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Gambling movies are an important part of Hollywood history. Here are the ten best gambling movie characters and the actors who portrayed them on the silver screen. We begin in the dark, smoke-filled pool halls of New York City...
George C. Scott as Bert Gordon, The Hustler (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1961)
The incomparable George C. Scott appears as Bert Gordon, a gambler and self-described businessman who takes young pool hustler "Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) under his wing. Gordon pays the expenses and arranges the matches while collecting a hefty 75% of Eddie's winnings. During Derby Week in Louisville, Gordon sets up a match between Eddie and a wealthy Kentuckian named James Findley (Murray Hamilton). And although the game is pocket billiards – and not the customary straight pool – Eddie ends up taking a shaken Findley for a cool $12,000. The ruthless Gordon later confronts Eddie following the latter's titanic win over Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) at Ames Billiards, telling him, "You owe me money!" Using those piercing eyes (when not hidden behind dark glasses) and that strong, gravelly voice, Scott convincingly portrays evil in the film, a user of people and things who makes everything around him as dead as himself. Scott earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination as the slimy Bert "I'm a businessman, kid" Gordon.
George C. Scott in The Hustler (1961) - Twentieth Century-Fox
Steve McQueen as Eric Stoner, The Cincinnati Kid (MGM, 1965)
Steve McQueen has the title role of Eric Stoner a.k.a. "The Cincinnati Kid," a young, cocky stud poker player during the Great Depression whose one burning ambition is to knock off "The Man," Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson). The Kid finally garners his chance at a New Orleans hotel, where he and Lancey are the last men standing, going at each other in a titanic head-to-head game of stud poker. When the Kid learns that Shooter (Karl Malden) is slipping him winning cards, he asks for a new dealer, the honest Lady Fingers (Joan Blondell), wanting to beat the old champion Lancey fair and square.
Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid (1965) - MGM
Matt Damon as Mike McDermott, Rounders (Miramax, 1998)
Baby-faced Matt Damon stars as Mike McDermott, a young law student who frequents the underground poker clubs of New York City. Mike's game of choice is No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, where he hopes to earn enough cash in order to enter the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. After a thorough drubbing by the canny Russian Teddy KGB (John Malkovich) in a poker game, Mike eventually wins a rematch, gambling with money that is owed to a vicious loan shark named Grama (Michael Rispoli). The head-to-head match at Chesterfield's is the stuff of gambling movie legend, with Mike capitalizing on one of Teddy's "tells," specifically the manner in which the Russian eats an Oreo cookie while holding a good hand. Damon cops one of the best lines in Hollywood history, telling the viewer, "Listen. Here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.”
Cary Grant as Joe Adams a.k.a. Joe Bascopolous, Mr. Lucky (RKO, 1943)
Cool, suave Cary Grant plays Joe Adams a.k.a. Joe Bascopolous, a slick, shady character who owns the old gambling ship the Fortuna. Joe is a gambler and hustler, eyeing the charity War Relief Inc., which grants him the right to run the gambling concessions for a charity ball. It's Joe's plan to clean up at the ball, taking the entire stash and then making for Havana, Cuba, in the Fortuna along with his crooked pals. But Joe later has a change of heart after getting to know volunteer Dorothy Bryant (Laraine Day), taking on the bad guys and saving the day for the charity. Cary Grant has never been slicker, sporting a head of coal black hair and telling the head of War Relief Inc., "Now this charity affair of yours. That’s made to order. All you have to do is give me the gambling concessions…Sure, blackjack, chuck-a-luck, roulette. I’ll raise the dough here in one evening.”
One sheet movie poster: Cary Grant and Laraine Day in Mr. Lucky (1943) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick, Maverick (Warner Bros., 1994)
Mel Gibson has the title role of Bret Maverick, an Old West gambler who is on his way to the big poker game of the century in St. Louis which boasts of a winner-take-all pot of $500,000. Getting there, however, is a major undertaking, as Maverick encounters a scheming southern belle (Jodie Foster), "hostile" Indians, a band of vengeful Mexicans, legendary lawman Zane Cooper (James Garner) and the infamous John Wesley Hardin (Max Perlich). The gambling action aboard the paddle-wheeler Lauren Belle is hot and heavy, with Maverick making the final table where in the climactic hand of the evening he finds himself having to beat four eights and a straight flush. Maverick is one movie which actually did justice to its small-screen predecessor, the 1957-62 television show of the same name on which it was based.
