Viva Las Vegas! The city that rose from the desert on the back of our love of all things gambling. A neon and skyscraper oasis that calls to those looking to change their fortunes with the spin of a reel or the flip of a card. A city dedicated to the pursuit of wealth and the hedonism that accompanies it.

And the city for countless movies and TV shows that reflect the gambler’s world in all its glory and grime.

The Online Casino Review team love Las Vegas movies. Sin City is a rich tapestry from which to draw inspiration for man’s travails and weave tales of thrills, excitement and the ever-elusive touch of Lady Luck.

But not all Las Vegas movies are about the casinos and gambling. While we are all familiar with the likes of the Oceans franchise, there are surprisingly few Sin City silver screen showpieces that only have a tiny element of gambling or the Vegas casinos (because if you’re filming in Vegas you may as well show the buildings or happenings that make it so famous) and actually focus more on the other aspects of the city.

Here is the OCR list for top movies set in Las Vegas that DO NOT focus purely on gambling:

Viva Las Vegas (1964)

Elvis Presley at the height of his fame starred in this classic. A racing car driver works as a waiter in Las Vegas to pay for a new engine and compete in the first-ever Las Vegas, Nevada Grand Prix. Along the way he meets and begins to fall for a beautiful woman.

A great movie with catchy songs and a stellar performance (possibly his best) from Elvis. His chemistry with Ann-Margret, his co-star, is palpable.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)

A Hollywood screenwriter loses his family and his job to his alcohol addiction and moves to Las Vegas to literally drink himself to death. He forms an uneasy friendship with a prostitute who becomes his companion on his suicidal journey.

An incredibly depressing film but with genius acting from Nicholas Cage (he won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for his performance) and Elisabeth Shue (nominated for a Golden globe and an Oscar for Best Actress)

Go (1999)

A cult classic, Go is a crime comedy following the aftermath of a drug deal as told by three separate people. It’s fast pace and dialogue have seen it compared to movies like Pulp Fiction but it’s cast really elevate it from a Tarantino-esque copy to a work of art all on its own.

Keep an eye out for some very familiar faces: William Fichtner, Jay Mohr, Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes, Taye Diggs and Melissa McCarthy in her breakout role.

Very Bad Things (1998)

A dark comedy with some big names. A prostitute is killed during a bachelor party and things go downhill from there. Can things go downhill after an accidental murder? Oh yes, they can.

A very underrated movie that deserves more recognition for the performances from its star-studded cast including Jon Favreau, Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven, Daniel Stern and Jeanne Tripplehorn.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

A psychedelic, drug-fuelled journey through Las Vegas by a crazy journalist and his psycho lawyer. Fear and Loathing was a cult classic novel even before making it to the silver screen due in most part to the fact that it is pretty much the word for word experiences of the craziest writer/Gonzo journalist on the planet – Hunter S Thompson.

The movie is a semi-autobiographical account of Thompson’s trip to Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race for a magazine which devolves into a drug taking binge through the city of neon lights. In parts hilarious. In parts deeply disturbing. As a whole, a movie that cannot be missed.

The Hangover (2009)

Possibly the most famous of the movies on our list, The Hangover was a box office sensation that followed the shenanigans of a group of friends (and Alan) as they hit Sin City for a bachelor’s party.

For those few who have not seen The Hangover, it is actually a pretty darn funny movie even with the cringe moments. Ken Jeong as Mr Chow is hysterical!

Fright Night (2011)

A remake of the 1985 classic with a great cast including Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, David Tennant and Toni Collette. A teenage boy discovers that his new neighbour is a vampire and teams up with a magician and vampire ‘expert’ to defeat him.

While the original may still garner better reviews, the remake loses none of the humour and scares. Funny, gory, thrilling and with some incredible performances especially from Colin Farrell.

Elecktrick Children (2012)

A surreal movie that follows the journey of a 15-year-old girl from a devout Mormon community who falls pregnant and thinks it’s because she listened to a song on a tape deck. She leaves the community and travels to Las Vegas to find the ‘father’ of her child. Here she falls in with a group of skateboarding musicians.

To sum up Elecktrick Children in a quick paragraph is super difficult. It has a lot of religious undertones (from the Mormons themselves to the Virgin Mary analogies), it has a very young and decidedly naïve lead who is mysteriously pregnant. It’s just weird. But also: incredibly well put together, totally gripping and fantastically acted.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)

A famous Las Vegas magician messes up his act, almost kills his partner and has to compete with the latest street magic wunderkind while trying to rebuild his failing career.

Think Siegfried & Roy versus David Blaine/Kriss Angel with comedy heavyweights Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey alongside Steve Buscemi (who steals the movie in our opinion), Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin and James Gandolfini.

The movie was a box office bomb but is still incredibly funny and a joy to watch.

Sleepless (2017)

Less focused on the high life and more on the HIGH life, Sleepless (starring Jamie Foxx) is a crime drama that follows a Las Vegas police officer as he faces off against gangsters and tries to save his kidnapped son.

Not the best movie on the list by any means, Sleepless is still a great action film with all that that genre brings with it. The biggest disappointment in the movie is that the cast is actually rather impressive but they didn’t really rise to the occasion.