This episode begins our pairing of Las Vegas films with a story that is in no way, shape, or form, what one would call "happy," but is still one of the finest performances ever captured on film, so much so that it netted Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actress, and got Nicolas Cage an Oscar win for Best Actor. The movie is the broken love story that is "Leaving Las Vegas." Directed by Mike Figgis, he also wrote the screenplay based on the novel by John O'Brien. Starring Cage, Elizabeth Shue, and Julian Sands, with cameo-level appearances by Richard Lewis, Steven Weber, Emily Procter, French Stewart, R. Lee Ermey, Mariska Hargitay, Danny Huston, Laurie Metcalf, Shawnee Smith, and Lou Rawls, this is a showpiece where both the director and the two leads are absolutely at the top of their game. An absolute must-see, although queue up some cartoons or your favorite comedy afterwards.