''The Vegas Strip Wars'' (also called ''The Las Vegas Strip Wars'') is a 1984 American TV movie directed by

George Englund George Englund (June 22, 1926 – September 14, 2017) was an American film editor, director, producer, and actor. Biography Englund was born George Howe Ripley in Washington, D.C., the son of actress Mabel Albertson and Harold Austin Ripley. Hi ...

and starred

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

(his final television film), Sharon Stone,

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

and Pat Morita.

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. Toward 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 the film first aired, the public did not know that Hudson had been diagnosed with AIDS earlier in the year, despite clear physical evidence of his experiencing the symptoms. 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. The movie cuts to an implied heterosexual sex scene between Rock Hudson and Sharon Stone in the prison cell.

Cast

as Neil Chaine * Sharon Stone as Sarah Shipman * Madison Mason as Gray Ryan *

Robert Costanzo Robert Jason Costanzo (born October 20, 1942) is an American film, television and voice actor. He has an acting career spanning over 40 years and is often found playing surly New York City types such as crooks, low-level workers and policemen, an ...

as Stan Markham *

Dennis Holahan Dennis Holahan (born November 7, 1942 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American attorney and former actor. He is a partner in the San Francisco office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, California’s largest law firm, where he specializes in e ...

as Jimmy Weldstrom *

Robin Gammell Robin Gammell (born September 22, 1936) is a Canadian film, television and stage actor."Transplanted to Hollywood". ''The Globe and Mail'', January 24, 1981. Career Gammell began acting as a junior ensemble member at the Stratford Shakespeare F ...

as Marvin Berman *

Tony Russel Tony Russel (born Antonio Pietro Russo, and sometimes credited as Tony Russo or Tony Russell; November 23, 1925 – March 18, 2017) was an American film, stage, and television actor. He was noted for having worked extensively in the Italian film ...

as Morgan Steinman * Pat Morita as Yip Tak *

as Jack Madrid *Bryan Englund as Garland

External links

* 1984 television films 1984 films 1984 drama films American drama films Films directed by George Englund Films set in the Las Vegas Valley NBC network original films 1980s American films {{US-tv-drama-film-stub