This 1997 hootfest also was your choice last year, and nothing more audacious than airplanes slamming into the Sands has come along since. That final chase scene was amazing -- at least in how it jumped from the dear, departed Sands to Fremont Street and then to some mysterious foundry where bad guy John Malkovich gets his head crushed. Speaking of head-crunching, the vice-squeezing gangster saga "Casino" was your second choice.
Our Pick: 'THE SIMPSONS'
Our favorite show didn't disappoint us when Homer and Ned Flanders hit the road for Sin City. "Las Vegas doesn't care for out-of-towners. Take your money and go someplace else," the mayor tells them. A marquee reads: "Knights in White Satin -- a tribute to The Moody Blues ... Opening act: The Moody Blues." After the boys back out of their drunken double-marriage to two cocktail waitresses, the gals turn to two Siegfried and Roy-type magicians and say, "We prefer men who know how to treat women." The white tiger rolls its eyes. "Vegas Vacation" should have been so witty.
