If you like gambling in casinos, then in your down time, one of the many things you’ll likely be doing is watching casino and gambling movies. But over the past few decades what are some of the very best casino movies that are a must-see. It is a lot of fun to go back and look at the movies that have stood the test of time even to this day. Some of the casino movies in this list are based on true-life events and real people for even more captivating viewing.
Casino
- Released in 2007, the “Dead Man’s Hand” is arguably the most iconic casino-themed movie. Its tagline says it all- “casino of the damned.” Needless to say, if you love to play online casino games, noaccountcasino.xyz, you’ll love this one!
- All Harry Potter Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer. Holiday Movie Guide 2020. a cowboy has his sock-feet on a table in the casino to.
Casino isn’t your typical gambling movie. Casino, which is directed by Martin Scorsese, doesn’t show the typical high-stakes gambling action you’d expect to see when watching a good gambling movie, but rather depicts what goes on behind the scenes of a mob-controlled casino gaming establishment. Like Scorsese’s mob film The Godfather, it feels like you’re eavesdropping on a secret place, and it makes for a great film.
Casino Royale, arguably one of the best Bond films ever, is of course available for streaming as is the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Owning Mahowny. Croupier is available on the American, Canadian and Brazilian versions of Netflix, so British viewers will have to turn to the good old fashioned DVD to enjoy this gambling movie.
It depicts part of the story of the mob’s activities in Las Vegas before the casinos were purchased by big corporations. It’s based on a book by the same name penned by Nicholas Pileggi, who tells the true story of a man who had run four Mafia controlled casinos in Las Vegas back before the big corps got involved.
Rounders
Rounders is the poker movie. Within poker circles, no other movie comes close to depicting the game. Starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton, like other movies in the genre, it revolves around the story of a gambler who falls into debt and needs one big score to get out of the hole. The unpredictably of a gambling movie’s plot is usually the ending; the gambler either overcomes all the odds getting even on his debts, or they don’t.
In Rounders, Matt Damon’s character tries to get his friend Worm (Edward Norton) out of debt after getting released from prison, and build his own bankroll to make a run at the WSOP Main Event. The two play a lot of poker in underground poker clubs in New York City. Some of Damon’s best scenes are when he plays heads-up against Teddy KGB. The movie ends with an upbeat statement with Damon’s character saying: “First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million bucks. Does it have my name on it? Craps come bet odds. I don’t know. … But I’m gonna find out.”
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California Split is an old 1974 flick. Directed by Robert Altman, the movie revolves around a pair of gamblers, Elliott Gould (Charlie Waters) and George Segal (Bill Denny). Elliott Gould rooms with two prostitutes. Both of them try to raise enough cash which they can pool together in order to take a trip to Reno so that Bill can win money in a high stakes poker game, and to satisfy his gambler’s fix. One of the players in the high stakes game was Amarillo Slim, who was portraying himself.
Bill books a $18,000 win in Reno and convinces himself that he is running well. He decides to also play blackjack and roulette and wins even more money, finally ending up at the craps table to build up a $82,000 stack. However, something happens at the craps table, Bill becomes drained and is almost feeling apathetic. They split their winnings and he tells Charlie he is going home and they separate ways.
The Cooler
The unluckiest man in Las Vegas, Bernie Lootz played by William H. Macy, is used by a mob run casino to kill high stakes action at the tables. Everything was going well, until Bernie, a washed up gambling addict, falls in love with a cocktail waitress working at the casino, and everything gets reserved. Things become more complicated due to the reappearance of his no-good son who comes looking for a handout.
It is a story about love, luck, gambling, ego and redemption. Bernie’s struggles are played out against the casino’s cultural battles between the Vegas of old, which is represented by Alec Baldwin’s character, Shelly Kaplow, and the new owners who are wanting to turn the casino into a family attraction that isn’t so reliant on gambling revenues.
The Gambler
The Gambler is a 2014 film which is based on the 1974 film The Gambler. The new film stars Mark Wahlberg (Jim Bennett) and John Goodman. Wahlberg plays a literature college professor and gambler who is down on his luck at the time.
