Top 10 Gambling Movies

Author: Simon Dexter

The casino card game is one of the classic movie showdowns – think Daniel Craig risking Government cash in Casino Royale or Paul Newman cheating the cheat in The Sting. So to celebrate the best superstar gamblers, card sharks and Las Vegas casino moguls, here at Littlewoods Casino we’ve compiled our favourite top 10 gambling-themed movies. While each of these films may not be exclusively about poker or set in a casino, they do contain some of the funniest, slickest and best-acted gambling moments in film history.

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10. The Cincinnati Kid – 1965

King of Cool Steve McQueen stars as Eric ‘The Kid’ Stoner, a young 5-card stud poker player with a big reputation who gets involved in a plan to humiliate and ‘de-throne’ veteran card shark Lancey ‘the Man’ Howard (Edward G.
Robinson). If ever there was a blueprint for a classic card duel then this is it! Kid’s best friend, card dealer Shooter (Karl Malden), is blackmailed into fixing a game between the Kid and the Man. Kid finds out about the fix and doesn’t take too kindly – being a cocky young buck he wants to beat the Man fair and square.

In the epic finale, director Norman Jewison keeps you guessing right up to the final card turn, bringing a mammoth winner-takes-it-all session to a thrilling crescendo. Ann-Margret provides the female distraction as part of an all-star cast of supporting actors. With star turns from both McQueen and Robinson, many regard The Cincinnati Kid as one of the few films that’s actually better than the book it’s based on.

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9. Viva Las Vegas – 1964

Not much casino gambling, but for our money, no film better captures the bright lights and thrills of 1960s Las Vegas than this classic Elvis Presley flick – famed for its on-screen and off-screen magic. The King plays Lucky Jackson, a racing driver who needs a new engine for his car so he can compete in the first Las Vegas Grand Prix. To raise the cash he gets a job as a waiter in a Vegas casino but is soon distracted by Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret - yes her again!). Jackson raises the money easily enough, but Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova) enters the picture to steal both the race and Rusty.

During filming, the movie was dogged by rumours of an affair between Elvis and Ann-Margret and delayed thanks to heated exchanges between Colonel Tom Parker, Presley’s manager, and the movie’s director, George Sidney. The Colonel was reputedly unhappy over the time spent filming Ann-Margret’s musical scenes, which involved many re-takes, camera angles and the use of several cameras for each shot.

With showgirls, some classic Elvis pelvic action, top tunes and a stunning race around the Strip and Hoover Dam, Viva Las Vegas is revered by Elvis fans as one of his finest and most entertaining movies. How could we disagree when it gave us arguably the best movie song of all time (Viva Las Vegas in case you hadn’t guessed!)?

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8. Casino Royale – 2006

The latest James Bond adventure focuses heavily around a high-stakes Texas Hold’em poker tournament. Daniel Craig, in his first film as 007, gets a milllion tab from the British Government to take on bad guy Le Chiffre, a banker to the world’s terrorist organisations, at Casino Royale in Montenegro.

Despite being panned by the media when he was unveiled as the new Bond, Craig does a superb job of portraying the secret agent as Ian Fleming originally intended: a cold, killing machine. His epic card game with Le Chiffre nearly results in both men dying (at the hands of each during the intervals), while Bond loses his initial million stake after misreading Le Chiffre’s “tell” as bluffing. Luckily, CIA agent Felix Leiter gives Bond the million buy-in so he can do what comes naturally – get the girl and beat the bad guy!

This version of Casino Royale is not to be confused with the ‘original’ from 1967 - a spoof spy flick staring David Niven as Sir James Bond, as he tries to defeat Le Chiffre (Orson Welles) at Baccarat.

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7. Rounders – 1998

Matt Damon, even before his exploits in Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13, was no stranger to a great gambling film. Rounders casts Damon as Mike McDermott, a gambler-turned-law student, who helps his best friend, serial-cheat ‘Worm’, repay a huge gambling debt by winning no-stakes poker games.

Damon is the reluctant hero, split between his girlfriend and new life as a law student and his best friend and obvious natural skill for poker. Director John Dahl goes all out to portray the seedier side of underground poker games, showing the often brutal situations that people can get themselves into when they are desperate.

Although Rounders was given a lukewarm reception by critics and at the box office, the film is now something of a Texas Hold ‘em cult classic. Many professional poker players, including Jamie Gold and Chris Moneymaker, cite the film as a reason that poker has enjoyed a huge rise in popularity over recent years. In case you were wondering, a Rounder is someone who earns a living exclusively by paying cards.

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6. Ocean’s 11 – 2001

As with Casino Royale, we’ve gone for the glitzier modern version, rather than the 1960 Frank Sinatra film of the same name.

The all-star cast in this 2001 remake includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts. Clooney is Danny Ocean, a big-time heist merchant fresh out of jail, who recruits 10 ‘specialists’ to help him rob 3 Las Vegas casinos in one night.

Cue the best Las Vegas heist in history, full of twists, turns and heart-stopping moments. If you like you movies with style and a cool soundtrack then Ocean’s11 delivers. Although the gambling takes a back seat, you can’t help but enjoy Clooney and Co as they look to relive casino boss Terry Benedict (Garcia) of 0m. A hit with the critics as well as box offices around the world, the film was so successful that two sequels have been made, ingeniously titled Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13!

5. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – 1998

From the glitz of Las Vegas, to the grimy streets of London, out top 10 takes a cockney twist for our next entry.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is Guy Ritchie’s ‘piece de resistance’, a no-holds-barred black comedy that earned its director international acclaim and a ‘Material Girl’ (He married Madonna 2 years after the film came out).

Arrogant card shark Eddie (Nick Moran) and his three friends, Bacon, Tom and Soap (Jason Statham. Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher respectively) lose £500,000 to crimelord Harry ‘The Hatchet’ Lonsdale in a rigged game of 3-card brag. With the threat of losing one finger for each day the debt is owed, the gang of four set out to ambush their next door neighbours; a gang of bumbling thieves who have designs of robbing some local drug dealers . Soaked in urban grime, witty one-liners and the odd violent death or two, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is the perfect marriage of gangsters and gambling.

Former footballer Vinnie Jones does what he does best – plays a hardman with a soft centre, while the rest of the cast play homage to classic British movies of the past and rock star Sting gets in on the action as an unflappable bar owner JD.

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4. House of Games - 1987

Not one of the most famous films in out top 10, nevertheless, House of Games stands proud as a great depiction of the mindset of hardened gamblers. Renowned psychologist Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) agrees to help one of her patients, a recovering gambling addict, get out of his debt to con-artist Mike (Joe Mantegna). Ford promptly enters the casino where all the cons of Seattle come together, but ends up being used by Mike to look for “tells”, or giveaway body language in his unsuspecting victims.

Director David Mamet uses the same snappy dialogue that would appear in several of his other films, including Ronin and Hannibal (he also wrote the screenplay for the Untouchables), to build tense moments and keep the film at a punchy pace. Mamet’s one-time wife Crouse and co-star Mantegna received glowing reviews for their roles, as they become an unlikely gambling con-artist double act.

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3. The Sting - 1973

Robert Redford and Paul Newman resume their Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid partnership in this Oscar-winning tale of a classic poker sting.

Redford plays Johnny Hooker, while Newman is Henry Gondorff, a pair of 1930s ‘confidence tricksters’ out to sting mob boss, Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Lonnegan’s men had earlier killed Hooker’s partner, Luther, so the pair decide to take their revenge by humiliating Lonnegan in a high-stakes poker game. An elaborate rouse is put in place, with a great final scene pitching a supposedly drunk Gondorff (who replaces gin with water) cheating the cheat Lonnegan.

The Sting, which won Best Picture at the Oscars, is famed for its stylish use of 1930s sets and ragtime music. With so many twists and turns, especially at the end, this poker flick is amongst one of the most entertaining. For its time, the film took a huge sum at the box office (over 0m) and helped Redford and Newman build on their status as Hollywood A-list legends.

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2. Casino - 1995

Gangster-guru Martin Scorsese does gambling in this tale of the mob in Las Vegas which is based on true-life events.
Robert DeNiro (casino manager Sam “Ace” Rothstein) and Joe Pesci (‘enforcer’ Nicky Santoro) team up again to run a Vegas Casino owned by the Mafia. Spread out over a decade, Casino tells the inside story of how the Mafia gained and blew, control over some of Las Vegas’ most famous gambling establishments. Sharon Stone, as Ace’s wife Ginger, delivers an Oscar-nominated performance, while Scorsese’s trademark violent mob-hits play out across the desert backdrop.

A love triangle emerges when Ginger admits to being in love with her former pimp (James Woods), adding more complications to Ace’s life as he tries to juggle a drug-addict wife with his ever-expectant Mafia bosses.
As the film progresses, Santoro grows increasingly out of control, landing Ace in trouble and the Mafia’s grip on Vegas in jeopardy. In the end, Scorsese gives the character his due, with a grizzly baseball bat beating. Few films portray the murky side of Las Vegas as graphically and violently as this. Interestingly, Casino also holds the world record for the most swear words used in a film.

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1. The Gambler - 1974

Actor James Caan was reportedly battling a cocaine addiction while filming this classic gambling movie. Caan is Axel Freed, a literature professor with a gambling addiction that spirals out of control. His success and reputation as a professor is not matched by his gambling skills and he soon begins to attract the attention of local gangster Hips (Paul Sorvino). Hips tries to help his new-found friend, but even when Freed has the money to pay off his debts, the temptation to gamble it all proves too great.

The plot follows Freed’s descent into addiction, as he steps over friends and family to pay off his ever increasing debts. It soon becomes apparent that Caan is too much of a thrill-seeker to ever stop, needing to be close to self-destruction to feel alive.

Caan gives a powerful and convincing performance in a movie where you do feel sympathy for Freed and his addiction, despite his willingness to break his mother’s heart and gamble away the money she lends him.

That Gambler concludes our top 10 gambling-themed movies. Why not rent a few, pick up some tips and let them inspire you to win big here at Littlewoods Casino. We have a huge range of internet casino games available to play right now (including roulette casino games), with cash prizes and other great jackpots paying out daily.

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