Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino

Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel and casino at 3000 Paradise Road, just east of the Las Vegas Strip. The resort opened on 2 July 1969 as the International Hotel and was designed by architect Martin Stern Jr. for businessman Kirk Kerkorian. Its distinctive three-wing tower, with the hotel wings radiating from a central core, became highly influential in the development of the modern Las Vegas mega-resort. With around 1,500 rooms when it opened, the International was the largest hotel in the world, combining accommodation, restaurants, casino facilities, convention space and entertainment within a single integrated complex. Barbra Streisand opened its main showroom, but the hotel soon became most closely associated with Elvis Presley, who began performing there on 31 July 1969 and ultimately gave 636 sold-out shows before his final appearance in December 1976. Hilton acquired the property in 1970 and renamed it the Las Vegas Hilton the following year. After decades under the Hilton name, it became LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in 2012 and Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino in 2014. The resort now contains nearly 3,000 rooms, while its original showroom survives as the 1,600-seat International Theater.

Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino has appeared in Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Over the Top (1987), Elvis and Me (1988), Kill Me Again (1989), Roseanne (1988–1997), Indecent Proposal (1993), Behind the Candelabra (2013) and Pluribus (2025–). Its screen history mirrors the changing identity of the property itself: the newly opened International Hotel provides both the real-life setting for Elvis Presley and the fictional Whyte House in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), while later productions make extensive use of the Las Vegas Hilton’s casino, showroom and suites. More recently, the luxury Sky Villas have featured prominently in both Behind the Candelabra (2013) and Pluribus (2025–).

In Elvis: That’s the Way It Is (1970), the International Hotel appears as itself during Elvis Presley’s 1970 Summer Festival engagement. After showing Presley rehearsing in California and preparing for his return to Las Vegas, the documentary follows him into the International, including rehearsals inside the Showroom Internationale and footage from performances between 10 and 13 August 1970. The film also shows activity elsewhere in the hotel, including fans arriving for the concerts, backstage preparations and Presley relaxing in his suite with members of his entourage. Because the performances were filmed during Presley’s actual residency rather than recreated for the cameras, the film preserves the International Hotel at the beginning of the period with which it would become most closely associated.

In Diamonds Are Forever (1971), the International Hotel provides the exterior of the Whyte House, the enormous Las Vegas hotel and casino belonging to reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte. James Bond travels to the property while investigating the diamond-smuggling operation that has led him to Las Vegas, eventually discovering that Ernst Stavro Blofeld has imprisoned Whyte and taken control of his organisation. The International’s newly completed three-wing tower is prominently visible in establishing shots of the Whyte House and around its entrance. The filmmakers exaggerated the already enormous building by adding an additional tower above it in some views. Several other Las Vegas properties were combined to create the fictional resort: the Whyte House casino interiors were filmed at the Riviera, while the memorable sequence in which Bond rides an exterior lift and climbs towards Whyte’s penthouse used the neighbouring Landmark Hotel rather than the International itself.

In Over the Top (1987), the Las Vegas Hilton becomes the venue for the World Arm Wrestling Championship that dominates the final section of the film. Truck driver Lincoln Hawk travels to Las Vegas hoping to win the competition, its cash prize and a new semi-truck while also rebuilding his relationship with his estranged son Michael. Rather than create the championship entirely for the film, the production helped organise a genuine international arm-wrestling tournament at the Hilton in July 1986 and incorporated competitors and footage from the event into the movie. Hawk progresses through the tournament before facing the enormous Bull Hurley in the final, while Michael arrives at the Hilton and gives his father the encouragement he needs. Much of the film’s climax therefore takes place inside the real hotel, with the Hilton functioning as both filming location and genuine tournament venue.

