Greatest movie/TV Poker Scene of All Time. . .

[Turning Stone Pro]

It's got to be The Sting, the scene on the train, when Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) beats Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) with four jacks over four nines. That entire scene on the train is classic.

Come to think of it, The Sting could be the greatest gmbling/gaff/hustler movie of all time.

TSP

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
Come to think of it, The Sting could be the greatest gmbling/gaff/hustler movie of all time

[/ QUOTE ] could be??? No, IS the best gambling movie of all time.

[mike l.]

ok so now im going to rent the sting at netflix if it sucks though im gonna find you and slit your throat.

just ask the guy who told me i should watch shade.

oh if you like con movies (w/ nice poker scene at start) then nobody should miss house of games. that movie kicks serious ass.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
ok so now im going to rent the sting at netflix if it sucks though im gonna find you and slit your throat

[/ QUOTE ] If you don't like The Sting, you should slit your own throat and leave the rest of us alone.

[Turning Stone Pro]

If you don't honestly like The Sting, then let me know. I will personally refund your money from the rental store.

It so good, you wont even be able to say you didnt like it just to gaff the TSP.

BTW, it causes me serious concern that there may be other well-respected 2+2 posters that have not seen this movie. It should be a prerequisite.

TSP

[rtucker5]

I don't remember the name of the movie or even what it was about, but I remember the poker scene. I believe it was an old western. Anyhow, the scene goes something like this. A woman and a man are playing heads up 5 stud with a deck that included a joker. In an earlier hand the man bends the corner of an A. The final hand comes down and the woman has 4 to a straight flush on board, but her hole card is the card with the bent corner and the A completes her flush. The man has either a full house or 4 of a kind, can't remember. Well, his hand is obviously good because she has only a flush. They get all the money in and when she turns her hand over, the bent card is the joker which is wild making her a straight flush. I always liked that scene because the woman out cheated the cheater.

[swami]

Old western, "Big hand for the little lady", I think is the title. NL 5 card draw, woman takes over for husband who is "ill", she knows nothing about poker, shows someone her hand they tell her it is unbeatable. Very large pot, she needs additional funds to make a call and a large raise, so she goes to Banker who is very conservative for a loan, he comes to game and agrees to loan with cards as collateral. Opponent folds. Not playing table stakes in this game, you need the money to call or you fold.

This one hand is at least half of the movie.

We find out her hand later. not shown during game.
Not the greatest movie, but an interesting idea.

[gcoutu]

Couldn't agree more...oh and mike The Sting won like 5 oscars so if you don't like you are in the minority. I got to watch it in a college class, man i miss college!

[Gronk]

I'm not saying it's the best or has the best scene, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Cincinatti Kid. Lots of good poker in that movie. The last hand in the showdown at the end was fantastic. Lancey outdrew the kid but he got paid off big time. He wasn't drawing dead by a longshot though. Makes me want to play 5-card stud.

"I'll take your marker kid." Does that mean time to raise or fold?!

[scotnt73]

thats a good one. my favorite gambling scene even though its not poker is when minnesota fats(jacki gleason) is getting beat at pool my the new kid fast eddy(paul newman) and they take a break, while the kid is hamming it up with everyone minnesota goes and washes up and puts on a clean shirt. he then comes back to the table fresh and looking sharp and whoops his ass.

i always think of this when im starting to tilt and try to emulate it. gleason was one of the coolest dudes ever and he rocked in that role.

[ElSapo]

There's been discussion of it in the past, but The Hustler is probably the best gambling movie ever made, and both books - The Hustler and The Color of Money - are phenomenal and worth reading in many respects, not just gambling.

[banditbdl]

If you don't at least enjoy The Sting then you have no taste and I'll knife you before you can get to Turning Stone.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
oh if you like con movies (w/ nice poker scene at start) then nobody should miss house of games. that movie kicks serious ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a bit painful to watch Lindsay Crouse try to play the part. There's something about her voice and manner that just doesn't fit. Mainly her voice.

That aside, I agree that it's got some great cons in it.

~D

[onegymrat]

Funny how they all have Paul Newman in the starring roles.

[C Dubya]

The same character actor plays the dealer in both "The Sting" and in "Big Hand for a Little Lady". While someone commented that gambling movies seem to star Paul Newman, "Big Hand" starred his wife, Joanne Woodward.

