Blackjack – the simple casino game depicted in film and television for many decades. We’ve seen films like The Hangover, Rain Man and even the 2008 movie 21 depict gambling and indeed blackjack in some of its scenes, working the attraction of the game into the narrative, but how true is what the movies tell us about this age-old game of probability?
The rules of blackjack take moments to learn – the simplicity of it perfect for screenwriters to add it to a screen story. Essentially, any number of players can play – and all that they must do is get to 21 – or as close to it – beating the dealer. They must not exceed 21 or they will go bust, and if they do that, they are out of the hand and will lose their stake.
The game has been seen in notable films over the years. Aside from the aforementioned, blackjack has been seen in other major motion pictures going back to the black and white days, but the surge in high stakes blackjack casinos, https://www.highstakecasinos.co.uk/blackjack/ has examples of some, has seen the game portrayed more and more in recent years.
There are the likes of the very little-known Kevin Costner film Stacy’s Knights from 1983 where the future Robin Hood and star of The Bodyguard plays the role of Will Bonner, a skilled card player who teaches the shyer Stacy to count cards. It all ends up quite badly for Will after they win big at a Reno casino. The casino’s bosses take him out, leaving Stacy to seek revenge. Currently, I’m sure – no, absolutely positive that casinos don’t off their punters, even if they are caught cheating – they will simply ban whoever is caught from ever returning to play at their tables, or indeed entering their premises. I haven’t seen Stacy’s Knights but am intrigued to find it as this is Costner before he went on to become one of the world’s biggest movies stars with films like the multi award-winning Dances With Wolves (which he also directed), Waterworld and, more recently, Man Of Steel.
While we are talking about counting cards, let’s look at 21, Robert Luketic’s 2008 film that is based on a true story. It is possibly one of the most famous of all the films to revolve around blackjack. The film tells the story of a group of MIT students who are trained to use their very skilled minds in the art of card counting. The film is based on the book ‘Bringing Down The House’, which was also adapted into an earlier film titled The Last Casino, released four years earlier in 2004. The book by Ben Mezrich is an enjoyable read, and definitely worth checking out, as is the author’s follow-up ‘Busting Vegas’. The story of ‘Bringing Down The House’ is reportedly based on true events but does have the disclaimer saying that ‘the names of many of the characters and locations in this book have been changed, as have certain physical characteristics and other descriptive details. Some of the events and characters are also composites of several individual events or persons.’ Both the book and both films are enjoyable watches and well worth checking out.
Two other films to focus in on counting cards is the brilliant Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman awards-magnet Rain Man (which has also been turned into a very well-received play) and 2008’s break-out comedy The Hangover, both of which I’ve previously mentioned. The final scenes of both movies focus in on an individual doing a casino out of a large amount of money by seemingly counting cards. The scenes work brilliantly and are both films’ best sequences, but in reality, card counting may only give you a slight advantage against the house. There’s also the fact that the casinos will also change decks every few hours (old decks are sold or thrown away), players are watched by eyes in the sky and eyes on the ground, and there’s the added fact that it is also really quite hard to do for most of us. Throw in the consumption of alcohol and you’re really up against it.
Of course, the movie industry largely doesn’t tell you that, but we’ll always be intrigued by the art of playing and watching it be played to success on the big and small screen.
