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.
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).
