Don felt Sam was overreacting about 3 people winning big money in 20 minutes and felt that people should win sometimes, Sam didn't approve of it and ended up firing Don, I don't think Don deserved getting fired all over a bunch of people winning big money at the casino.
shareIt wasn't about people winning. It was about how unlikely a chance that they had to win in that fashion and Don's inability to notice what was in all likeliness a cheat against the casino. I've never worked in a casino so I can't say but I'd think there'd be a policy to follow when crazy odds seem to hit in fast succession.
shareIt never occurred to me that 3 people winning in 20 minutes was likely a cheat against the casino, Don strikes me as someone who would be happy about people winning sometimes.
shareBut he explains in the conversation that it had to be a cheat, and the machines had to have been rigged.
Ace Rothstein : Four reels, sevens across on three $15,000 jackpots. Do you have any idea what the odds are?share
Don Ward : Shoot, it's gotta be in the millions, maybe more.
Ace Rothstein : Three fuckin' jackpots in 20 minutes? Why didn't you pull the machines? Why didn't you call me?
Don Ward : Well, it happened so quick, 3 guys won; I didn't have a chance...
Ace Rothstein : [interrupts] You didn't see the scam? You didn't see what was going on?
Don Ward : Well, there's no way to determine that...
Ace Rothstein : Yes there is! An infallible way, they won!
Don Ward : Well, it's a casino! People gotta win sometimes.
Ace Rothstein : [grows more irritated] Ward, you're pissing me off. Now you're insulting my intelligence; what you think I am, a fuckin' idiot? You know goddamn well that someone had to get into those machines and set those fuckin' reels. The probability of one four-reel machine is a million and a half to one; the probability of three machines in a row; it's in the billions! It cannot happen, would not happen, you fuckin' momo! What's the matter with you? Didn't you see you were being set up on the second win?
"The probability of one four-reel machine is a million and a half to one"
If thats true that odds of it even happening twice are way over Ace's billions estimate
Not “three people winning.” Three people hitting a 4-reel jackpot at 1.5 million-to-one each within twenty minutes. Odds against that? “In the billions.”
Because math.
Me thinketh Don did not take probabilities into consideration (i.e. the probability that a person would win big money is high, the probability that two people would win big money is higher, and the probability that three people, within a 20 minute time period no less, would win big money goes through the roof!).
shareMy favorite scene in the movie.
Sam was right that he was just not smart enough to know what was going on, but he was wrong in firing him. With Sam's distrustful nature, it would always be in back of his mind that Don was really cheating him and the "dumb guy" was a act.
If Sam was a better reader of men, and took the wise counsel that Don was "juiced in", his downfall would probably have been delayed by a few years.
Yeah, the aggravating part to me was Sam still refusing to hire him back after his Uncle Pat came to visit
Fate was handing Sam an excellent way to go legit by doing a personal favor for Pat Webb (apparently his real life name) and having Webb acknowledge it.
Hire Don back to count blueberries, and make sure to keep in touch with Webb.
Ace, and likely the real Lefty Rosenthall, was just too arrogant for his own good.
He should have taken the politicians offer to give Don a position "a little further down the trough". I guess Sam's ego wouldn't let him do that.
shareHe was right in firing him, he has his bottomline to cover.
But when Don's uncle or something (I could not remember) was asking to give Don's job back, even ok with a lesser position. He should have allowed Don back with a position unrelated to gambling, where his incompetence would only cause minor damage.
Give him a second chance, because his uncle appears to be an influential politician, but of course not a third one.
Upon rewatching yesterday I can see that Don was a genuine nice guy, just trying to do his best, and he kept coming up short on doing a good job. I have worked jobs where I had to "carry" crummy coworkers who just never did the job right, but its not as bad when your coworker is a decent person and you can tell they want to do a good job. But if a long enough time passes and they still arent doing good you gotta let him go. That being said, when Ace is firing Don you can see on Dons face that he was hurt by how he was talked to and Don was right when he said "This is not how you treat people". Ace really was getting a balloon for a head and mistreating a lot of people and being a dick (just like Nicky pointed out later in the movie). If Ace had spoken to Don in a different way there may have been no issue later with the county commissioner who was related to Don.
Also, even the county commissioner was trying to be reasonable with Ace when he said "is there any job farther down the trough"? meaning he knew Don couldnt hack being a Slot Manager so maybe Don could be a cook, a cleaner, a valet, etc...but again Ace with his balloon head refused to give the guy any chance at all.
Ace probably was getting a big head but I'd bet he was pretty scared too
He was in charge of a huge Mob operation, if the house started bleeding money some very rough people were going to visit him first
You have a good point, Ace was responsible to a rough crowd and he knew it.
But his balloon head had him doing some ridiculous stuff. He must not have been too scared going on TV being flamboyant on his talk show, juggling like a fool. He had so much tunnel vision with regard to his getting a license that at one point Andy Stone told Ace "When the boss says QUIT thats like a papal bull. Not only should you quit, you should run"! Basically pointing out that the bosses dont care about permits or licenses they just want things calm and not made public in the news (like his talk show antics).
