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> Croupier
05 August 2005
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Gambling In The
Movies
Croupier
(1998)
A thrilling
insight into gambling culture that will fascinate
UK casino fans, the story of Croupier centres
around gambling and gamblers in a London casino.
Would-be novelist turned croupier, Jack Manfred is
no stranger to being in charge at the roulette
wheel and blackjack table. But in this tale of
love, deceit and treachery he becomes embroiled in
a different side of gambling he can't
control.
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So What's The Plot In a
Nutshell?
Looking
to earn extra money while he writes a novel, Jack Manfred
(played by a young, handsome Clive Owen) takes a job as a
croupier at his local casino. Suffering from writer's block,
Jack begins to turn into the hero of his unfinished novel,
Jake, and starts to use the goings-on at the casino as
inspiration for his writing.
Drawn into both the lives
of the gamblers who play at his table, and the casino bosses
who (just about) pay his wages, Jack soon begins to blur the
reality in the casino with the fiction he is creating for
his book.
Letting himself get drawn
further and further into the seedier side of London's
gambling world, Jack finds himself muddled up in an
attempted scam that goes awfully wrong. But even then, Jack
isn't sure where reality stops and make-believe
begins.
So It's A Bit
Like...
Plot-wise, it's a bit like
Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which it
preceded in the cinemas by just two months and which it was
frequently compared with when it came out.
But style-wise, it's
rather different. It has none of the flagrant drug-taking,
designer violence, or catchphrase dialogue shot straight
from the hip that epitomises Guy Ritchie's tale of a poker
game gone horribly wrong.
Croupier is rather less
mainstream. This tense, noirish thriller has a dark,
brooding suspense and seedy glamour about it that will
appeal to the more discerning, intrepid viewer. In fact it's
an understated, resolutely Brit-flick version of Scorsese's
Casino. Well worth the rental fee. In fact, at the time of
writing Amazon.co.uk
have it on sale for less than a fiver!
So Who Are The
Stand-Out Stars?
Clive Owen - since
established as a major name in Hollywood - gives a stand-out
performance as a street-wise yet gullible anti-hero.
Brooding, enigmatic and impressionable, Owen portrays
perfectly a man being manipulated while still being in
control. An excellent performance.
Alex Kingston - prior to
her step-up to mega-stardom in hospital hit ER - acts as the
perfect, oh-so sultry muse who tempts Jack into a nefarious
scheme that proves his undoing.
Most Memorable
Line
"Gambling's not about the
money... gambling's about not facing reality, not facing the
odds." (Jack)
About The Director -
Mike Hodges
Get Carter (1971) - the
quintessential Brit gangster movie - is certainly the most
well-known title on Mike Hodges' long list of directorial
credits. Other high-profile efforts include hard-hitting IRA
thriller, A Prayer for the Dying (1987) starring Micky
Rourke and Bob Hoskins, and sci-fi fantasy Flash Gordon
(1980) starring Brian Blessed and Peter Duncan (from Blue
Peter, remember).
Want to buy Croupier on
DVD? Click Here
To Get It from Amazon
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