The film tells the story of how Jim tries to get his life back in order. This was not a typical role for Wahlberg. Instead of playing a likeable character like you role you would expect him to sink his teeth into, in The Gambler he highlighted his flaws, playing a more imperfect character. During Jim’s lecture sessions, he discussed ideas such as desire and what it means to be happy, which really added to the film’s overall theme and character motives.
Mississippi Grind
Mississippi Grind is a 2015 gambling movie featuring Ben Mendelsohn (Gerry) and Ryan Reynolds (Curtis) that revolves around poker, and even though it’s no Rounders, but it’s one of the best movies released in 2015 nonetheless.
The film is about a down on his luck gambler that is facing financial hardship. Convinced he was a good luck charm, Gerry teams up with a young and charismatic poker player he had met in a poker game. The two have visions of going on a road trip to Mississippi, New Orleans, to play in private games and hit casinos/racetracks at the same time, chasing a big payday. It is a film that depicts gambling debauchery that gamblers relate so well to. A must-watch of this Casino Movies list if you haven’t already. You’ll likely want to watch if a few times.
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Ocean’s Eleven
A remake of a 1960 Ocean’s Eleven movie that originally starred the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin and Davis, among others). The 2011 Ocean’s Eleven movie featured an all-star cast of actors, including the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia and Don Cheadle. It is an over-the-top heist film and it never really tries to take itself very seriously. Ocean’s Eleven tells the story of how eleven robbers plan and then execute three casino robberies at the same time in Las Vegas in this action-packed and suspenseful film that makes for great drama.
The Cincinnati Kid
The Cincinnati Kid is a 1965 film directed by Norman Jewison. It is about an up and coming stud poker player who tries to prove himself against The Man (Edward G. Robinson) in a private poker game, ‘The Man’ was the reigning poker champion and a master of the game. Tired of the chicken feed, Eric Stoner (Steve McQueen), who is known as the “Cincinnati Kid,” decides he wants to build up his reputation by playing against the best player that was known in poker circles. Upon its release, the movie was favourably reviewed by critics.
21
21 which is directed by Robert Luketic details the true story of six MIT students who were trained to count cards and their subsequent Las Vegas antics, taking Vegas casinos for millions of dollars. Then the secretive blackjack team got greedy and their situation takes an ugly turn.
In the movie, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is the main character. He is a highly intelligent MIT student with a strong drive to succeed. After learning that he cannot front up the $300,000 to become a doctor, an opportunity presents itself when he was invited into the highly exclusive MIT Blackjack Team.
Other students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher were already training in preparation for the Vegas card counting trips, and Ben who was intrigued by making money to pay for tuition, became the sixth member of the team. During blackjack training, the team members developed code talk and hand signals so they could know the count at all times and adjust their bets accordingly.
According to Kevin Spacey (Micky Rosa), the math professor and leader of the MIT blackjack team, as part of their research during filming of the movie, they took some real players from the original MIT Blackjack Team to Las Vegas.
High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story
Movie Casino Best Scenes
High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is a documentary based on the rise and fall of Stu Ungar who died in 1998 as a result of heart complications due to drug abuse. Stu Ungar was a genius of a poker player, and the youngest player to win the World Series of Poker.
He is arguably the best poker player of all time, and well ahead of his time and a real game changer. Stu was one of the first poker players to know how to use aggression in No-Limit Texas Hold’em effectively, a style that has been copied by countless players since. Doyle Brunson shared Stu Ungar’s poker philosophy, endorsing an aggressive playing style which he talks about in his own books.
Casino glamour and life style has always been a fascinating subject and a frequently exploited theme in different artistic fields, including casino movies.
There are numerous novels and even songs dedicated to bohemian lives of gamblers and the adrenaline rush that such existence implies. From Dostoyevsky’s novel The Gambler to the legendary song House of the Rising Sun, they all capture the passion and illusive triumphs of casino dwellers.
Still, the true grit and essence of a casino and the exciting yet turbulent lives of its visitors is probably best captured by the 7th art – the art of motion pictures. In this list we will include the best and most impactful movies set under the promising and enticing casino lights.
Casino Movies: “Ocean’s 11”
Probably an inspiration to all subsequent similarly themed movies (at least to a certain extend) “Ocean’s 11” has without a doubt put together the coolest and more charismatic cast than any other movie in the cinematic history. This remark alone is enough to make you realize we are not talking about the 2001 remake which tried to replicate the charm of the original product.
