10 GREATEST GAMBLING MOVIES
Gambling has always been an
interesting subject for a film adaptation. The gambling means not only the act
of gambling, sitting at a machine or roulette and investing / acquiring /
losing money, but also deceiving, searching for money, constant pressure,
conflict and disruption of relations with others, and often, to fraud. All
together makes an ideal combination for a great action and drama.
Here are ten movies about gamblers that have received a high
aggregate critical rating. Films are listed in order of their critical ranking, from
lowest to highest.
10) Hard Eight (1996)
Before striking gold in 1997 with Boogie Nights, cerebral
American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson debuted with Hard Eight, a pared-back
drama about a pro gambler past his prime. Just how a first-time director managed
to assemble this all-star cast – which includes Samuel L Jackson and the
sadly-deceased Philip Seymour Hoffman – is a mystery, but certainly pays
dividends. Hard Eight is an indie gem that combines black as the ace of spades
humour with a knowing study of high-stakes casino gambling.
9) Owning Mahowny (2003)
This semi-fictional tale of bank
manager turned criminal gambler is a glimmering star vehicle for Phillip
Seymour Hoffman who owns every moment of Owning Mahowny. The title character’s
gradual descent into the dark recesses of addiction stands as a grave warning
to us all that never feels preachy or condemnatory. Meanwhile, director Richard
Kwietniowski employs sparse direction to downplay any sense of glamour in
favour of a very human story of vice overcoming a man’s soul. You won’t leave
this movie elated, but it’s sure to stick with you.
8) Croupier (1998)
Poor Clive Owen. Where did it all
go wrong? The guy was a national treasure with some awesome roles under his
belt, but a few too many dodgy projects have stripped him of his former glory.
Still, at least he’ll always have Croupier. Jack Manfred (Owen) is a struggling
writer who takes a job as a casino croupier to make ends meet. Subsequently,
he’s sucked into a story of dark intrigue involving robbery, murder and deadly
double-crossing. Owen oozes cool in the main role and the movie ingeniously
uses the blackjack tables as a metaphor for the nature of fate, chance and
happenstance in defining his life.
7) The Gambler (1974)
While a bloody good film by any
standard, The Gambler is also a major downer, coming at a time when smiles were
banned in Hollywood. James Caan stars as Axel Freed, an English professor whose
problem gambling rapidly spirals out of control. With $44,000 in debts and a
psychopathic bookie breathing down his neck, Freed resorts to desperate
measures to try and balance the books.The film was apparently a favourite of
Caan’s who commented: "It's not easy to make people care about a guy who
steals from his mother to pay gambling debts." Damn right, and you pulled
it off, buddy.
6) Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
Another talented actor who’s
wasted the last decade on absolute rubbish, Johnny Depp does a cracking job in
this iconic performance as drug-addled journo Raoul Duke. In the film, Duke and
his buddy Dr Gonzo embark on a psychedelic voyage to Vegas in search of riches,
glamour and the American Dream. Freely adapted by Terry Gilliam from the Hunter
S Thompson masterpiece, Fear And Loathing remains a filthy pleasure to behold,
portraying Sin City as a surreal dreamscape through the eyes of its whacked out
protagonists. If that sounds like your kind of thing, pop a pill and give this
one a look. It’s far out, man.
5) The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Not until Casino Royale in 2006
would poker be so engagingly portrayed on film. Norman Jewison’s direction
perfectly captures the tense excitement of seeing the pot stack after the flop
and of devising the best play while keeping an eye out for tells.Steve McQueen
absolutely kills it as poker prodigy Eric ‘The Kid’ Stoner and is at his best
during the film’s iconic ‘last hand scene’ (check it out in the vid above).
Jewison later dismissed the film as an ‘ugly duckling’ and went on to enjoy
greater success with movies such as Fiddler On The Roof, Rollerball and The
Hurricane. Nevertheless, this has to be his magnum opus.
4) Rain Man (1988)
As well as being something of a comeback project for Dustin
Hoffman, Rain Man is one of the best-loved (and certainly better known)
gambling movies ever made. So, why is it way down at number four? Well, there
may be better casino flicks out there, but this shouldn’t detract from the
brilliance of Rain Man. The film’s conceit of a severely autistic introvert and
his preternatural card counting talents has been referenced and parodied so
many times, it’s all too easy to forget how great it was the first time around.
Do yourself a favour, put down that DVD of The Hangover and get the real McCoy.
3) Casino Royale (2006)
007’s stunning return to form in 2006 is simultaneously the
best entry in the entire franchise and one of the finest action movies ever,
full stop. However, central to the action of Casino Royale is the utterly
awesome high-stakes poker tournament, in which Bond fights to bankrupt
terrorist banker Le Chiffre. If you’d bet that it was possible to make 40
minutes of cinematic poker edge-of-your-seat thrilling, I would have taken you
at 100/1 odds and called you a chump. Fortunately, nobody did, so I didn’t have
to fork over my pension fund. Lucky escape.
2) Rounders (1998)
Rounders is a thing of grim
beauty. The narrative is as classic as they come: it’s the Rocky arc, with a
plucky upstart forced to bounce back after getting his backside handed to him.
However, it’s the performances that make this flick - particularly John
Malkovich’s brilliant turn as deranged gangster Teddy KGB.
1) Casino (1995)
This movie would have to make the top three if only for
Nicky Santoro. Even if literally
everything else about it was complete crap. Happily, Casino (1995) has a hell
of a lot more to it than Joe Pesci’s smart mouth. Martin Scorsese is a pretty
safe pair of hands (particularly when Mafioso are involved) and he’s on
absolute top form here. Depicting the tense relationship between Las Vegas
casinos and their criminal benefactors in the early 1970s, every aspect of this
film is brilliantly realised. The casting, direction and script are all perfect
– what more is there to say? Go watch it, unless you’re just a “low-life,
motherf**ing degenerate prick".
SOURCE: https://www.rightcasino.com/news/10-greatest-gambling-movies/
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