[mike l.]

"It's a bit painful to watch Lindsay Crouse try to play the part"

that's one of the things i like about it. she's so stiff and unsexy so is the lead man i forget his name again but you know the famous guy, he's great. in other words i think theyre like that on purpose. it's very cold, like theyre robots almost. it's also an homage to noir acting traditions i think, almost wooden at times, very unemotional.

[mrbaseball]

I can't beleive someone hasn't seen The Sting?

[mrbaseball]

[ QUOTE ]
Funny how they all have Paul Newman in the starring roles.

[/ QUOTE ]

And don't forget the "cool hand" scene from Cool Hand Luke. I wonder if Newman will show up on Celebrity Poker /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
oh if you like con movies (w/ nice poker scene at start) then nobody should miss house of games. that movie kicks serious ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

You beat me to it, Mike. I was actually going to say that the poker scene was the best I've seen, even if it is all just a setup. It just feels like a poker game.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from the United States of kiss my ass."

Classic.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
It's got to be The Sting, the scene on the train, when Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) beats Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) with four jacks over four nines. That entire scene on the train is classic.

Come to think of it, The Sting could be the greatest gmbling/gaff/hustler movie of all time.

TSP

[/ QUOTE ]

By the way, the cold deck was actually switched in on camera! John Scarne was hired to do that card trick and he claims that it can only be detected by watching frame-by-frame.

That alone merits strong consideration.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
that's one of the things i like about it. she's so stiff and unsexy so is the lead man i forget his name again but you know the famous guy, he's great. in other words i think theyre like that on purpose. it's very cold, like theyre robots almost. it's also an homage to noir acting traditions i think, almost wooden at times, very unemotional.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll pop it in again. Never thought to look at it like that.

~D

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
that's one of the things i like about it. she's so stiff and unsexy so is the lead man i forget his name again but you know the famous guy, he's great. in other words i think theyre like that on purpose. it's very cold, like theyre robots almost. it's also an homage to noir acting traditions i think, almost wooden at times, very unemotional.

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely. This is very typical of David Mamet's films, as he is a playwright first and foremost.

Anyway, the lead's name is Joe Mantegna, and he was perfect.

I agree to having a little trouble with Lindsay Crouse, though. I just fine her so damned unattractive, and in no way an interesting actress.

But it doesn't matter. It's a great movie, and certainly worth seeing.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
that's one of the things i like about it. she's so stiff and unsexy so is the lead man i forget his name again but you know the famous guy, he's great. in other words i think theyre like that on purpose. it's very cold, like theyre robots almost. it's also an homage to noir acting traditions i think, almost wooden at times, very unemotional.

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely. This is very typical of David Mamet's films, as he is a playwright first and foremost.

Anyway, the lead's name is Joe Mantegna, and he was perfect.

I agree to having a little trouble with Lindsay Crouse, though. I just fine her so damned unattractive, and in no way an interesting actress.

But it doesn't matter. It's a great movie, and certainly worth seeing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Not to change the topic, but I have a question that's been burning with me for some time. I think our resident movie expert, Rushmore is the man for the job:

Explain Sean Young's "acting style" to me. I just don't get it, and I don't think I ever will. Also, is there a less attractive personality in the business?

Points of reference: "No Way Out," "A Kiss Before Dying," and "Cousins."

Her part in Ace Ventura actually sums up her acting "style" quite nicely (it may even be an inside joke).

[ArchAngel71857]

Explain Sean Young's "acting style" to me. I just don't get it, and I don't think I ever will. Also, is there a less attractive personality in the business?

The answer to both is Blade Runner

-AA

[degenerategambler]

"kick a buck"
"kick a buck"....
"he had nothin, nothin"
" sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand"
another newman film of course.

BTW Mamet is a whip of a playwright, "oleanna" is an absolute beating,IMHO.

[MBTIGUY]

I CANNOT, CANNOT believe that nobody mentioned the showdown at the end of Cincinnati Kid between Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson. The entire movie is a prelude to that one hand and the scripting and cinematography of that hand is brilliant.
The Sting is one of my all-time favorites but Cincinnati Kid is THE ultimate poker movie and it is the one that should be required viewing.