James Caan as Axel Freed, The Gambler (Paramount, 1974)
Stoic, macho James Caan plays Axel Freed, a college professor whose penchant for gambling lands him in hot water with his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino). Now in debt to the tune of $40,000, Axel has to get the money from his physician mother Naomi (Jacqueline Brooks). But rather than pay off Hips and his organized crime cronies, the compulsive Axel bets the money on sporting events, eventually losing it all. Axel then asks one of his student athletes (Carl W. Crudup) to shave points in a basketball game in order to satisfy the debt. James Caan, who was battling cocaine addiction at the time of filming, is riveting as the self-destructive Axel, with Lauren Hutton winningly playing his gal pal Billie.
Spanish one sheet poster: James Caan and Lauren Hutton in The Gambler (1974) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Warren Beatty as Joe Grady, The Only Game in Town (Twentieth Century-Fox, 1970)
Pretty boy Warren Beatty plays Joe Grady, a Las Vegas piano player who pursues a romance with aging showgirl Fran Walker (Elizabeth Taylor). Joe is a compulsive gambler, eventually embarking on a marathon binge at the casinos, selling his valuables, collecting the cash and trying to reverse his bad luck at the gaming tables. Frank Sinatra was originally cast as Joe Grady, but quit the production and was replaced by Warren Beatty who, interestingly enough, dislikes both gambling and casinos.
Lobby card: Warren Beatty and Elizabeth Taylor in The Only Game in Town (1970) - Heritage Auction Galleries
Cesar Romero as Duke Santos, Ocean's Eleven (Warner Bros., 1960)
Cesar Romero plays Duke Santos, a tough Las Vegas "fixer" who figures out who pulled off the heist of five Vegas casinos on New Year's Eve. The canny Duke learns that it was Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) and his former 82nd Airborne pals. Duke proposes a deal to the heads of the casinos who got hit, offering to retrieve their stolen millions for a 30% recovery fee. When one of the men proposes that some of Duke's fee be paid in casino chips in order to give them a chance at getting some of their dough back, the flamboyant Duke says okay and flips a coin right there, telling the guy, "Thirty percent of what they took out of your joint. Call it. Heads or tails.” The man quickly backs down, telling Duke that his partners wouldn’t approve of such a bet without consulting them first. "So if you can’t put up, what’d ya do?” Duke asks with a grin. “Shut up, and that’s what I’m doing,” the chastened fellow replies.
Kevin Spacey as Micky Rosa, 21 (Columbia, 2008)
Kevin Spacey stars as Micky Rosa, a professor at MIT who recruits a band of college students as blackjack card counters. Following intense training sessions, Rosa unleashes his gang on Las Vegas casinos where they take the house for millions of dollars. Based on the nonfiction book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich, 21 also features Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth and Aaron Yoo.
George Segal as Bill Denny and Elliott Gould as Charlie Waters, California Split (Columbia, 1974)
In this buddy flick George Segal plays Bill Denny and Elliott Gould appears as Charlie Waters, two gamblers who play poker, shoot craps and bet the ponies as they journey from Tijuana to Reno, Nevada. The action is frenetic, with Ann Prentiss, Gwen Welles and Edward Walsh along for the ride. "They're the heroes (or at least the subjects) of 'California Split,' the magnificently funny, cynical film by Robert Altman. Their names are Bill and Charlie, and they're played by George Segal and Elliott Gould with a combination of unaffected naturalism and sheer raw nervous exhaustion. We don't need to know anything about gambling to understand the odyssey they undertake to the tracks, to the private poker parties, to the bars, to Vegas, to the edge of defeat, and to the scene of victory. Their compulsion is so strong that it carries us along," reported Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (1974).
Elliott Gould, left, and George Segal in California Split (1974) - Columbia Pictures
Ten More Memorable Gambling Movie Characters
Rip Torn in The Cincinnati Kid (1965) - MGM
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Great picks here, William. All excellent characters. I loved these movies.