(Newswire.net — November 23, 2020) — Lockdown has got us all missing the ways we normally socialise. Whether it’s catching up with a friend over brunch, enjoying a night out at the bar with your colleagues, or sitting down to a game of poker at the casino, we’re all craving the usual experiences of dressing up and getting out. If you’re feeling the need to step out of your bubble and place some money on a bet, here are some classic movies to transport you to a world of high stakes, big pay-outs and stylish costumes.
Ocean’s Eleven
It’s one of the coolest movies ever made, with a truly incredible cast having the time of their lives. The fact that everyone is playing it so ridiculously cool means that you sometimes forget just how high the stakes are high. Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to execute three simultaneous heists on three different Vegas casinos- until the film suddenly gets your pulse racing. With the film shooting in the real Bellagio, it will definitely transport you out of your living room for a couple of hours
Watch if you’re: missing getting dressed up and hitting the casino floor with your friends.
Casino
There’s nothing quite like a Martin Scorsese gangster movie, and this epic story of the mob moving in on Las Vegas is one of his best. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone star in this story about what happens when mafia violence and gambling greed collide. Based on the true story about the biggest ever skimming operation that was ever stopped and the life of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal (played by De Niro in the movie), it’s a sweeping, thrilling look at the glitz and glamour of Vegas in the ‘70s and the brutal methods the mob used to keep it all running. It’s pretty violent, so maybe not for everyone…
Watch if you: want a little vintage mafia action with your gambling movie.
Swingers
Vegas, baby, Vegas! Two out of work actors find that sin city isn’t as glamorous and exciting in the middle of the night on a Wednesday in this classic cult comedy. Watching Jon Favreau sit down and immediately lose all his money at a blackjack table is a good reminder of why it’s sometimes a good thing that you don’t have to drive for four hours to a casino at the moment. Instead, you can open your laptop and play online and save yourself a lot of hassle. Visit this website for a list of the best online casinos and the best games, including blackjack, and don’t end up bitter and disappointed like Mike.
Watch if you: want to be reminded to bet carefully.
Croupier
This hugely underrated crime thriller from the director of Get Carter is a must for anyone looking for a great British gambling movie. Clive Owen stars as a novelist who takes a job as a croupier to earn some extra cash and quickly finds himself living out his own crime story as he gets involved with some shady characters. It’s dark, tense and expertly made, and famed film critic Roger Ebert praised the realistic way in which it depicted the inside of the casino world. Well, with a few extra thrills thrown in, anyway.
Watch if you: want to see what life working in a casino is really like.
Rain Man
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman star in this classic film about a selfish hustler who discovers that he has an autistic older brother he never knew about. The duo end up on a cross country road trip together, and when they find themselves in serious debt, they head to a Vegas casino. The sequence where Ray plays blackjack as Charlie anxiously watches and ends up winning $86,000 dollars is truly iconic and has been endlessly spoofed, most notably in The Hangover. Still, there’s only one original, and Hoffman and Cruise are the perfect double act in this old favourite.
Watch if you: want some heart-warming nostalgia with your bets.
Mississippi Grind
If you miss the hustle and bustle of the casino floor, you need to check out Mississippi Grind. Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds play a pair of veteran small-time gamblers who are looking for the big win that will allow them to hit the road for good, otherwise known as “Machu Picchu time.” The film (directed by future Captain Marvel duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) is a brilliant depiction of two men with everything and nothing to lose as they set off down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Gambling on the Mississippi is a historic tradition with a fascinating history and remains a must for anyone visiting the area who fancies a flutter.
Watch if you: want to root for the underdog.
Casino Royale
Admittedly, you can pick nearly any James Bond film and enjoy a brilliant casino sequence, but why not pick the one where everything is riding on a ludicrously high stakes game of Texas Hold-‘em in Montenegro. Can Bond outwit master card-player and evil arms dealer Le Chiffre? And can he enjoy inventing a signature cocktail while doing so? In a movie full of thrilling action sequences, it’s the card game that stands out as the most memorable part of the whole thing, and it will definitely make you want to place your bets.
Watch if you: miss putting on a suit and ordering a cocktail
Run Lola Run
This classic 1998 German thriller stars Franka Potente as a young woman racing against time to save her boyfriend’s life. If she doesn’t come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks in twenty minutes, he’s going to be killed by the mob boss he works for…so she’d better get running. The film’s experimental style shows three different scenarios for Lola, with the first two ending very, very badly. The third and final sequence finds her going to into a casino and gambling everything she has on roulette. As her chips stack up, she starts to draw the attention of the security team, and it all comes down to one final nail-biting roll. Lola screams as the camera dives into the table and follows the ball cannoning around…will this be the one to save the day?
Watch if you: want to see life or death stakes.