Rain Man (1988)
Whereas in the movies, roulette and the spinning wheel exist as a short-hand for ‘luck’ or ‘fate’, blackjack has a rather more exalted status. And, in all honesty, this is probably the film that cast blackjack as a game that could be unlocked by a noble mind. In a scintillating four-minute sequence, brothers Raymond and Charlie Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise) hit the casino. Seemingly within seconds of sitting down at a blackjack table, the heavily-autistic Raymond correctly predicts that the existing decks have plenty of high cards left in them, and he and his brother manage to put together a sizeable winning run. As the crowds gather, so do dark clouds, with the bewildered casino bosses keen to put a stop to the brothers’ streak.
In truth, this section seems to be a highly romanticised take on the unglamorous grind of card counting. Even expert counters would be unlikely to amass such winnings over a short run, and Raymond’s ability seems to revolve around being able to work out the position of every card in every deck. This would be a tall order even for a truly autistic individual, and would certainly require the said person to have seen almost every card in every deck before tracking the movement of each individual card. This would be simply impossible given the short time period in which the Babbitts appear to have been at the table. Nonetheless, a star was born, and that star happened to be the game of blackjack.
The Hangover (2009)
Rain Man spawned its fair share of imitations as well. Perhaps the funniest is the pastiche from The Hangover, where Alan and Phil (Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper) assume the roles of the Babbitt brothers. Alan, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Edward O Thorp’s bestseller Beat the Dealer, and a head full of mathematical equations, amasses a healthy sum at the blackjack tables. He then makes his escape with the money thanks to a pratfall from Heather Graham (who, strangely, also pops up in another of the films in this list, Swingers).
21 (2009)
Skip ahead 20 years from Rain Man, though, and you have its more serious successor, a film that attempts to explore the world of card counting. Supposedly based on the real-life exploits of the MIT Blackjack team, who swept through a string of Las Vegas casinos in the 1980s, 21 is actually a highly dramatised account, twisting the facts to create greater dramatic tension. In this tale, the driving force is MIT tutor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), who assembles a team of talented mathematicians, and teaches them the art of card counting.
They then amass considerable winnings before personal relationships between the members start to break down. The team are hunted down by embittered ex-pit boss Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), as he tries to play one member against another in an attempt to claim the prized head of Micky Rosa.
In truth, blackjack enthusiasts won’t really recognise this watered-down version of card counting. Played for high-glamour and easy-winnings, it lacks the grit, patience and feverish work ethic required of true counters. Nonetheless, there’s plenty of big table action, and provided you’re more interested in a fun story than a real-life expose, there’s enough here to get juices flowing.
Incidentally, if you like 21, you might want to check out the earlier Canadian TV film, The Last Casino. Both films are largely identical, and are based on the book Bringing Down the House. 21 has a much larger budget and a glossier cast, although The Last Casino has the higher reputation amongst film enthusiasts.
Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians (2011)
Morals are rarely very far from the surface of any gambling tale, but never is that more true than with this real-life recounting of the exploits of band of church-going gamblers. Believing that, in winning, they were reclaiming money from the evil enterprises that were the casinos, the Christian Counters supposedly took $3.2 million over the course of five years before interest started to wane.
Many of the members maintained, though, that there was no inherent clash between blackjack and being a church-goer. Indeed, by choosing to inhabit a moral grey area and questioning their beliefs, the experience made them stronger rather than lesser believers. In any case, the story is a compelling one, and is lent an additional personal touch through being itself directed by a former member of the team, Bryan Storkel.
Swingers (1996)
Of course, blackjack movies aren’t necessarily about card counting. For the majority of us, films like Swingers will be more reminiscent of our struggles against the odds. Mike and Trent (Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn) go in over their heads at the Vegas blackjack tables, and Mike hands over his $300 in return for a meagre three chips (‘Do you have anything smaller?’). Convinced by his friend that he has to double down (‘You always double down on 11!’), he swiftly finds himself $200 down. Now downgraded to a smaller-stakes table, the recriminations fly, as Trent’s blithe ‘You *always* double down on 11’ is met by a terse ‘Well obviously not always..’
For more uncomfortable laughs, you might want to look to One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest (1976), where Randle McMurphy (Jack Nicholson), the sanest person in a lunatic asylum, almost goes mad himself trying to organise a game of blackjack amongst the patients.