[baggins]

I think you'll find several people in here that are not fond of TCK at all. especially the final poker scene, which is just ludicrous. good hollywood drama, horrible poker.

check out 13 Days for good poker-like situation, involving the cuban missile crisis. i'm not the first to relate the 2, but i think it's a good movie to illustrate the similarities. what do you guys think?

[mmbt0ne]

I know this has turned into a Sting-fest, but I love the scene from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. There isn't a better "Holy [censored] I just lost £500000" face than Eddie's after getting hustled by Harry.

[mike l.]

great? youve got to be kidding. it's entertaining if you are a poker goon like us, but otherwise it's pretty lame, simple hollywood stuff right down to the cornball ending. have a few drinks and watch it with some poker buddies, but even rounders is a better film as far as films go, and that's saying something.

[ThePopinjay]

I flopped the nut straight Teddy.

[JARID]

[ QUOTE ]
"you'll do what?" (insert: british accent)

[/ QUOTE ]

Right after that mobster guys tells him he'll cover his bet. Classic. I was wondering if someone was going to pull this one out.

-Jarid

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
oh if you like con movies (w/ nice poker scene at start) then nobody should miss house of games. that movie kicks serious ass.

[/ QUOTE ]

If by 'kicks serious ass' you mean is so horrible it's comical, you're correct.

The best poker movie is Rounders by a huge margin. The best gambling movie is The Color of Money with The Hustler a close 2nd. The Sting is also very good in it's own hokey sort of way.

[Howard Burroughs]

The Sting is a great movie with a great poker scene but for my money, Winchester 73 has the best poker scene of all time.


*****************************


Let it Ride, while not having a poker scene, is a great thrill ride with some CLASSIC scenes most poker fans should love. A ton a laughs.


*************************


California Split is getting released on DVD in November.




********************


I think it's cool every time I see the episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk talks about poker.


Same with Andy Griffith on the old Andy Giffith show. He's asked by a crook if he plays poker (after calling his bluff). He say's, "Yea, I used to play (poker), and they say I was pretty good".



Best Wishes

Howard

[youtalkfunny]

Put me down for that episode of "Cheers" where Harry Anderson plays with Coach's money, and dumps it. This was early in the show's run--when the scam is uncovered, and Norm and Cliff give menacing looks to Harry, it's an intensely dramatic moment, because these characters haven't evolved into dorks at this point in time.

[thirddan]

i second that, good episode, i think its from the first season...

[spamuell]

[ QUOTE ]

"you'll do what?" (insert: british accent)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, the whole film is wonderful although they're playing 3 card brag which is significantly different to poker (due to the action only being allowed to end heads-up and the final caller having to put in twice as much as the raise in order to call). I play it sometimes, it's a pretty fun game, especially when we insert our own lines from Lock, Stock in our authentic London accents (yep, just as lame as saying "I'm still up tventy griand from the last time I stick it in you"). There's a new Guy Richie film coming out soon, I want to see it.

Anyway, I agree that the Cincinnati Kid is ludicrous but the music is pretty good, and the "kid, you just ain't good enough for me yet" line has been a good one to pull on friends.

[Gronk]

I mentioned it /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[ThePopinjay]

THE OC WHEN HE PLAYS THE TRUCKER AND LETS HIM WIN AND THEN GETS HIS HAT!!

[Aces McGee]

Is there a good Web site that explains the rules of 3 Card Brag? I remember after I watched the movie I wanted to figure out what game they are playing, but I couldn't find anything that explained it clearly.

Thanks in advance.

-McGee

[sfer]

It's in California Split, right at the beginning, when George Segal is reeling on the floor after he's been punched and he crawls to the table, grabs his chips, and crawls out of the cardroom. Some sessions feel exactly like that, even if there isn't a fight.

[Turning Stone Pro]

The scene from "Coach", were Heyden Fox loses everything to the tall blond basketball coach Judie Watkins playing 5 card draw:

"the more you lose the more you bet, any winner will tell you that"

kinda corny, but a funny scene.

Also, Steve Urkel, when he loses all his accordian money to Carl Winslow's boss (the lueitenant) in a friendly poker game, and then Carl gives Steve's money back to him but Steve, instead of leaving, decides to "wipe the smile off that flatfoot's face":

Carl: Don't do it Steve.
Steve: Well why not?
Carl: Because now you'll be losing my money.
Steve: Well, thats a risk Im willing to take.

