Most Popular British Gambling Movies
When coming up with an idea for a movie, it always makes sense to go with something that an audience is going to buy into. And, in Britain, because gambling is such a popular pastime, it’s meant that there have been loads of gambling-related movies released over the years. The great news is that we have a list of the best of them below.
Croupier
Croupier is one of the first movies that springs to mind when you think of British films with a gambling theme. And, as you will gather from the title, this 1999 movie, which starred Clive Owen, is about a character known as Jack, who is a croupier at night and a writer in the daytime. But, when a beautiful yet mysterious woman turns up, it spells trouble. If Jack was an online croupier, at any of the established online betting operators in the modern era, things would have been different.
Casino Royale
Can a movie get any more gambling-themed than having the word casino included in its title? We think not. And, as it goes, Casino Royale is not only a great film which includes gambling, but it’s one of the best James Bond movies of all time, and it, of course, stars Daniel Craig as 007. Bond has always been renowned for his love of and skill at playing casino games, and in Casino Royale, a game of Texas Hold ‘Em is quite literally a matter of life or death. British gambling movies don’t and never will get any bigger than this.
Funny Man
What you can often find, as seen with Croupier and Casino Royale, is that gambling movies can and are often very serious. And there is nothing wrong with this, as gambling is a serious activity for a lot of people, with plenty of highs and lows documented in the many gambling-themed films out there. However, one British film that falls into the gambling category is Funny Man, and this takes viewers in a completely different direction. The element of gambling comes into play via a poker game, which is great. But, the prize that the winner of said poker game receives is a haunted house, and this is where the fun begins in this 1994 film.
Revolver
Revolver is a 2005 film that was written and directed by Guy Ritchie, a man responsible for many iconic British movies over the years. And the film, which we’ll tell you about shortly, also stars Jason Statham, giving it even more credibility from the get-go. Revolver sees gambling move back into serious mode, and this time it revolves around a character called Jake, who sees himself as a hotshot gambler. He’s confident, but this masks his lack of common sense. After doing time for a crime boss, a crime he didn’t commit, Jake is released from prison and takes the crime lord on at the casino. And, when Jake wins, the humiliation suffered by his enemy sees a bounty being placed on his head.