Gambling

Gambling is often a taboo hobby. I am not a gambler myself, though I have come to enjoy playing poker and other various card games for fun, which got me thinking about the idea for a movie marathon related to gambling. Poker is too narrow a topic, but expanding it to include the exploration of what makes a gambler, in all facets, from sports betting to casino games, etc, as well as Las Vegas and casino based stories, I think this should make for a fascinating marathon!

Hollywood often romanticizes gamblers, while also highlighting their deficiencies. Jack Binion, a famous Las Vegas casino owner once said, “Let’s face it, gambling is a very romantic activity. Movies reflect what people are looking for. Well, I wonder how many gamblers a big star like Clark Gable played in his career. We all daydream about people doing something we are a litle bit afraid to do, and we make heroes of those who pull it off.”

I hope you will follow along and enjoy!

  1. Poker at Dawson City (James H. White, 1899)
  2. The Last Deal (DW Griffiths, 1910)
  3. A Cure for Pokeritis (Laurence Trimble, 1912)
  4. The Cold Deck (William S. Hart & Clifford Smith, 1917)
  5. White Oak (Lambert Hillyer, 1921)
  6. Smart Money (Alfred E. Green, 1931)
  7. The Cheat (George Abbott, 1931)
  8. Mr. Lucky (H.C. Potter, 1943)
  9. Flame of Barbary Coast (Joseph Kane, 1945)
  10. The Lady Gambles (Michael Gordon, 1949)
  11. The Great Sinner (Robert Siodmak, 1949)
  12. Any Number Can Play (Mervyn LeRoy, 1949)
  13. Dark City (William Dieterle, 1950)
  14. A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951)
  15. The Las Vegas Story (Robert Stevenson, 1952)
  16. The Mississippi Gambler (Rudolph Mate, 1953)
  17. Guys and Dolls (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1955)
  18. The Man with the Golden Arm (Otto Preminger, 1955)
  19. Bob le Flambeur (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1956)
  20. Ocean’s Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960)
  21. The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961)
  22. Bay of Angels (Jacques Demy, 1963)
  23. Any Number Can Win (Henri Verneuil, 1963)
  24. Viva Las Vegas (George Sidney, 1964)
  25. The Cincinnati Kid (Norman Jewison, 1965)
  26. A Big Hand for the Little Lady (Fielder Cook, 1966)
  27. Kaleidoscope (Jack Smight, 1966)
  28. Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg, 1967)
  29. The Odd Couple (Gene Saks, 1968)
  30. 5 Card Stud (Henry Hathaway, 1968)
  31. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman, 1971)
  32. The Scopone Game (Luigi Comencini, 1972)
  33. The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973)
  34. Thursday’s Game (Robert Moore, 1974)
  35. California Split (Robert Altman, 1974)
  36. The Gambler (Karel Reisz, 1974)
  37. The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (John Cassavetes, 1976)
  38. The Gambler (Dick Lowry, 1980)
  39. Atlantic City (Louis Malle, 1980)
  40. Ace (Franco Castellano & Giuseppe Moccia, 1981)
  41. Lookin’ to Get Out (Hal Ashby, 1982)
  42. Easy Money (James Signorelli, 1983)
  43. Tricheurs (Barbet Schroeder, 1984)
  44. Christmas Present (Pupi Avati, 1986)
  45. The Color of Money (Martin Scorsese, 1986)
  46. Poker Alice (Arthur Allan Seidelman, 1987)
  47. The Big Town (Ben Bolt, 1987)
  48. House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)
  49. Let It Ride (Joe Pytka, 1989)
  50. God of Gamblers (Wong Jing, 1989)
  51. Havana (Sydney Pollack, 1990)
  52. Run (Geoff Burrowes, 1991)
  53. Bugsy (Barry Levinson, 1991)
  54. Honeymoon in Vegas (Andrew Bergman, 1992)
  55. The Music of Chance (Philip Haas, 1993)
  56. Maverick (Richard Donner, 1994)
  57. Leaving Las Vegas (Mike Figgis, 1995)
  58. Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)
  59. Hard Eight (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996)
  60. Follow the Bitch (Julian Stone, 1996)
  61. Swingers (Doug Liman, 1996)
  62. Vegas Vacation (Stephen Kessler, 1997)
  63. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998)
  64. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam, 1998)
  65. Croupier (Mike Hodges, 1998)
  66. Rounders (John Dahl, 1998)
  67. Luckytown (Paul Nicholas, 2000)
  68. Finder’s Fee (Jeff Probst, 2001)
  69. 3000 Miles to Graceland (Demian Lichtenstein, 2001)
  70. Ocean’s Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001)
  71. The Good Thief (Neil Jordan, 2002)
  72. The Cooler (Wayne Kramer, 2003)
  73. High Roller: The Stu Unger Story (A.W. Vidmer, 2003)
  74. Owning Mahowny (Richard Kwietniowski, 2003)
  75. Shade (Damian Nieman, 2003)
  76. The Card Player (Dario Argento, 2004)
  77. Revolver (Guy Ritchie, 2005)
  78. Freeze Out (MJ Loheed, 2005)
  79. Two for the Money (D.J. Caruso, 2005)
  80. Even Money (Mark Rydell, 2006)
  81. All In (Nick Vallelonga, 2006)
  82. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006)
  83. Lucky You (Curtis Hanson, 2007)
  84. My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar-Wai, 2007)
  85. The Grand (Zak Penn, 2007)
  86. Deal (Gil Cates, Jr., 2008)
  87. 21 (Robert Luketic, 2008)
  88. The Hangover (Todd Phillips, 2009)
  89. Saint John of Las Vegas (Hue Rhodes, 2009)
  90. Poker King (Chan Hing-Kar & Janet Chun Siu Jan, 2009)
  91. La Tueuse (Rodolphe Tissot, 2010)
  92. Hitting the Nuts (Joe Boyd, 2010)
  93. Grinders (Matt Gallagher, 2011)
  94. Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (Bryan Storkel, 2011)
  95. Guns, Girls and Gambling (Michael Winnick, 2011)
  96. Lay the Favorite (Stephen Frears, 2012)
  97. All In: The Poker Movie (Douglas Tirola, 2012)
  98. Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik, 2012)
  99. Drawing Dead (Mike Weeks, 2013)
  100. Bet Raise Fold (Ryan Firpo, 2013)
  101. Runner Runner (Brad Furman, 2013)
  102. Last Vegas (Jon Turtletaub, 2013)
  103. Gutshot Straight (Justin Steele, 2014)
  104. Poker Night (Greg Francis, 2014)
  105. The Gambler (Rupert Wyatt, 2014)
  106. Mississippi Grind (Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck, 2015)
  107. KidPoker (Francine Watson & Gary Davis, 2015)
  108. Cold Deck (Zack Bernbaum, 2015)
  109. Win It All (Joe Swanberg, 2017)
  110. The House (Andrew J. Cohen, 2017)
  111. Molly’s Game (Aaron Sorkin, 2017)
  112. Cracking Aces (H. James Gilmore, 2018)
  113. The Devilfish (Marc Reeks, 2019)
  114. Uncut Gems (Josh & Benny Safdie, 2019)
  115. Poker Queens (Sandra Mohr, 2020)
  116. The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2020)
  117. The Baccarat Machine (TBD)