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Tips from our SportsBook expert
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Top 10 Gambling Movies of All Time
From Elvis to Redford/Newman to Pitt--and, okay, they're not all just about gambling!
By Kimberly Potts
Looking to take over the operation of a big-deal casino? Planning a major heist with a few pals? Or maybe you're an internationally famous singer who's about to play the role of a singin', dancin', romancin' Vegas race-driver?
Pull up a chair and break out the Raisinettes. You'll find everything you need in these--the most exciting, best-acted and most fun-to-watch gambling-lifestyle blicks ever made. Trust us ... they're all winners!
10.
Viva Las Vegas
(Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, 1964)
Okay, so it's not technically a movie about gambling. It is all about the oeuvre of Las Vegas, and it's chock full of casinos and dazzling showgirl showrooms!
In the most successful of his many cheesy movies, Elvis is Lucky Jackson, a racer who's breezed into town to take his chances in the Grand Prix. The real deal: It's all a thinly plotted excuse to put E in a fast car, in a fast town, with a fast lady: gorgeous and feisty swim instructor Rusty (Ann-Margret, who was gettin' lucky with Elvis off-screen during production).
And we can't forget the dance sequences and fast tunes, including the hip-swinging couple's duet on "The Lady Loves Me" (the one where Elvis ends up in the pool), "What'd I Say" (the one with E and A-M in their matching yellow outfits) and, of course, "Viva Las Vegas," the unofficial song of Sin City.
The jackpot scene: The big race, which takes the drivers right down the middle of the brightly lit Strip and around the Hoover Dam. Do Elvis and his hunka hunka speeding metal finish the contest victorious? Duh.
9.
Rounders
(Matt Damon, Edward Norton, 1998)
Want a simple explanation of No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em poker? Rounders gambler-turned-law student Mike McDermott (Damon) provides it in the movie's opening moments ... right before he demonstrates, in a devastating hand of poker, how easy and quick it is to lose $25,000 in one misread of a fellow player.
Mike quickly vows that he's retired as a gambler, and takes a truck driving job to pay his tuition. Then along comes Worm (Norton), his childhood pal, who's sprung from jail and looking for Mike to help him pay off some hefty debts. It doesn't take a lot of persuasion before Mike is out of retirement and making the rounds of some high-stakes games.
Though director John Dahl (The Last Seduction) doesn't skimp on showing the seedier elements of the professional-gambler lifestyle and of the dire circumstances a losing player can quickly find himself in, the movie's also somewhat refreshing. Ultimately, Mike is forced to admit that he's been turning his back on the game because other people have a problem with it. What Mike wants: to chuck law school and head off to Vegas for the World Series of Poker.
The jackpot scene: Mike's $60,000 poker triumph over KGB (John Malkovich), who beat him in the movie's opening game. Damon, who prepared for the movie by playing in the World Series of Poker (where he lost to legend Doyle Brunson), conveys with a simple facial expression the exact second Mike knows he has KGB, and it's as thrilling and satisfying a moment as you'll find in any movie about poker.
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