We love nothing more than a flutter at the bookies, or a spin of the roulette wheel at the casino. If you do then you should really check this site out. In the meantime, From high stakes games at the casino Royale, to the seedy strips of downtown Vegas, Here's out pick of the best gambing movies out there....
Rounders
A fine 90s pick, this movie sees a young Matt Damon playing a student who pays for his college fees
by mastering the fine art of poker for big stakes. With some big names including John Malkovich, Edward Norton and John Tutturo, it has some big set pieces including a final, big stakes game which raises the pressure.
Casino
Continuing the rich vein that Scorsese was plowing at his best after Goodfellas, this movie sees De Niro and Pesci team up again for a tale of mob controlled casinos in Vegas. Just remember, Paul Verhoven was making Showgirls at the same time, about the same city! With a Rolling Stones soundtrack, great acting, and Sharon Stone, what else could a boy ask for?
Hard Eight
Paul Thomas Anderson's first bit feature film is an underrated classic, and involves down and outs in Vegas, gambling debts, hustlers and prostitutes, as you'd expect. With a cast including John C Reilly, Gwneth Paltrow, the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Phil Baker Hall, it has many of the classic hallmarks of a PTA flick. A hark back to the character driven auteur style movies of the 1970s, there's some great dialogue, and it's a great first mark for the man who would go on to make Boogie Nights next.
Croupier
Starring a young Clive Owen (or should that be Clive Warren?) about a man who is a croupier by night, and writes in the daytime. His existing girlfriend is usurped by a head turning Alex Kingston (River Song of Dr Who), who wants to bet against the house and bring it down. With the classic line 'hold on tightly, let go lightly', it's a great showcase for a young actor who would go on to be in some amazing movies, not least Children of Men.
The Colour Of Money
Another Scorsese flick, this 80s movie starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in which the old pool hustler takes on a protege is the stuff the decade was made of. Newman won the Academy award for the leading role of 'Fast Eddie', which he reprised from the Hustler (1961), which is, by all accounts, the better movie. By the time of this movie Eddie is a retired salesman, and spots the potential in Cruise's character, spurring him on with advice and admonition including "pool excellence is not about excellent pool." Coming of age and the battle between young and old all make an appearance.
The Hustler
based on the Walter Tevis novel of 1959, some 20 plus years earlier, Newman played "fast Eddie" in the original movie The Hustler. It's all about a pool shark who moves from town to town hustling locals for all they're worth. Like all great gambling movies, it's really about winning and losing as a metaphor for life. It's also a insight into winning and losing at the heart of the American dream.
