Best Modern Casino Scenes
Apart from the thrilling and overwhelming casino scenes where the MIT students use their skill to win money, the movie really provides a deeper insight into the gambling industry. It also shows that even if you try to turn gambling into a science, the odds are still an unpredictable as soon enough the casinos uncover their scam. The Best Casino (1995) The epic gangster movie that was directed by Martin Scorsese has a number of brilliant scenes but the stand-out one has to come when Robert De Niro’s Sam “Ace” Rothstein shows exactly why he’s the big man in his casino by dealing with a gambler who has become too big for his boots.
If you’re into casinogames, you know how exciting it could be – even if you’re just holding a coupleof cards and facing a few more. How, then, can you translate that to the bigscreen? Presumably not everyone in the audience is going to understand but onething they get is tension.
Casino Royale, Parkour in Your Face It's not that there's so much hand-to-hand in this scene, it's actually the chase that blows your mind. It's literally exhausting to watch and has gun battles. As one of the largest casinos in the state of California, Pechanga Resort & Casino rivals the best of those in Las Vegas, and even those from abroad. The 188,000-square-feet space has over 4,000 slot machines, 154 game tables and even an ultra-modern 700-seat bingo facility. No matter your style or your gambling game, Las Vegas has a casino for you. Here are 12 of the best casinos, where guests can roll the dice, eat like royalty, party like celebs and take in some.
It’s fairly common tosee scenes shot in a casino, especially if the setting is in Las Vegas. Overthe years, there have been some really good – and quite memorable – scenes notonly of casinos but of gambling itself.
Here’s a look at someof the best:
21
The movie 21is based on the best-selling book Bringing Down the House by BenMezrich. It tells the story of the MIT Blackjack Team who won lots of money bycounting cards while playing blackjack in Vegas. Despite controversies – mostlyregarding the casting – the film was a box office success.
Unlike other moviesthat feature just once major gambling scene, a good chunk of this movie takesplace in a Las Vegas casino. And the place isn’t just used as a setting;there’s actual gameplay going on.
There’s a couple ofenjoyable scenes in this movie but the final gambling scene is one of the best.Telling much more than that will risk spoiling the movie (if you still plan onseeing it despite being a little more than a decade old).
Ocean’s Eleven
There’s not a lot ofgambling in this movie but a lot of the action takes place inside a casino.After all, this film is about robbing three casinos owned by Terry Benedict,brilliantly played by Andy Garcia.
The movie doesfeature a really nice gambling scene at the beginning. It involves Brad Pitt’scharacter, Rusty, trying to teach young Hollywood actors how to play poker. Theending of this scene is pretty clever: Brad Pitt and George Clooney are bothHollywood heartthrobs but it’s the young ones who are mobbed by a crowd ofyoung girls. That, and it apparently shows that you can’t teach young Hollywoodhow to gamble.
While the youngmembers of Hollywood turned to Rusty to teach them poker, you can learn how todo so on your own. There are many places online where you can play with “fake”money until you gain enough confidence to deal with the real thing.
When you are at that stage, make sure to look at the reviews featured on Casinopedia to know which sites are worth the time and which ones are best ignored. They are a dedicated gambling site giving great reviews and guides for players in the UK. Once you’re gambling with actual money, remember to do so wisely. It’s never a good idea to blow everything you have just because you were addicted to the thrill. In other words, know when to walk away.
Casino Royale
The gambling scene inthis movie has a lot of tension. Of course, it’s a James Bond movie so therehas to be even when all the characters are seated. But Bond is gambling withmoney that is clearly not his own, all in the name of bankrupting a terroristcalled Le Chiffre. It’s a brilliantly shot scene that involves a near-deathexperience – imagine that and all over a game of poker.
Swingers
Before Jon Favreau directed the first Marvel movie, he wrote and starred in Swingers, a comedy about unemployed actors living in California during the swing revival. The film was a critical hit and launched the careers of Favreau, Vince Vaugn, and director Doug Liman.
As alluded to before,this is a scene that stresses the importance of gambling mindfully. The funnyscene at a Las Vegas casino sees the main characters lose all their $300 forbeing reckless. The loss leads to a suggestion of transferring to a table withlower stakes.
Rounders
Although this MattDamon film got mixed reviews and earned modestly at the box office, it became acult hit years later when poker boomed in the early 2000s. It explores theworld of underground high-stakes poker and for that matter, it isn’t set in acasino. A more recent film that featured this type of theme was Molly’s Gamewhich is also a good movie but it focused on Molly Bloom rather than pokerplaying.
These are just someof the films that have great casino or gambling scenes in them. While youalready know that playing cards or slots for that matter can be pretty excitingand nerve-wracking, you can trust Hollywood to replicate the experience of funand loss.
1. Sharon Stone who played Ginger suffered from bad anxiety while filming the scene with the phone booth. Martin Scorsese sat on the floor just out of the shot to hold her hand.
2. To prepare for his role and to really understand his character, Robert De Niro actually met Frank Rosenthal, who Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein was based off of.
3. The shots of the Casino imploded were actually taken from The Dunes from October 1993 and January 1994.
4. They shot the movie in an actual casino between the hours of 1am-4am so that they wouldn’t irritate or disrupt gamblers.
However it was good business for the casino after they put up a huge banner that read “Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci Filming the New Move ‘Casino’ Inside!”
5. De Niro ended up having 70 costumes throughout the making of the film, and Sharon Stone had 40. Both were allowed to keep the outfits and the costume budget totaled up to $1 million.
6. Oscar Goodman played Rothstein’s attorney, and was a lawyer in real life. It turns out that he defended multiple reputed mobsters with connections in Las Vegas, and was even elected Mayor in June 1999.
7. De Niro and Pesci did a lot of improv work – the director would say when to start and stop, but the rest was all them.
8. The counting room however was all a made up set because the film crew weren’t allowed to shoot inside of the real counting room in Riviera Casino.
9. K.K. Ichikawa (Nobu Matsuhisa) was based off of real life Akio Kashiwagi, who was big in casinos back in the 70’s and 80’s. He ended up using up all of his credit, left owing several casino executives, including Donald J. Trump, millions of dollars. In 1992 he was murdered in his home by Japanese mafia, the yakuza.
10. Nicky Santoro was put in the Black Book in the film, based off of Anthony Spilotro. However in real life it was Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, who was the inspiration for Sam, who was in the Black Book and run out of Vegas.
11. Martin Scorsese subtly hints at The Tangiers being based off of the history of the Stardust casino by playing the song ‘Stardust’ three times throughout the film.
12. Sharon Stone’s gold and white beaded gown weighed 45 pounds and caused her incredible back pain following an old injury.
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13. Pesci broke the same rib he broke while filming Raging Bull (1980) when his character Nicky was pushed into the hole in the cornfield.
14. The deputies that show up at Sam’s house after Ginger hits his car are real Las Vegas deputies who were working as security on set.
15. James Woods also used a lot of improvisation work, and it was even his idea for his character to be with a prostitute while on the phone with Ginger.
16. Woods even messaged Scorsese saying “Any time, any place, any part, any fee” after hearing he was interested in working with him.
17. Martin Scorsese hired real parolees and F.B.I agents from that era to help with constructing the plot.
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18. Producers claim that the hardest part about filming was finding gamblers who would tell them how to cheat.