Corny? Yes. Funny? absolutely!

TSP

[andyfox]

The Sting is a wonderful movie. They used John Scarne's hands for a shot of Paul Newman supposedly fixing a deck. And they shot one scene in the merry-go-round on the Santa Monica pier. The movie, which started a craze for ragtime piano music by Scott Joplin and others, is an American icon. And the poker scene on the train is indeed terrific.

[andyfox]

Yes, they're definitely like that on purpose. It's Mamet. Watch Homicide or The Spanish Prisoner (a great movie) or Glengarry, Glennross and you'll see the same thing.

Crouse was Mamet's wife at the time; now he's traded her in for the younger Rebecca Pigeon, who appears in his movies.

And, of course, Ricky Jay is in most of his movies.

Joe Mantegna is the name you're looking for. He's very good in House of Games, but he's even better in Homicide.

[swami]

anyone see dead like me on showtime this week. They had two scenes of hold em' games. Including a grandmother telling her granddaugher that when you want to put all your chips in you say "all in". Not good scenes, but evidence of poker boom inspired by WPT, WSOP coverage.

[andyfox]

Not about poker, but a great movie about gambling. It came out around the same time as California Split.

The Gambler is one of the edgier and more interesting, if forgotten, films of the mid-Super70s, the kind of studio film that rarely gets made anymore. It stars James Caan as a brilliant college literature professor with the same weakness as one of Dostoevsky's characters: He can't resist a wager. Indeed, he's in so deep that even his seemingly good-hearted bookie (Paul Sorvino) is trying to kill him. So he lams out of New York and heads for Las Vegas--where he wins back everything he's lost so he can pay off his massive debts. But is he smart enough to take his winnings and walk away? Caan captures the aggressive compulsiveness of the gambling addict, the strange split between a seemingly intelligent man and an uncontrollably stupid impulse. The film includes early film performances by James Woods and Lauren Hutton. The final scene/shot is chilling. Worth renting if you can find it.

[andyfox]

A friend of mine, a screenwriter, says the scene, while enjoyable, doesn't really work. The villain used a cold deck, but Newman improved his hand by using cards that were not in the deck. So while the villain complains he couldn't accuse Newman of being a better cheat than him, he could have: had they checked the deck they would have found it contain eight jacks.

Too bad we lost Robert Shaw so early. His performance in both Jaws and The Sting were outstanding. I believe he was also a screenwriter.

[andyfox]

That movie was a lot of fun. I particularly liked Henry Fonda and the great Paul Ford.

[spamuell]

Is there a good Web site that explains the rules of 3 Card Brag?


http://www.pagat.com/vying/brag.html has pretty much all you would need to know. I'm warning you though, don't play this game with friends unless you are all prepared to lose a lot of money, pots just get huge.

And read over the rules very carefully as it takes a while to shake off the notion you'll have got from poker that all players should put the same amount of money in the pot on every round.

Again, I warn you, even at small stakes the pots can easily become massive as there cannot be a limit format and the game is not usually played with table stakes as this ruins the idea of having to call twice as much as the bettor, and stops an open man from being unable to see a blind man.

[mrbaseball]

Have you seen Owning Mahony? It's new this year (stars Philip Seymour Hoffman) about a compulsive gambler who gets in real deep. Especially interesting is how the casinos deal with him.

I enjoyed the Gambler too but thought the ending was stupid and over the top.

[swami]

This is a true story and Caesars Palace in AC was actually closed for a 24 period as stated at the end of the movie.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you seen Owning Mahony? It's new this year (stars Philip Seymour Hoffman) about a compulsive gambler who gets in real deep. Especially interesting is how the casinos deal with him.

I enjoyed the Gambler too but thought the ending was stupid and over the top.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good movie. Make me feel quite sick to my stomach a few times. Based on a true story.

[onegymrat]

God, I hope not. I would lose much respect for him.

[sfer]

To this day, the bank in the movie (which is never stated and is a large presence in lending to gaming companies) refuses to deal with Caesars.

I love the two times that Hoffman explains that he doesn't have a gambling problem. He has a financial problem.

