Maverick is a film dating back to 1994 and is an American Western directed by Richard Donner starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and James Garner. It is based on the 1957 series of the same name.
Maverick is a gambler, and con artist who needs money to enter a high stakes Winner Takes All poker game.
The Main Story
Mel Gibson takes on the lead role as Bret Maverick and sees the film open with Maverick in a tricky situation at a riverboat poker game.
His primary motivation for playing in the poker game is to prove he is the best poker player of all time and the lure of big money. However, the stake to enter is $25000, and he is $3000 short.
He ropes in a posse of other conmen to help him plot on a massive card tournament held on a riverboat. It seems like a simple traipse initially; however, things get trickier with a series of twists. He scams hopeful contestants in a preliminary card game to win the money he needs to enter the high stakes poker game making enemies out of them. Added to his woes is he soon realises he has a cunning marshal on his tail.
The film goes through the usual pursuing of gangsters that one expects from a Western, but with a smattering of poker games in the mix and twists and turns along the way.
The Ending
Despite being double-crossed numerous times, Maverick eventually gets the money to enter his high stakes poker game which he won. He received winnings of $500 000 but only got half of it as one of his fellow conmen stole the other half.
He would have lost it all, had he not hidden the remaining money down the side of his boots.
Rounders was produced in 1998 as an American drama film about the underground world of high stakes poker. The Director was John Dahl and starred Matt Damion and Edward Norton.
It is about a gifted Poker player who becomes a compulsive gambler and gambles away his tuition money, law degree, girlfriend, and almost his entire life. His biggest dream was of winning the World Series of Poker.
The Main Story
The main story is about Mike Dermott ( Matt Damon ) and Lester Murphy aka Worm ( Edward Norton ) who need a large sum of money to pay for a debt that Worm racked up in Mike’s name. They believe the only way they can do this, is by winning a high stakes poker game.
On their travels, they encounter dangerous individuals in the Poker World’s seedy glamour that consists of exhausted players risking everything they own or can borrow to feed their obsessive behaviour.
Towards the end, Mike wins $60,000 in an underground poker game against dodgy characters. He was unsure whether they would let him walk away with his winnings, but there is honour among thieves, and they agreed he had won it fair and square.
The Ending
Mike settles Worm’s $15,000 debt and various other debts he had. He then drops out of law school and leaves New York for Las Vegas to finally play in the World Series of Poker.
Highlighted are the two contrasting personalities, Mike wants to win by playing a good Poker game whereas Worm wants to hustle, leading them into trouble. Rounders is not about losers. Based on Poker it depicts the talented hero winning after many disastrous losses, yet keeps getting back into the saddle to the point where he no longer has anything to lose, but everything to gain.
Revolver is a 2005 British and French crime thriller co-written and directed by Guy Ritchie, Madonna’s ex. It stars the well-known and popular Jason Statham (Jake Green), Ray Liotta (Dorothy Macha) and Andre 300(Avi).
Revolver is a macho parable of a man who has fallen from grace and is out for revenge.
The Main Story
Macha is a crime boss who controls illegal gambling, and when he loses his card man. He chooses a replacement card man who is a successful gambler. The replacement card man is Jake Green, but he refuses to accept the job.
The crime boss starts harassing his family and threatening to kill his brother and brother’s niece if he doesn’t comply.
Jake eventually has no option and becomes the card man.
At one of the casino games, Jake shoots an opponent which leads to his arrest. Macha keeps Billy’s family hostage to ensure Jake does not bring his name into it and Jake receives a 14-year prison sentence. He is, however, given the option to choose to serve the 14 years in a normal, or seven years in solitary confinement. He chooses the solitary confinement option.
While in prison he meets a con-man and chess player and they work out various chess moves to ensure they can always beat the game. The formula could be applied to any game and not just chess.
The Ending
Upon his release from prison, he sets out to get revenge on Macha by using his mathematical formula and getting the money to get his niece back. Macha soon realizes that Jake is no longer scared of him and that now only death awaits him and preferably by his own hands. He, therefore, commits suicide.
Revolver is about gambling in life and its consequences and how egos and power are man’s biggest downfall. The movie was a box office flop as it had an overcomplicated storyline.
