I like the movie for the great shots of Vegas. Vegas when I knew it as a kid that are not there anymore. Like the shot of the back of the Las Vegas Convention Center with the old rotunda (shaped like a flying saucer) in the background.
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Nick "A hell of a great guy! NOT!"
And the Landmark hotel no longer being there. I was living in Vegas when they were considering an addition to the spaceship-like Landmark hotel with a much larger and taller version. But, it kept losing money so the idea was scrapped. And eventually the original Landmark was torn down for another hotel-casino.
Too bad. It was a decent place. Just not the best location. People would see the LV Hilton and go there instead.
Also, did you know, beside the convention center, where Elvis first meets Ann-Margaret is the future site of the International Hotel. Which Elvis helped open. In fact, the whole top huge suite was made especially for him when he was performing there.
The International was later renamed to the Las Vegas Hilton.
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I agree. Who could ever forget the Dunes and that huge light, the castaways, the sands. But we must admit, what they replaced them with is verrry impressive.
Only thing I liked about downtown was the horseshoe. Mainly their $2 NY Strip steak dinner. And their 50¢ a drink bar. But they watched out for us locals there.
i got married at the same chapel that ELVIS and ANN are running out of at the end of the movie - it's called THE LITTLE CHURCH OF THE WEST, on the strip (near MANDALAY BAY).....
tasty.
"You have to live life to its full chorizo!"-Mario Batali🏄
I was there when the Landmark was imploded in November of 1995. I saw the mocie a few months later and recognized it.
shareI was there in the fall of 1993 when the destruction of The Dunes began and Treasure Island opened. How different it all looks in this movie; almost quaint.
... I admire a person that's willing to do whatever is necessary.
newdrivers: YOU SAID IT!!!
The Las Vegas of today pales in comparison to the Vegas of the 60s and the 70s. That was when it was a great town.
I love watching "Via Las Vegas" to see the sights, casinos, and hotels of a time long gone. Long gone but not forgotten.
This was the Las Vegas I loved. Not the plastic, phoney Las Vegas of today
shareI've never been to Las Vegas, only to Reno, back in the 1990's. Is it possible that Reno (much smaller) evokes the old Las Vegas from Viva Las Vegas?
Just a thought.
I was taken by the opening shot - the helicopter - maybe flown by Elvis, or his mechanic... ;> flies over the main drag, and there is only the darkness of parking lots behind the casinos. It really was just a strip back then!
shareAFAIK,The Landmark was replaced by a parking lot. I remember getting chased out of the parking lot there in June 1994 by Security.
'Do you expect me to talk?' , 'No Mr Bond,I expect you to die!' - Goldfinger
Apart from Fremont Street, this is a Las Vegas strip that no longer exists.
Its that man again!!