steinman
- Pat Morita as Yip Tak
- James Earl Jones as Jack Madrid
- Bryan Englund as Garland