[emp1346]

Anyone heard anything about the movie Lucky You supposedly coming out next year? Apparently about nothing BUT the world of professional poker, but I haven't heard anything about it (actors, director, expectation, etc.)

Anyone got anything on this?

[Mano]

I really loved this movie. Great cast (Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Burgess Merideth, Kevin McCarthy). Not great poker content, but a lot of fun.

[Aces McGee]

Thanks.

At what point in the hand are you required to declare "blind" or "open"?

-McGee

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
THE OC WHEN HE PLAYS THE TRUCKER AND LETS HIM WIN AND THEN GETS HIS HAT!!

[/ QUOTE ]

That [censored] was so gay, as soon as ryan turned over pocket aces I stabbed myself in the eye.

[Senor Choppy]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you seen Owning Mahony? It's new this year (stars Philip Seymour Hoffman) about a compulsive gambler who gets in real deep. Especially interesting is how the casinos deal with him.

[/ QUOTE ]

The film is pretty good, Phil Hoffman is incredible in it though. Of course, he's incredible in just about everything he does.

Speaking of Hoffman, another movie with an excellent gambling scene in it is Hard Eight (P.T. Anderson's first film). Most of the movie is forgetable, but Hoffman makes a 2 minute or so appearance at the craps table that makes the entire movie worthwhile.

[astroglide]

the name 'iceman' with his picture would be great for pokerstars

[spamuell]

At what point in the hand are you required to declare "blind" or "open"?

When the action gets to you after you state the amount you are betting. Like in Lock Stock where they declare "10 grand, blind" and then "20 grand, open". You've got to be pretty gutsy to go up against a blind LAG as you can't call them, you have to wait until they tire of gamb000ling.

Every time the action gets back to you, you can declare yourself open if you have been playing blind and then you have to put in the same amount of money as the open players are to continue. Of course, an open player cannot declare themselves blind.

[andyfox]

Yes, I have. Liked it. P.S. Hoffman and John Hurt: how can you go wrong?

[andyfox]

The last (?) scene, when he's talking to the psychaitrist who asks him to rate the gambling high and what he thinks his life will be like without gambling was quite chilling, I thought.

[razor]

Not much info yet...

imdb: Lucky You (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338216/)


Director: Curtis Hanson
Writer: Eric Roth

[SomethingClever]

[ QUOTE ]
thats a good one. my favorite gambling scene even though its not poker is when minnesota fats(jacki gleason) is getting beat at pool my the new kid fast eddy(paul newman) and they take a break, while the kid is hamming it up with everyone minnesota goes and washes up and puts on a clean shirt. he then comes back to the table fresh and looking sharp and whoops his ass.

i always think of this when im starting to tilt and try to emulate it. gleason was one of the coolest dudes ever and he rocked in that role.

[/ QUOTE ]

Amazing scene. I love that movie.

[Ice Man]

[ QUOTE ]
the name 'iceman' with his picture would be great for pokerstars

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone call me? Oh, pokerstars. Iceman does not play poker, its way too DANGEROUS. Maybe a little low-limit, now and then, but I get bluffed off my hands too easy: something about seeing Migs under the bed.

[SomethingClever]

Not up there with any of the greatest, but I thoroughly enjoyed "Diggstown."

James Woods and Oliver Platt are hustlers that set up a huge boxing match where one guy is set to fight 10 other men.

It has all kinds of gamb00ling... pool hustling, fixed boxing matches, etc.... but I can't remember if it has poker or not.

Need to re-rent that one.

[mrbaseball]

Yeah it has a poker scene too with Platt. Oliver Platt steals the movie in my opinion but it is good all around.

[mrbaseball]

Another interesting one is The Deli. No poker but is pretty funny and deals with degenerate sports betting. It stars Mike Starr and has a few of the Sopranos guys in it.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Not to change the topic, but I have a question that's been burning with me for some time. I think our resident movie expert, Rushmore is the man for the job:

Explain Sean Young's "acting style" to me. I just don't get it, and I don't think I ever will. Also, is there a less attractive personality in the business?

Points of reference: "No Way Out," "A Kiss Before Dying," and "Cousins."

Her part in Ace Ventura actually sums up her acting "style" quite nicely (it may even be an inside joke).

[/ QUOTE ]

I accept the title, and the task.

Sean Young is a hack.