In Elvis and Me (1988), the Las Vegas Hilton was among the real locations used for the television adaptation of Priscilla Presley’s memoir. Dale Midkiff plays Elvis Presley and Susan Walters plays Priscilla in the two-part production, which follows their relationship from their first meeting in West Germany through life at Graceland, marriage and Elvis’s later career. The story includes the period when Presley returned to live performance and established his famous Las Vegas residency at the International Hotel, and production work was carried out at the actual Las Vegas Hilton, by then the successor to the International where Presley had performed.

In Kill Me Again (1989), the Las Vegas Hilton plays itself during the section of the story in which private investigator Jack Andrews follows Fay Forrester to Las Vegas. After Jack has helped Fay fake her own death, she disappears with the money she owes him and checks into the Hilton under the false name Virginia Billingsly. Jack eventually tracks her down and finds her gambling at a craps table in the hotel casino with money stolen from the mob. The casino staff recognise suspicious banknotes and alert the gangsters searching for her, leading Jack and Fay back to her hotel room, where two mob enforcers confront them. Fay shoots one of the men before she and Jack escape from the Hilton and flee Las Vegas together.

In Roseanne (1988–1997), the Las Vegas Hilton was used for the two-part fourth-season story «Vegas» and «Vegas, Vegas» (1991). Roseanne and Dan Conner travel to Las Vegas after their friends Nancy Bartlett and Arnie Thomas announce that they are getting married, but what is supposed to be a celebratory trip quickly becomes another source of marital friction. Dan becomes increasingly absorbed in gambling, particularly at the craps tables, leaving Roseanne feeling ignored, while Nancy and Arnie’s wedding plans provide the other major storyline. The second episode continues the group’s chaotic night in Las Vegas and includes an appearance by Wayne Newton as himself. Portions of both episodes were taped at the Las Vegas Hilton, allowing the series to use the real casino and resort environment rather than relying entirely on studio recreations.

In Indecent Proposal (1993), the Las Vegas Hilton is one of the film’s most important locations and provides the casino where David and Diana Murphy gamble in a desperate attempt to solve their financial problems. After losing their savings, the couple become acquainted with billionaire John Gage, who is immediately attracted to Diana. Gage eventually makes the proposition around which the film is built: one million dollars in exchange for spending one night with her. Several areas of the Hilton were used during the Las Vegas sequences, including the casino floor and its craps tables, the Race & Sports Book and Benihana Village. The hotel therefore serves not merely as an establishing location but as the setting where David and Diana’s financial desperation brings them into Gage’s orbit and fundamentally changes their marriage.

In Behind the Candelabra (2013), the resort, then operating as LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, returns to its own entertainment history by standing in for the Las Vegas Hilton during Liberace’s career. Michael Douglas performs as Liberace on the stage of the actual International Theater, the same showroom in which Liberace had performed during the 1970s and early 1980s. The production recreated the appearance of his lavish stage shows inside the original venue, including his extravagant entrances and performances before large audiences. Other scenes were filmed in one of the resort’s enormous Sky Villas, which was dressed to resemble the flamboyant hotel penthouse associated with Liberace. Scenes involving Liberace and Scott Thorson, played by Matt Damon, make use of the suite’s bedrooms, living areas and hot tub, allowing the film to combine recreated period décor with a location directly connected to Liberace’s real Las Vegas career.

In Pluribus (2025–), Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino appears as itself in the first-season episode «HDP» (2025). Koumba Diabaté has taken up residence in one of the hotel’s enormous Sky Villas, where the Joined indulge his desire to live like the hero of a James Bond film. The episode introduces him in an elaborate poker game surrounded by formally dressed guests, all participating in a fantasy created for his amusement. Carol Sturka later drives to Las Vegas to confront him after making a disturbing discovery about the Joined, and much of their subsequent conversation takes place inside the Westgate. Filming used both the Verona and Imperial Sky Villas, including spaces associated with the penthouse complex once occupied by Elvis Presley during his years at the International. The production therefore makes particularly appropriate use of the hotel’s history, placing Diabaté’s deliberately extravagant fantasy life inside one of the surviving symbols of old Las Vegas celebrity excess.

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