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The Six Most Iconic Poker Scenes In Hollywood movies
A Winning Hand
Poker has played a major part in Hollywood movies for decades, offering some of the most interesting scenes in modern cinema featuring some of cinema’s greatest actors.
Due to these dramatic performances, people like to experience the same excitement as some of the fictional counterparts they see on screen with a poker game online. The iconic card game lends itself well to offering something new to moviegoers and it has been weaved into films from some of the most renowned filmmakers in cinema as it is able to increase onscreen tension better than almost any other card game.
Here’s five of the most iconic scenes featuring poker in movies featuring some of the biggest names in cinema…
1.The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Steve McQueen plays the eponymous Kid in 1930s New Orleans, a young stud poker player who makes his way from one big game to the next, stopping along the way up with various girls, is pitted against the legendary champion card-sharp Lancey Howard (Edward G Robinson) in a high-stakes poker game. IMDB picked this as one of its 10 best poker movies ever and McQueen is magnetic on screen, pitting his wits against arrogant veteran Howard in a lavish film that was co-directed by maverick filmmaker Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid) and Norman Jewison (Rollerball, Fiddler On The Roof). Supporting turns from the likes of Ann-Margaret and Karl Malden give it that extra touch of class.
2. The Sting (1973)
Paul Newman and Robert Redford were at their coolest in George Roy Hill’s 1930s set caper movie about how a pair of grifters Henry Gondorff (Newman) and Johnny Hooker (Redford) set out to con mob boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Website Collider put it at the top of its films released in 1973 and considering this year also included Mean Streets and The Exorcist, that’s pretty impressive! The Sting was a wonderful slice of 20th century period filmmaking showing the unique onscreen chemistry that Redford and Newman possessed.
3. Maverick (1994)
Richard Donner’s bigscreen remake of popular TV show about cowboy and gambler Bret Maverick recast Maverick, swapping James Garner for Lethal Weapon star Mel Gibson. The comedy western written by screenwriting genius William Goldman uses poker to comedic effect and the interplay between young buck Bret (Gibson) and Marshal Cooper (Garner) is well-handled. Again, Maverick finds itself on IMDB’s 10 best poker movies ever.
4. Rounders (1998)
John Dahl’s gambling noir movie with a young Matt Damon as its star used first person narration to throw the viewer into the film’s action. Again listed as one of IMDB’s 10 best poker movies ever. Rounders took a novel approach to the portrayal of poker and gambling with fresh-faced Damon’s likeable Mike McDermott getting the audience on his side. With a superb supporting cast that includes John Malkovich, Edward Norton, John Turturro and Gretchen Mol, Rounders was a quality 1990s indie film.
5. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s slick remake of the Brat Pack film of the same name from the 1960s, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon made poker look cooler than it had ever done before or since. The poker scene at the film’s heart keeps the viewer engaged and Pitt as professional gambler Rusty is magnetic on screen. Cinemablend picked it as their favourite Steven Soderbergh film.
6. Casino Royale (2005)
Daniel Craig’s debut as 007 had a poker game at the very centre of Martin Campbell’s return to basics with Bond. The film set in the Middle European country of Montenegro ramps up the excitement with the game with the stakes literally life or death. Just like The Cinncinnati Kid, Casino Royale is included in IMDB’s top ten best poker movies ever made, Campbell did something different with poker here, making the card game feel like it was a pivotal part of the plot and a feature that kept viewers engaged throughout. Bond has always portrayed card playing as a major aspect of his personality with gambling fitting in with his very masculine approach to the world. Seeing Craig bent on outwitting the evil machinations of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen at the card table, Casino Royale was a James Bond film which rewrote the rules of what we had seen before. Craig’s Bond was a more muscular secret agent than we were used to seeing and the poker game is the perfect set piece for him.
