TORONTO MOVIE/TV NEWS

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Popular Casino Scenes In Movies



Casinos have long been a popular setting for movies as a glamorous backdrop with plenty of potential for nail-biting drama.


Everyone knows about such iconic gambling films as "Casino" by director Martin Scorsese, but there have also been casino scenes in movies that are not about gambling, sometimes employed for comic effect or to inject tension into a film.


"James Bond" movies have featured scenes set in casinos, but the one that will most readily spring to mind for modern movie fans will be a sequence in "Casino Royale". 


The scene provides Bond with a chance to go head-to-head with villain 'Le Chiffre', also introducing the character of 'Vesper Lynd', that is pivotal to the development of the story. 


Elsewhere casino scenes have been employed for comic effect, with one of the most notable being the blackjack scene featured in the first "Austin Powers" movie. 


The scene was a parody of "Bond", with villain 'Number Two' (Robert Wagner) using his x-ray eye patch to cheat, playing on the more ridiculous gadgets utilized by both Bond and the villains in the later movies and – like the one in "Casino Royale" – it isn’t particularly realistic in its depiction of either the casino (the dealer is hopeless) or the rules of the game. The scene could have been complete with the villains in their lair playing at an online casino instead. There are other popular casino scenes in films, and it is likely to remain a staple setting in cinema for some time to come. 

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