Wayne Newton, Jennifer Nichole Porter and Dana Packard at the Las Vegas premiere of "40 West" at Century Orleans.
Sun archives
- There's a reason we call Wayne Newton "Mr. Las Vegas." Read all about him, including memories from Sun readers, and see his career in pictures and video here.
Wayne Newton does it all in “40 West.” He smokes a stogie, sips a cocktail and strums an air guitar while lounging in a limo. He makes crank phone calls, and even relieves himself behind a tree on a remote patch of terrain along the Interstate 40 – otherwise known as 40 West.
Mr. Las Vegas brandishes a pistol, too, with obvious ill intent.
It would be tempting to say Newton does not perform with an instrument, but he does. Except, it’s not a musical instrument. Not by design, anyway. Check out the film, which is running this week at Theatre7 in the Arts District, to appreciate Newton’s newfound mastery of this implement.
“40 West,” featuring Newton in a cameo role, made its Las Vegas debut at Century Orleans during the Vegas Independent Film Festival. It’s a solemn, crudely violent film brought forth by married filmmakers Dana Packard and Jennifer Nichole Porter.
Porter also stars in the film, which was shot in the couple’s home city of Portland, Maine, in 2010. Newton portrays a murky, jealous husband who stalks his wife to a motel in East Texas where all sorts of ugly behavior — involving his spouse, her ex-con boyfriend, another ex-con and his spouse’s boyfriend’s wife — plays out.
A bittersweet undercurrent accompanied the film’s Las Vegas debut, as one of the film’s stars, Scott Winters, died of cancer after the movie was finished but before he could attend the Vegas premiere. His widow, Sandy, did attend, making her first visit to Las Vegas. The couple were married for 21 years, and Winters turns in a wrenching performance as the buddy of the erratically sinister ex-con played by Brian A. White.
The film is the highest-profile entry in the Vegas International Film Festival, which continues today at Theatre7 and wraps Sunday at the Orleans. The film shows Newton, in the role of dangerously jealous husband Bud Sankey, in a highly unflattering light. Yet, by the end of the saga, you sort of appreciate Mr. Sankey – it’s just a good idea to wear closed-toes shoes in his presence.
Again, see the film to sort all this out. As they say, danke shoen …
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