Over the years, there have been a lot of movies that centred around casinos. They brought out the glitz and glamour that comes with this territory. They explored how anyone could win and how some would continue having a winning streak and walk out of the building with money to last a lifetime.
James Bond
The famous James Bond throughout history has been known to be a man who enjoys his cars, loved making an entrance, loved by the ladies and gamble. 007, as he became known, had a licence to kill and he often extended this to his opponents on the poker table. In Casino Royale, James bond was sent on a top-secret assignment to upset a terrorist movement and to destabilise him so that he could not continue financing terrorist actions. The terrorist, Le Chiffre organised a high stakes tournament of Poker and James Bond was invited. The buy-in for this secret underground tournament was 10 million dollars.
This high stakes match had so many ups, and downs, and so many outside factors were at play. James Bond discovered Le Chiffre’s intel and started winning. Le Chiffre, in turn, discovered Bond’s intel and soon he was out of the game. James Bond’s CIA friend was given a new player offer to join in the game, and he spotted Bond the money to buy in again. After an intense roller coaster, James Bond and Le Chiffre went all in, putting everything on the line. The odds were in Bond’s favour as he managed to win the game with a straight flush and walking away with 115 million dollars.
Besides the famous Casino Royale, there are a number of famous movies that feature iconic casino scenes. Dr No is a classic James Bond Movies. It features the olden day style of casinos that had people who were well dressed, rich, powerful and booze flowing from all corners of the room. In this movie, they were playing Chemin de Fer or Chemmy as it became commonly known. This classic game is said to be an older version of the famous baccarat. Sadly, Chemmy has become a forgotten art and is only played in some places in France.
In GoldenEye, baccarat again featured in a James Bond Movie. This casino scene was played in the famous Casino de Monte-Carlo which is found in Monaco. James Bond movies would not have that pull factor without showing some of the world iconic casino scenes that we have all grown to love.