Casinos in the Movies

By Jonathon Corless Guest Blogger

Casinos have been featured in many movies through the years, and those movies have varied somewhat in quality from first-rate to quite poor. However, here are five from the first category, although they are very different from each other. In chronological order, they are:

Casino (1995)

Martin Scorsese directs this brutal story of how organized crime built and controlled the casinos of the Las Vegas Strip. The movie stars Sharon Stone (she won a Golden Globe and earned an Academy Award nominatino for her role), Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. The story is, unsurprisingly, a very violent one, and it is based on real life.

Croupier (1998)

Clive Owen stars in this Mike Hodges film about a London card dealer (or croupier). Jack Manfred (Owen) is a struggling writer who takes a job as a casino dealer. He meets a beautiful female gambler and they plot a heist on the casino. To say any more would be a spoiler, but the film is certainly worth watching and received high critical acclaim.

Ocean's Eleven (original, 1960, remake, 2001)

The original was released in 1960 and tells the story of several casino robberies carried out over a single New Year's Eve. It stars Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Dean Martin. Unfortunately, all the money gets cremated alongside the body of one of the robbers.

Steven Soderbergh directed the 2001 remake with a cast that included Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and George Clooney. It was a major box office hit, grossing nearly $500 million

The Cooler (2003)

William H. Macy stars in Wayne Kramer's film as Bernie Lootz, a born loser who is employed by the casino to sit with and, as a consequence, reverse the good fortune of big winners. He has an affair with a waitress, and the whole thing gets very complicated. Overall, it is a good movie, though far from being a great one, and Macy falls short in his play for laughs.

Casino Royale (2006)

Some think that this is one of the best James Bond films, though opinions are divided. Daniel Craig plays 007, and the film also stars Judi Dench, John Cleese and Mads Mikkelsen. It covers the early part of Bond's role as a secret agent and was a major box office hit, grossing $600 million in total.

There are plenty of films that show casinos, and if you get the urge to play, you can visit the Lucky Nugget. It may not be the Bellagio or Caesars Palace, but it is certainly at the head of the table when it comes to online gaming.

This content was written by Jonathon Corless, who is a freelance copywriter for the technology & gaming industry.