Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope  Kaleidoscope is a 1966 movie directed by Jack Smight. The cast is Warren Beaty, Susannah York, Clive Revill, Eric Porter and Murray Melvin. ( Not to be mistaken with the 2016 movie of the same name )

It is about a pretty girl luring a luckless gambler into a dangerous poker game in a nutshell.

The Main Story

Barney Lincoln ( Warren Beaty ) is a wealthy American playboy who meets an attractive dress designer in London called Angel McGinnis ( Susannah York ). However, he only has one memorable date with her before he leaves for Geneva.

Once he gets to Geneva, he breaks into the Kaleidoscope card factory, which was the factory that made all of the playing cards for the casinos in Europe.

His reason for breaking in was to etch secret marks on the printing plates so that he could make money at the casinos using these cards.

He then goes to Monte Carlo, where he is reunited with Angel, and makes a fortune gambling using the marks on the cards. He also went to other European casinos and continued to win more money until he returns to London with Angel.

The Ending

He soon finds out that whilst he was in Monte Carlo with Angel, she became suspicious of his winnings and tells her Father Manny, a Scotland Yard Detective.

Manny then tells Barney that if he doesn’t want to be arrested, he must help him capture Harry Dominion, a drug smuggler who liked playing poker.

Accompanied by Angel, Barney sits in on a game with Dominion and wins every single hand. He even one a hand played with an unmarked deck. Dominion was not happy about losing, so he uses Angel as bait to lure Barney to his country estate where he beats him up and takes back his money.

Barney and Angel try to escape but are chased by Dominion’s henchmen. The movie ends when Manny and his detectives from Scotland Yard arrive to rescue Barney and Angel.

21

21  The movie “21” is a 2008 factual story about six M.I.T. students who got together and trained as a team to become card-counting experts. They subsequently won millions at various casinos in Las Vegas.

The film was directed by Robert Luketic and starred Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Laurence Fishburne, Liza Lapira, Kieu Chinh, Kate Bosworth, Jacob Pitts and Aaron Yoo.

The Main Story

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a young, intelligent, student at M.I.T. in Boston. He wanted to be a doctor but could not afford the $300,000 he needed for his tuition.

One evening his Maths Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) introduced him to a team of 5 students trained by Micky Rosa in card counting.

As Ben Campbell desperately needed to make money, he joined the team, learnt the ropes and soon joined them on weekend trips to Vegas. The team used hand signals, code talk and other techniques to give them an edge over the house.

Before long, they were starting to make thousands of Dollars from the Vegas Casinos. Ben initially only wanted to gamble long enough to make his tuition money, but soon he became greedy and started enjoying the High Roller life too much.

The Ending

Ben gets so engrossed in playing Blackjack that he neglects his tuition and doesn’t do his fair share in an Engineering competition resulting in estrangement from his friends. During his next trip to Vegas, he gets distracted and doesn’t see his signal to walk away from the table. This resulted in him losing his $200 000 earnings and Mickey being so cross that he quits the team.

Ben and 3 of the team continue to play Blackjack, which angers Mickey, so he tips off the Casino Security Boss resulting in Ben getting beaten up and warned not to return.

Atlantic City

Atlantic City  Atlantic City is a 1980 gambling-related movie directed by Louis Malle, A French Director. The Actors and Actresses are Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Robert Joy, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Al Waxman and Hollis Mclaren.

Atlantic City has a magnetic storyline; it’s a part crime thriller, part fairy-tale and part love story set in the time when gambling became legal in Atlantic City. This gambling movie was nominated for five Academy Awards.

The Main Story

Atlantic City features Susan Sarandon and Burt Lancaster as the main characters in this bittersweet and reflective romantic movie. Sally Matthews (Susan Sarandon) leaves Canada and relocates to Atlantic City aspiring to have a thriving gambling industry career as a blackjack dealer. Her first problem is that she has her gangster husband on the trail with her sister, which he has impregnated. It appears no matter what she does; she cannot escape from trouble until she meets an ageing mobster (Burt Lancaster) who becomes her unlikely saviour.

When Lou (Burt Lancaster) gets involved with Sally, he finally finds a way to achieve the success he has always craved by selling cocaine for her estranged husband and places their lives in danger. However, as Lou sells the first batch of cocaine, Dave is killed by the mobsters he stole the drugs from.

The Ending

Lou continues to sell the remaining cocaine. Sally is fired from the casino when they discover her late husband had a criminal record. The mobsters track them down one night, t but Lou has a gun on him, and lands up shooting and killing them. Sally and Lou then steal the mobsters car and leave the city.

The following morning Sally leaves the motel, takes the car and half the remaining money and Lou watches her go.

He then moved back to Atlantic City and sold the remaining cocaine.