SYNOPSIS:

Las Vegas, 1951. Bugsy is gone, and the Rat Pack has yet to make its mark, but the boom town continues to grow. New hotels sprout up as the Atomic Energy Commission begins testing its new atomic weapons just sixty-five miles away. Headstrong entrepreneur WILL GRAHAM and partner SAL MILKEN pitch a bizarre, almost prophetic vision of the city’s future to JIMMY ALBANO, the mob boss manager of the Sand Dune Hotel and Casino. Will sees the future of Vegas as a myriad of themes: Clowns and gladiators, a Sphinx hotel, pyramids, and Mount Rushmore, but Jimmy couldn’t disagree more. Give ‘em booze, gambling, and women - No more. Will seeks solace with his girl friend DAWN. In the middle of their love making, an atomic test goes off. Will and Dawn go outside and see a mushroom cloud in the sky. Will notices the look of awe on other people’s faces and gets his next great idea – ‘Atomic Parties.’ Once again Will and Sal hit the pavement, but no one bites, especially not Jimmy. So Will teams up with Sal and CRAZY LARRY, Dawn’s slightly loony father, who owns a bar on the outskirts of town. The night of the party arrives. Tourists and locals fill the place. RAY THOMASON of the A.E.C. shows up and thanks Will for his public relations work and invites him for a tour of the test site. PERRY MIDTOWN, a local deejay, offers to promote Will’s next party on the radio. As the parties grow in popularity, Jimmy wants to move the event to The Sand Dune. Sal warns Will not to get involved, but for Will the Sand Dune represents everything he’s ever dreamed of. Finally – the big time. But things are just as Sal predicted when Jimmy takes over. Will comes up with a new plan to stay in control. He meets KEITH PRESTON - THE ATOMIC COWBOY, and recruits him as star of the show. The premiere of Party at Ground Zero at the Sand Dune is a grand event. Jimmy arrives with KIM, a young Hollywood starlet. As the show begins, Will comes down on a crescent moon and introduces Keith. The crowd goes wild as Keith rides on stage with his horse, NUKE and begins the countdown. Jimmy’s upset yet appreciative of Will’s spectacle. Will and Dawn marry. When the wind blows a mushroom cloud toward the reception, some of the guests become ill. Ray shows up at the hospital with a unit of military doctors and explains that there must have been some bad potato salad. For the first time, Will senses that everything is not peaches in his world. Sal doesn’t buy into the food poisoning theory at all. He announces to Will that he wants out and goes on a drinking and gambling binge. Will hosts a special bomb viewing party just twenty miles from the test site and befriends SENATOR JOSEPHSON. Kim plants a kiss on Will just as a news photographer snaps a picture. The next day Will bumps into Jimmy, who shows him the morning paper with a picture of Will and Kim’s kiss and also informs him of Sal’s big tab in the casino the night before. Dawn confronts Will about the front page picture. She doesn’t buy his story, but more importantly needs to find her dad. She decides to see Jimmy. Will rushes to meet Sal but is too late. He finds him dead near their favorite fishing spot. Jimmy offers to help Dawn but only for sexual favors. She refuses. Will goes to Preston in search of answers and finds out that Larry used to work for the AEC until he realized the danger of the radiation. Preston hands Will Larry’s belt buckle, a sign that Larry is dead. Will and Dawn decide to leave town for good. Out on the highway, Will stops at a billboard advertising that night’s New Year’s Party at the Sand Dune. Will has to go back. He crashes his own party and takes the stage one more time denouncing the testing and the parties and letting the mob bosses know just how much Jimmy’s been taking off the top. Jimmy and his men charge after Will who hops on Nuke and jumps off the stage. He scoops up Dawn and heads out of the hotel with Jimmy in hot pursuit. Jimmy corners the two in an alley but Will gets the drop on him. Inside the Sand Dune, the party continues as Will and Dawn ride out of Vegas on Nuke with a mushroom cloud rising in the distance. Screenplay available upon request.