Consisting of the acting profession royalties and infamous members of Rat Pack that everybody wanted to be a part of, “Ocean’s 11” features Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Angie Dickinson and other Hollywood legends that used to grace the silver screens. House off fun.
The plot revolves around Danny Ocean’s scheme to rip off Las Vegas casinos at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s eve, with his crew of war veterans.
The story unfolds with all of the character’s different motives coming into the mix, finally culminating on the night of the heist.
A Classic…
Although the movie itself did not rank well as a cinematic achievement due to plot inconsistencies, it is still a classic in its on rite. After all, who of us did not fantasize about outsmarting a casino. In addition to that, it has brought us some of the most iconic scenes in the history of movie making, where the casino with its lavish scenery and unruly crowd is equally important as any other character.
Our personal favourite is the casino walk through scene, where Frank Sinatra casually strolls across the room with hands in his pockets, surrounded by beautiful and glamorous women sitting at blackjack and roulette tables.
“Ocean’s 11” 2001 Remake
It would not be fair to exclude the “Ocean’s Eleven” 2001 version from the list. Although failing to revive the spirit of the original, the script and the plot deserve to be mentioned and placed on any list counting down the most prominent casino movies.
Best Casino Movies Imdb
Dealing with the heist on a higher level, “Ocean’s Eleven” remake is a much more elaborated project with a thicker storyline. And one can hardly judge the cast members for not having the sort of effortless “cool” and poise of their predecessors.
Considering the iconic status of the original crew, they had some large shoes to fill, but luckily, the scheme to rob the casinos was placed in the centre of the stage, diverting your attention to the plan’s brilliant simplicity. We are not however deprived of the Sin City’s bright lights and its casinos’ grandeur.
Casino Movies II: “Casino Royale”
The same grandeur that was so impeccably portrayed in “Casino Royale”, a James Bond sequel with truly memorable visual delights.
On a mission to defeat a super villain and a weapon dealer in a high stake poker game in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig as Mr Bond has us all on the edge of our seats, with his strong figure, expressionless face and ice cold blue eyes, glaring at his arch-enemy across the poker table.
The casino scenesare spectacular to say the least – the extravagance, the decadence and glorified indulgence of all senses, the blinding lights reflecting of the roulette wheels and expensive gowns of casino beauties, and finally, the smooth and elegant 007 at a poker table with an aura of mystery and danger around him – the experience one can only seek and find in the midst of tobacco clouded casino rooms.
Casino Movies III: “21”
A slightly less romantic turn on the lives of casino clientele is a 2008 movie “21”, inspired by true events of the infamous MIT team.
The story centres on a brilliant technology student, Ben, who earns his tuition by counting cards together with the group of his equally bright and gifted classmates.
Led by their professor, the group develops a complex and successful network of signals, and we watch the protagonist slowly spiralling down the road of luxury and deception, sacrificing along the way a part of his life that does not belong to the casino.
Here, we see a different side of gambling, one that is dynamic, greedy and dangerous, but still strangely enticing.
The scene where Ben slowly paces among casino tables, “reading” his crew members’ signals before sitting at the blackjack table and beginning to count cards is probably the best portrayal of the rush and appeal of casino gambling.
Casino Movies IV: “Casino”
What better way to end this list then with the movie where the casino is the lead and the actors are merely the supporting characters.
In Martin Scorsese’s 1995 masterpiece “Casino” we witness the rise and fall of three main characters whose lives are contrasted against Tangiers Casino, the embodiment of glam, sin, fast life and quick success.
Looking at how their lives intertwine, leading all three to an inevitable downfall, we can’t help but feel that the casino platform is more than just a centre stage – it is rather a character of its own that will continue to live, breath and entice long after the protagonists are dethroned and forgotten.
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Casino here is both the starting and the ending point, forever seducing the moths and burning them with its merciless flame.
So far, this remains one of the best and the most authentic casino movies ever made, brilliantly exposing a side of Las Vegas glamour hidden under Sin City’s blinding lights.
Last, we cannot finish our review with the best Poker movie of all times, The Rounders with Matt Damon and Edward Norton.