The entirety of her talent was expended on Blade Runner, and that only consisted of looking good in doctored light.

See Daryl Hannah.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
Joe Mantegna is the name you're looking for. He's very good in House of Games, but he's even better in Homicide.

[/ QUOTE ]

No way. Homicide was a tedious convolution of a cop's search for his Jewishness. It was hard to watch.

IMHO, of course.

[BlackAces]

This Kids in the Hall sketch does it for me:

Mark: Oh, wait, wait! Oh, sorry. I forgot to call wild. Hold on. What do you want wild?

Bruce: Uh.

Mark: Put your cards down.

Bruce: Twos.

Kevin: Oh. Threes, fives, sevens.

Dave: Eights and tens!

Scott: Um, face cards.

Mark: Okay, everything's wild. I'll play you for the ante. What do ya got?

Kevin: [lays down cards] Five aces.

Bruce: [lays down cards. Proud.] Five aces.

Scott: [lays down cards] Five aces.

Mark: [lays down cards] Five aces.

Dave: I got nothin'. [throws cards down, face down to center of table.]

Scott: What do you mean?

Kevin: You can't have nothing.

Dave: I got nothin'.

Kevin: Everything's wild!

Dave: Well, I got nothing.

Mark: [looking at Dave's hand.] No. He's right. He's got nothin'. [Shows cards to rest.]

Bruce: What a hand!

Kevin: You are the worst poker player in the history of poker.

[regisd]

"The Sting" is a brilliant gambling and con movie. iirc, it owes a great deal to a book called (i think) "the big con" written by a guy who started off studying the language and slang of con-men. Another good con movie is "The Grifters".

I really "House of Games" -- partly because of Mamet's writing and that terse noir air it has, and partly because it's pre-gentrification pioneer square area in seattle.

has anyone seen "The Big Blind" (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0208001/)? I'm curious how it is.

[Phat Mack]

I agree with you about Lindsay Crouse. I thought she was perfect. She was so repressed that when she went off, she went off big. I thought she made the whole movie.

[Phat Mack]

Speaking of Hoffman, another movie with an excellent gambling scene in it is Hard Eight (P.T. Anderson's first film). Most of the movie is forgetable, but Hoffman makes a 2 minute or so appearance at the craps table that makes the entire movie worthwhile.

I liked this movie more than most because of the great actors. I don't know too many professional gamblers that play keno, though /images/graemlins/smile.gif . I think that Hoffman plays a dice junkie so perfectly that it's almost frightening.

[mike l.]

it's the movie lost in america with james brooks i think i have the names right. if you havent seen that then do yourself a favor and do so this weekend. hilarious.

[mrbaseball]

[ QUOTE ]
lost in america

[/ QUOTE ]

A classic! One of my alltime favorites. "I've seen the future. It's a bald headed man from New York!"

[Neil Stevens]

We're finished talking.

(and it's Albert Brooks)

[youtalkfunny]

"You BROKE our nest egg! There is yolk all over the Desert Inn!"

After they leave Vegas, they stop at Hoover Dam. They park the RV, walk over to the edge of the dam, and look down. Brooks asks his wife, "You wanna go first, or should I?"

[Blarg]

The last hand was the only thing that ruined the Cincinatti Kid.

It was a great movie till then, and after then. Everything about it was right.

The last hand was like when you get introduced to 007 and somehow he magically wins every bacarrat(sp?) hand. Because he's so smart or gifted or something? Gimme a break.

[Blarg]

Lindsay Crouse was married to David Mamet, the writer/director. Her painfully, scrapingly unsexy presence gave everyone dry dreams. She was Mamet's equivalent of Citizen Kane's girlfriend.

Mamet is famous for making his actors speak in coordination with the ticking of a metronome. Very unnatural, but his dialogue is so miraculously precisely timed and crafted that its delivery makes him turn his actors into puppets sometimes. Hitchcock, who planned all his movies completely shot by shot and often just sat in his limo while they were being shot, got accused of the same sort of denigration of actors sometimes, when he said, "Actors are cattle."

