Bet it's Best

After a great round of comments on my last post, this post will tackle the fun topic of movies about gambling. There are many excellent films in this category and, as usual, some real stinkers. One of the hot recent movies on this topic was "21." Interesting results; lots of casual or non-gamblers liked it. Almost all the "real" gamblers I know thought it was hollow, silly and quite annoying. "Winner, winner, chicken dinner," sort of sums it up for them. The real story behind the movie did produce an excellent documentary that came out a few years ago and followed the book (Bringing Down the House) about the MIT ring that beat Vegas - for a while anyway. The History Channel documentary was called Breaking Vegas and was very well done.

On to the Top 10:

The Top Three on my list (and I would expect on many others) include:

The Cincinnati Kid - This movie made a big impression on me as a kid. It was my favorite movie for several years. The final scenes seem sort of obvious now after seeing SO MUCH poker on TV. But they pulled that last hand off well and ended the movie with the little extra twist with the kid on the street corner. It was many years later that I saw it again and it held up well. Without any recording devices we only ever saw movies once or maybe two times, except ones like Wizard of Oz, that mysteriously was on TV every spring; and A Wonderful Life & Miracle on 34th Street that, for some strange reason, always played at Hannuka-time

Rounders - Even before The Grave Wolf and his gang of merry men taught me all about Texas Hold 'em, I liked this movie a lot. Matt Damon is cast perfectly as is Edward Norton, Jr. I also liked Martin Landau as the Jewish law professor. The only weakness was John Malkovich trying to use a Russian accent. It sounded so weird; like he was short of a full deck. John Turturo, who I don't ordinarily care for was terrific as Knish - the Grinder. This is one of those movies I tend to always stop at for at least a few minutes when channel surfing.

The Hustler - I never liked The Jackie Gleason Show - at all, but Abe did, so we watched it. But boy was he great as Minnesota Fats. Paul Newman played Fast Eddie and the audience got some great pool scenes. George C. Scott was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor (as was Gleason) but he refused the nomination. West Side Story picked up four of the top six awards that year and the film only received two awards - both for B&W filming/cinematography.

Following that group - in order - are:

The Sting - Fantastic cast. Won seven Oscars (and nominated for three more). Paul Newman, Robert Redford together again. Add in Robert Shaw, Ray Walston and Charles Durning and you get a well done period piece that maintains suspense throughout and seems pretty authentic/realistic. Interesting that Redford and Newman are thought of as one of Hollywood's great pairs, yet they only ever acted together twice. Both were George Roy Hill films, this one and Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.

Casino - Joe Pesci stole the show and, along with DeNiro, Sharon Stone (Oscar nomination) and James Woods made a great cast. Throw in some cameos - Dick Smothers, Don Rickles, Alan King - and all that Vegas action and you have an excellent movie.

The Color of Money - Paul Newman in his third film on this list (not a sequel to The Hustler but he plays the geriatric Fast Eddie with Cruise as his protege'.) Not a big Tom Cruise fan but he was the perfect conceited bad-boy for the role. Interesting that Newman won his ONLY Oscar for the lead in this film. He was nominated eight other times for Best Actor - and there is no way this was his best. Make-up call, maybe?

Casino Royale - Yes, a Bond film on the list. Daniel Craig pulls off all of the normal Bond acts, including dying and bringing himself back to life DURING the break of a monster Hold 'Em tournament with millions of dollars AND world peace on the line.

High Roller (The Stu Ungar Story) - (final scene, no trailer found) ; also called "Stuey" - Stu was played masterfully by Michael Imperioli ('Christefeh' from The Sopranos). Ungar was the only three-time winner of the World Series of Poker, and the only three-time winner of Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker - a truly amazing feat. Thought to be the best poker and gin player ever (he won his first gin tournament at age 10), Stuey was a tortured soul and died of heart problems due to drug abuse. Despite winning a reported $30MM during his short life, he died with a whopping $800 to his name.

The Croupier - This was the first film I saw with Clive Owen and I really liked him. The film was a bit off beat - taking place at a London gaming club as an ordinary Joe takes on a second job as a croupier and then it takes him over.

Honorable Mention:

The Cooler - William Macy was great. And Alec Baldwin showed his evil side quite well. But, the film overall was kind of depressing and slow at times. Paul Sorvino in this as well (boy, does he look old).

Ocean's 11 - the original from 1960 (not any of the three with George Clooney), with the Rat Pack plus. Great scenes from "old" Vegas' big five hotels of the day (I think only two remain - the Flamingo and the Sahara).

The Gambler (opening scene) - James Caan, Paul Sorvino (boy, does he look young) and Lauren Hutton; Caan shows way too much chest hair (and Hutton not nearly enough), but it's a pretty suspenseful film. Dick Schapp, Chick Hearn, Stuart Margolin and James Woods all with bit parts.

Breaking Vegas (the first 10 minutes of the film; full film available on YouTube) - Made for TV so doesn't really count; but worth the watch. This is the actual story that 21 was based on - the MIT crew that inspired the book Bringing Down the House.

Hard Eight (also known as Sydney) - John Reilly stars with Phillip Hall, support by Samuel Jackson, Gweneth Paltrow and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Slow at times but some excellent casino scenes. Reilly well cast as the pawn.


Next Post - Back to Prison(s)!