Sin and redemption. The ridiculous and the sublime. The carnivalesque excess of the Strip and the barrenness of the desert surrounding the city. Visited by millions of fortune seekers – and starry-eyed lovers – each year, Las Vegas is a city with as many apparent contradictions as Elvis impersonators and this complexity is reflected in the diversity of films that have been shot on location there.

A copiously illustrated retrospective of Vegas's appearances on the big screen, this new volume in Intellect's World Film Locations series presents synopses of scenes from a broad selection of films – from big-budget blockbusters like Oceans Eleven to acclaimed classics Rain Man, Casino and The Godfather to cult favourites like Showgirls and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Insightful essays throughout explore a range of topics, including the Rat Pack's Las Vegas, the cinematised Strip, Las Vegas as a frequent backdrop for science fiction and the various film portrayals of iconic pop-cultural figures like Elvis and Frank Sinatra. Rounding out this information are film stills juxtaposed with photographs of the locations as they appear today.