Amazing how these directors sometimes overcame the enormous limitations of their approach, and how their genius was so thoroughly enmeshed with probably inseparable from their shortcomings.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Put me down for that episode of "Cheers" where Harry Anderson plays with Coach's money, and dumps it. This was early in the show's run--when the scam is uncovered, and Norm and Cliff give menacing looks to Harry, it's an intensely dramatic moment, because these characters haven't evolved into dorks at this point in time.


[/ QUOTE ]

That was a good episode, and Harry Anderson supposedly did do that kind of thing in real life, so the script was modeled after him personally. He even wrote a book on silly grifts like that. I can't say I ever liked "Night Court" or Anderson much(just because Night Court was so egregiously stupid), but he was really good in the couple of Cheers episodes he did.

That was a good episode, not from the best series of all time, but I think without question the most consistently good series of all time. It even stood up to the loss of Diane, the emasculation and destruction of Sam, and the insertion of Rebecca, the un-insertable gravel-voiced drag. That's really something.

I'm also partial to Woody bargaining with Sam over his paycheck. Sam wants to give him a certain amount per year and Woody bargains for a different amount per week. Silly, but Sam is so dumb he goes for it. I'm a guy who didn't like at all Sam being turned into an idiot, but I still liked that scene. It was funny Woody giving a wink to the regulars and telling them his daddy didn't raise no fools.

[Blarg]

Cann was minting movie gold during this period. That was a very, very good film.

Try "Thief," by Michael Mann, if you haven't seen it. It prefigured Miami Vice(Michael Mann directed the premiere) in the very best of ways(thank god it left out the worst), full of great vicious dialogue and incredible tension and sadness, and heartfelt desperation. It was taken from the memoir of a real thief. Even the sudden coming together of man and woman(a tiresome prerequisite in any modern movie), though it doesn't ring quite true, has an air of desperation I think a lot of us can recognize. Maybe not romantically, maybe so...but in other ways. Everything on the line and painfully cutting and at frayed ends. When Cann is threatned that his wife will be, umm...let's just call it "banged" by Puerto Ricans and other people of races chosen to push him into despair unless he cooperates, you can feel it just like he does. Tangerine Dream makes a powerful impact here while their music was still fresh and piercing, long before their style became the simple, expected roadmap of all the copycat heist and gritty action music scores to follow

Watch it for what a real gambler does, and to see a blueprint of so many gritty dramas to come, it's like a stylistic Rosetta Stone.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Too bad we lost Robert Shaw so early. His performance in both Jaws and The Sting were outstanding. I believe he was also a screenwriter.


[/ QUOTE ]

A very succesful author before he ever became an actor. I think he was celebrated as both a novelist and playwright. As he noted, though, there was vastly more money in creating little by acting than a lot by writing.

You might also remember him as the super-Russian from the early James Bond flick, "From Russian With Love," considered by many to still be the best Bond flick all these decades later. I couldn't object to that categorization.

Anyway, "Here's to swimmin'/With bow-legged women!"

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Sean Young is a hack.

The entirety of her talent was expended on Blade Runner, and that only consisted of looking good in doctored light.

See Daryl Hannah

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah but Sean Young was shockingly beautiful, as in breath-taking and stunning, in that role. The comparison that comes to mind is Ursula Andress in Goldfinger or Brigitte Bardot in And God Created Woman. Nobody wasn't talking about here, and it went on for years. Her beauty seared itself into the mind beyond all reason.

Took quite a bit of craziness with James Woods and marrying the first dork who came along to shake it.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
"You BROKE our nest egg! There is yolk all over the Desert Inn!"

After they leave Vegas, they stop at Hoover Dam. They park the RV, walk over to the edge of the dam, and look down. Brooks asks his wife, "You wanna go first, or should I?"

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably the most stupidly unbelievable movie, completely centered on unprovoked completely unbelievable non-characteristic behavior, ever.

Gotta get your MacGuffin one way or another I guess, though.

[exist]

that's albert brooks in lost in america.

[tek]

I believe Montegna's and Crouse's delivery was meant to show they were so habitualized and accomplished in their dealings with people in their jobs (conning and psychology) that their approach to people became rote.

Their delivery was one of the fascinating things about the movie.

[housenuts]

i can't wait for High Roller: The Stu Ungar story. it should be coming out shortly. it's gonna own!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338467/
http://www.highrollermovie.com/thefilm.html

[tek]

How was Matchstick Men with Nicholas Cage? worth renting?