Let me entertain you. There are many ways we find entertainment; it could be live performances at gigs or theatres. Of course, going to the movies is a popular choice too. And then there is the truly interactive entertainment – a trip to the casino, where you are not just entertained but are an integral part of the action. The thrill of taking a punt and the glamour of the casino mean there are plenty of screenplays revolving around casino and gambling action.
Lady Luck Was There for Sinatra
Some stories fulfill all the possible ways to be entertained with song, dance, live action, and gambling rolled into one theatrical piece. Guys and Dolls are set in a period of gambling prohibition and follow the stories of hardman gamblers Sky Masterson and Nathan Detroit and their fixation with Craps. But it is a love story too. The original musical was a stage version, and then the movie came out with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine. How much can more entertainment be rolled into one show? Nathan, played by Sinatra, sings the ultimate gambler’s wish, Luck Be A Lady. It became one of his go-to numbers when he reinvented himself as Las Vegas’s favorite and most enduring entertainer.
The Golden Age for Musicals
Guys and Dolls may not have been the first Hollywood movie to feature gambling. It did not even happen in a casino, as they had to go underground to shoot craps, but it marks a key moment in the historical link between gambling and cinema. It was 1955, and cinema’s Golden Age was losing some of its glitters, but it was the Golden Age for musicals. Nevertheless, gambling remained an essential storyline in many blockbuster movies over the next sixty years.
The Name is Bond, James Bond
1967 was the year that cinema-goers saw the launch of the film that would forever link casinos and glamour to action and adventure. Casino Royal made off the pages of the Ian Fleming novel and into movie theaters. The film’s plot revolves around the newly licensed James Bond, 007, playing against a master criminal, Le Chiffre. The prize will be to topple Le Chiffre’s organized crime gang. It is hard to think of playing for higher stakes than that.
However, Casino Royale was not the first Bond movie released or the first to see the secret agent at the games tables. He played at licensed real money casinos in Dr. No in 1962 and Thunderball in 1965. The casino scene has become a staple of a good James Bond movie. Although it is not quite as regular as a death-defying car chase or a series of mind-bending gadgets, there is gambling action in any number of the movies. In Diamonds are Forever, Bond plays Craps. Golden Eye has Bond playing Baccarat against a beautiful Russian Spy. He has to be a dab hand at Backgammon in Octopussy. In this movie, his opponent is playing with loaded dice, so Bond needs a bit of Nathan Detroit’s luck to pull through.
Some Seriously Bright MIT Students
The protagonists in the 2008 film 21 are not relying on luck. Instead, this movie is based on a real-life story about a group of MIT students taught by their professor how to count cards and beat the dealer in Vegas. The main character in the film wins a place at the prestigious university but cannot afford the $300,000 tuition fees. This high-action heist sees a group of incredibly bright students outwit the casino and their tutor but face a good deal of peril along the way. They require disguises and a considerable amount of nerve to win the biggest prize.
21 is Not the Only Number in Town
Ocean’s Eleven was another type of heist altogether. Starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, the 2001 version was a remake of the Ratpack’s 1960 movie. The original film starred the one and only Frank Sinatra alongside Dean Martin and Sammy Davies Jr. It seems that Sinatra had more than a passing relationship with films about gambling and Las Vegas, but that is another story. Ocean’s Eleven tells of an elaborate and audacious plan to rob three Vegas casinos in one fell swoop.
The Sting – the movie with a twist in the tale
Not every gambling movie is set in such glitzy surroundings as the most famous casinos in the world. The renowned con movie The Sting was set in depression-era Chicago. It stars the irrepressible duo of the time, Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Released in 1973, the film is a joyous caper where they play a pair of professional grifters who are out to con a notorious mob boss. This is no short-term plan but what is known as a long-con. The couple plans to do it so neatly that he won’t even know he has been conned.
Movies and gambling have so much common ground; they go together and shape each other’s stories. However, there are no movie theaters on Las Vegas’s hallowed Strip. You have to go a few blocks back to watch a film. It seems that Sin City doesn’t want its tourists distracted from the action by the silver screen.