Sunday, February 27, 2011

Great Poker Scenes In Films

Poker like no other game has played an integral part in film scenarios and plots over the years. It's unimaginable to picture a western saloon, or a Las Vegas casino without a deck of cards being shuffled somewhere. The high's and lows of the card game has provided some of cinema's most memorable scenes, so Flicks News HQ has decided to compile some of what we consider to be the greatest scenes in film history revolving around poker.

Read below as we show our hand at some of our favourite poker scenes:

6. The Cincinnati Kid

The film that put poker on the map is the tale of Eric "The Kid" Stoner played by the king of cool himself Steve McQueen. The film's finale when The Cincinnati Kid takes on 'The Man' and loses, with the victorious Lancey Howard remarking You're good, Kid, -but as long as I'm around you're second best" is a memorable piece of film history.



5. The Sting
Paul Newman out-hustles Robert Shaw during a high stakes poker game on a train in this classic scene.



4. Casino Royale
Daniel Craig brought back some dignity and quality to the James Bond movies in this 2006 reboot. 007 takes on Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorists who is participating in a poker game at Montenegro, where he must win back his money in order to stay safe among the terrorist market. MI6 send Bond to attend this game and prevent Le Chiffre from winning in the most important poker game of his life.



3. Rounders

No poker film list would be complete without this film on it's list. Not only did this 1998 feature boast an impressive cast, it is seen as re-popularising poker. It has remained a cult favourite and this scene in particular has been quoted at many a game ever since.



2. Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels

Rounders may have put poker back on the map, but Guy Ritchie's debut put British films back in the big leagues after a 2 year lull. This scene which is masterfully shot and edited, brilliantly capitulates the euphoria of the highs and the too often lows of what a game of poker brings.



1. For A Few Dollars More

The number one on our list is from this Sergio Leone classic, the memorable scene where Manco rides into town and tracks down and confronts Red "Baby" Cavanagh at a saloon playing five card draw poker is an iconic piece of cinema.