The Best Casino Scenes In Movies
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 30 March 2017 12:38
- Written by Lupe R Haas
Casino
Casino is the most famous and probably the best movie ever made about casinos. Directed by Martin Scorsese and released in 1995, the film starred Robert de Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent and has been the movie night viewing of choice for fans of cinema across the globe ever since. In addition to being a pitch perfect crime thriller, a large part of Casino’s appeal is that many of the characters in the film are based on real people. Centering around de Niro’s character Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein and his ex-wife Ginger, (based on the Chicago organized crime associate Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal), the film tells the tale of Sam’s struggle to run the Tangiers Casino. The movie is an epic and we’re hard pushed to choose just one great scene from it, but if we had to it would be the ‘Get your feet off the table’ scene. Breaking all the rules of etiquette in the casino, a cowboy rests his bootless feet atop one of the felt-lined blackjack tables only to pay for his disrespect when he’s ejected head first through the casino doors.
Casino Royale
The 2006 ‘007’ reboot that launched Daniel Craig as a leaner and meaner James Bond, was directed by Martin Campbell and introduced Bond to a new generation of movie goers. Based on Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel of the same name, the plot focuses on a newly licensed to kill Bond and his involvement in a high stakes poker game at a Monte Carlo casino with Mads Mikklesen’s Le Chiffre, a man known to the British Secret Service as a financer of terrorism. Aided by French police officer Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and HM Treasury liaison officer Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), Bond’s aim is to beat Le Chiffre and render him bankrupt before persuading him to work for MI6. A true spectacle, each casino scene in the movie is followed by action and suspense but the best scene is when Bond, after initially losing and being poisoned, wins hands down with a straight flush.
Run Lola Run
This conceptually stunning film left movie goers breathless after its release in 2000. Directed by Tom Tykwer, the film follows the titular heroine as she sprints through the streets of Berlin with just 20 minutes to raise a ransom for her two-bit criminal boyfriend. Starring Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu and Heino Ferch, Run Lola Run is a movie made with pure adrenaline. In one rare moment during the film, Lola pays a visit to an upmarket casino, her unkempt attire completely at odds with the tuxedoed casino goers around her. Their distain doesn’t last for too long when after winning big at the roulette wheel she lets out an eardrum-shattering scream!
Rain Man
This Academy Award-winning 80s classic, directed by Barry Levinson, follows two brothers – Charlie Babbit (Tom Cruise) and autistic Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) as they go on a life-changing trip across America following the death of their father. Loved by movie buffs everywhere, this movie also contains the last of our top casino scenes. Suited and booted, the pair get fortunate when Raymond’s savant abilities mean that they start winning big, drawing in crowds of onlookers in their droves. Although it doesn’t end well when they’re accused of counting cards, this particular scene really does sum up what a casino in the movies should be.