He did show fear with regards to joining Nicky in his personal crusade to take over from the Bosses, but he was getting big for his britches as well with how he treated locals in Vegas.
As another aficionado pointed out, Don could have been re-hired to count all the blueberries for those muffins! That would have been useful (to Ace) and in no way endangered the money count from the casino
All good points
Considering how deep he was it's a wonder he walked away from it all in one piece
Starting a big talk show was an incredibly arrogant move, 'those guys' don't care for attention!
Ace claimed "I still made them money, and why mess up a good thing" as the movie ends on a somber note...
But you are right. The guy knew toooo much and was in the spotlight. He shouldve been whacked!
Ace concluded that Nicky planted the unsuccessful car bomb, because if it was the bosses they wouldve certainly attempted his killing again. BUT after being car-bombed the Bosses shouldve attempted their own assassination from their own logic. Because they went after the breifcase man only because they thought he might talk to the feds to get his son released. So since Ace was almost blown up, Ace mightve thought it was an attempt from the bosses and go states evidence on them! Bosses wouldve been forced to kill him anyway just to be sure.
I think the car bomb was from Nicky as well
As for the bosses, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, guys disappearing and explosions going off they were probably under too much scrutiny to do much of anything for awhile
As a side note I was always amazed that Henry Hill was showing up for radio show appearances and publishing cookbooks lol
Some of these hoods are way luckier than most!
It might have actually been the opposite. Nicky's failed car bombing of Ace, may have saved Ace's life from the bosses.
We don't know for fact that it was Nicky, but everything indicates that it was. We also don't know for sure what the bosses plans for Ace were at that point. It's very possible that they did want him killed, even though he was very high profile in Vegas. They had killed Andy Stone who was well known and considered a legit business man. But Nicky jumped the gun, and tried to kill Ace without getting permission from the bosses, which technically he didn't need to get since he was a made guy and Ace wasn't. But since Nicky's attempt failed, and police and newspapers were reporting it, two things would happen. First Ace would hire private security, and not go out in public nearly as much, thus making future hits more difficult. And second, it would draw way to much attention if a second attempt was made on him. So in order to make Ace feel safer, and not to turn states evidence, they came up with "other plans" for him.
That is a very good analysis of it.
What if Ace running the high profile nightly show also saved him? Because he became such a public figure in Vegas it would be harder to do a hit on him? Especially after the first bombing like you wrote. The cops were also onto Ace and already watching him, whereas Stone was mentioned on wire taps but not in the thick of the money laundering like Ace was.
It makes sense that Nicky did it, because he was having a meeting in the cornfields to anoint his brother Dominic as the Casino Boss to replace Ace. He probably planted the bomb and went out to the meeting feeling sure the bomb was gonna work just fine.
Ace probably was getting a big head but I'd bet he was pretty scared too
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shareI mean, if you were going to rig multiple slot machines, why would you rig them all to hit at almost the exact same time? Seems a like a surefire way to get a light shined on your scam.
shareThat’s the funny thing about thieves to me, if they’re so clever that they can somehow rig three machines in a casino that’s fully staffed and open 24 hours a day why do they even need to be crooks..? That’s some genius-level planning and execution! It’s crazy how some really smart guys go into crime when they could have a legitimate life with few hassles
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Shortcuts
No matter how dumb or smart, thieves in real life seem driven by shortcuts.
As for rigging multiple machines, the casino might well pull all the machines after the first jackpot.
Better to hit as many as you can as quickly as you can, grab your winnings and get the hell out of Dodge before you're offered "the money and the hammer."
As for rigging multiple machines, the casino might well pull all the machines after the first jackpot.
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Bingo! I've always figured that Sam's mistake was not to have pulled all the machine after the first jackpot -- a "protocol of the casino" -- because otherwise, he'd just be standing there when the second and third jackpots hit.
But this scene isn't about Don "following a protocol"...its about Sam tearing into him and Don not having an answer and it all leads to the "big scene with Pat Webb"(Sam Peckinpah veteran LQ Jones) that brings everything down on Sam.
Still, I can figure the ONLY way to stop three slot machines paying off that high that quickly is to immediately shut them down after the first one...
I get a little frustrated that a fairly big plot device - the cheat - is left for us to wonder what actually happened here.
It's probably not a lot of money for the casino to absorb ($45K?) but how outside agents might tamper with the machines, or if it was an inside job. Both would have serious consequences as to how the casino is being run.
As a viewer, I'm left wondering ... so, how did that happen? Not to create a complete side story over it, but it's just left hanging out there.
left for us to wonder what actually happened here
It was a necessary plot point to advance the downfall of the Outfit's presence in Las Vegas. The point driven by this scene was the overzealous greed fueling Ace's drive to keep the Casino's cashflow high and increasing for the mob while he also grew more punitive in his managerial role over the entire Casino. Ace's ego got the best of him and it spilled over into an insult of the "cowboy" who is related to all of the incestual government heads of state in Las Vegas and Nevada. Ace refusing to compromise and give dumb Don a paper pushing desk job in the executive office screwed over his application process and resulted in the Nevada Gaming Board making him ineligible in running a Casino.
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