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High stakes, beautiful women, illicit acts, and fast cars… casino movies have it all. Classic gambling is exciting and provides the ideal setting for glamour, thrills, and intrigue whether it’s playing online roulette or at the casino. Countless movies have been based around gambling action while a few stand out from the rest.
Bugsy (1991): based on the life of Bugsy Siegel, one of the most famous and dreaded mobsters of his day, was an instrumental force in the development of the Las Vegas Strip and the Flamingo Hotel-Casino. Directed by Barry Levinson, and featuring Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Ben Kingsley, and Harvey Keitel, this crime-drama helps to set the stage for today’s Vegas gambling. James Toback wrote the screenplay for “Bugsy”, selecting material from Dean Jennings’ book, We Only Kill Each Other, written in 1967.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001): Directed by Steven Soderbergh, gambling intrigue comes to full-life in this remake of the “Rat Pack”.The movie stars Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Matt Damon. The action begins when Danny Ocean and his accomplices set out to simultaneously steal from three Vegas casinos. Two sequels, “Ocean Twelve” (2004) and “Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007), effectively follow up the action with additional actors and exciting twists.
Casino (1995): Mobster buddies, and a stunning trophy wife (Sharon Stone), epitomize the world of deception, power, money, and murder within a greed filled gambling empire. Martin Scorsese, at his best, based the story on historical events that took place during the height of the Mob’s activity in Las Vegas. Along with Stone, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci star in some of the most ruthless crimes scenes ever depicted on screen.
“21” (2008): The movie is based on the true story of a collegiate Blackjack Team from MIT who became expert card counters and went on to gamble in Vegas. In LV they were able to mathematically beat the system, successfully absconding with millions of dollars from Vegas casinos. Directed by Robert Luketic, “21” stars Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, and Aaron Yoo. The film was a box-office success, based on Ben Mezrich’s best-selling book, Bringing down the House. Surprisingly, MGM Studios agreed to finance the movie even though MGM Resort’s International Casinos were no longer affiliated with MGM Studios.
Casino Royal (2006): Secret Agent James Bond begins his first escapade as 007 by attempting to overthrow a munition’s dealer at the Casino Royale, in a high-stakes poker game. Daniel Craig stars as James Bond, breathing new life into the character in this action-packed thriller. The movie is a revision of the original “Casino Royal” (1967) spy-comedy starring Peter Sellers, David Niven, Ursula Andress, and Woody Allen. Directed by Martin Campbell, the remake features Eva Green, Judi Dench, and Jeffrey Wright, and provides thrilling adventures at the card table, in the bedroom, and in several hand-to-hand combat sequences.
In each of these movies beautiful casino backdrops provide the perfect setting. Tension, suspense, thrills, and millions of dollars on the line are combined with glamorous, often criminal, characters. Viewers everywhere will experience ultimate entertainment in these five iconic movies!