Directed by John Ford
Produced by William Fox
Written by Robert N. Lee, Booth Tarkington (play), Harry Leon Wilson (play)
Starring John Gilbert, Gertrude Olmstead
Cinematography George Schneiderman
Distributed by Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s) October 21, 1923
Running time 70 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent
English intertitles

Cameo Kirby is a 1923 silent drama film directed by John Ford and featured Jean Arthur in her onscreen debut. It was Ford’s first film credited as John Ford instead of Jack Ford.^[1] It was based on a play by Booth Tarkington and Harry Leon Wilson. The story had been filmed as a silent before in 1915 with Dustin Farnum, who had originated the role on Broadway in 1909. The film was remade as an talking musical film in 1930.

Prints of the film exist in the UCLA Film and Television Archive and at the Cinemateca Portuguesa (Portuguese Film Archive), in Lisbon.

Cast

John Gilbert – Cameo Kirby
Gertrude Olmstead – Adele Randall
Alan Hale – Colonel Moreau
Eric Mayne – Colonel Randall
W. E. Lawrence – Tom Randall (as William E. Lawrence)
Richard Tucker – Cousin Aaron Randall
Phillips Smalley – Judge Playdell
Jack McDonald – Larkin Bunce
Jean Arthur – Ann Playdell
Eugenie Forde – Madame Davezac
Frank Baker (uncredited)
Ken Maynard (uncredited)
Ynez Seabury (uncredited)

References

Links

• Cameo Kirby at the Internet Movie Database
• Cameo Kirby (1930) Sound Version at the Internet Movie Database
• Cameo Kirby at AllRovi
• Cameo Kirby lantern slide

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Ben Bolt, Harold Becker
Produced by Martin Ransohoff
Written by Clark Howard, Robert Roy Pool
Starring Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Dern, Lee Grant
Music by Michael Melvoin, Frank Fitzpatrick (Music Editor)
Cinematography Ralf D. Bode
Editing by Stuart H. Pappé
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) September 25, 1987
Running time 109 min.
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1,733,000

The Big Town is a 1987 film drama about a young man who comes to the big city to work as a professional gambler, in the process becoming romantically involved with two women—one of whom is already married. The film was directed by Ben Bolt and Harold Becker and it stars Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Main cast

Plot

In 1957, J. C. Cullen is a small-town crapshooter who heads to Chicago, Illinois to seek his fortune. There he becomes the pawn of two high-rolling professional gamblers, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards. He later gets mixed-up in a revenge scheme cooked up by Lorry Dane, the embittered stripper wife of strip-joint owner George Cole. Before he knows what’s happened, Cullen is embroiled in two torrid romances, one with Dane and the other with nice girl Aggie Donaldson; he also nearly loses his life by ending up in the middle of a deadly feud between Edwards and Cole.

Links

• The Big Town at the Internet Movie Database
• The Big Town at AllRovi

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Brewster MacWilliams
Produced by Robert Peters, Roy Winnick
Written by Brewster MacWilliams
Starring Frank Gorshin, Stanley DeSantis, Sam Anderson, Mike Genovese, Susan Traylor, Robert Dubac
Music by Colin Leese
Cinematography Arturo Smith
Release date(s) 1997
Running time 89 min.
Country US
Language English

After the Game is a 1997 film noir drama/mystery film starring Frank Gorshin, Stanley DeSantis, Sam Anderson, Mike Genovese, Susan Traylor, and Robert Dubac.

Directed by Brewster MacWilliams and produced by Robert Peters and Roy Winnick, the screenplay was written by Brewster MacWilliams.

The DVD, titled The Last Hand, was issued in 2004.

Synopsis

After the Game is a crime fiction murder mystery with a theme of “after the game of poker” and “after the game of life.” It deals with revenge, deceit, lust and greed, and explores karma and the afterlife.

Aging gambler Benny Walsh (played by Gorshin) dies in a suspicious car crash after the biggest poker win of his life. His son, Clyde (played by Dubac), comes to the Nevada town in search of answers. He discovers that each of his father’s gambling buddies had ample reason to see him dead.

Cast

Frank Gorshin as Benny Walsh
Stanley DeSantis as Frank Bertini
Sam Anderson as Jimmy Walsh
Mike Genovese as Sam Kowalski
Susan Traylor as Veronica Kowalski
Richard Lineback as Slim, the Bartender
Donna Eskra as Dolly
Robert Dubac as Clyde Walsh
Lou Rawls as Morgue Attendant
Daniel Zacapa as Detective Garcia
Hudson Leick as Grace

Links

• After the Game at the Internet Movie Database

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Barry Levinson
Produced by Mark Johnson
Screenplay by Barry Morrow, Ronald Bass
Story by Barry Morrow
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino
Music by Hans Zimmer
Cinematography John Seale
Editing by Stu Linder
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) December 16, 1988 (1988-12-16)
Running time 133 minutes
Country United States
Language English, Italian
Budget $25 million
Gross revenue $354,825,435

Rain Man is a 1988 comedy-drama film written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass and directed by Barry Levinson. It tells the story of an abrasive and selfish yuppie, Charlie Babbitt, who discovers that his estranged father has died and bequeathed all of his multimillion-dollar estate to his other son, Raymond, a man with autism of whose existence Charlie was unaware.

The film stars Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt, and Valeria Golino as Charlie’s girlfriend, Susanna. Morrow created the character of Raymond after meeting Kim Peek, a real-life savant; his characterization was based on both Peek and Bill Sackter, a good friend of Morrow who was the subject of Bill, an earlier film that Morrow wrote.^[1] Rain Man received overwhelmingly positive reviews at the time of its release, praising Hoffman’s role and the wit and sophistication of the screenplay.

The film won four Oscars at the 61st Academy Awards (March 1989), including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor in a leading role for Hoffman. Its crew received an additional four nominations.^[2] The film also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), a Los Angeles car dealer in his mid-twenties, is in the middle of importing four grey market Lamborghinis. The deal is being threatened by the EPA, and if Charlie cannot meet its requirements he will lose a significant amount of money. After some quick subterfuge with an employee, Charlie leaves for a weekend trip to Palm Springs with his girlfriend, Susanna (Valeria Golino).

Charlie’s trip is cancelled by news that his estranged father, Sanford Babbitt, has died. Charlie travels to Cincinnati, Ohio, to settle the estate, where he learns an undisclosed trustee is inheriting $3 million on behalf of an unnamed beneficiary, while all he is to receive is a classic Buick Roadmaster convertible and several prize rose bushes. Eventually he learns the money is being directed to a mental institution, which is the home of his brother with autism, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), of whose existence Charlie was previously unaware. This leads Charlie to ask the question that permeates the movie: “Why didn’t somebody tell me I had a brother?”

Although Raymond has autism, he also has superb recall, albeit usually with little understanding of the subject matter, and extreme skill in mathematics. He is said to be a savant by some doctors. He is frightened by change and adheres to strict routines (for example, his continual repetition of the “Who’s on First?” sketch). Except when he is in distress, he shows little emotional expression and avoids eye contact. Numbed by learning that he has a brother and determined to get what he believes is his fair share of the Babbitt estate, Charlie takes Raymond on what becomes a cross-country car trip (due to Raymond’s fear of flying) back to Los Angeles to meet with his attorneys. Charlie intends to start a custody battle in order to get Raymond’s doctor, Dr. Gerald R. Bruner (Jerry Molen), to settle out of court for half of Sanford Babbitt’s estate so that the mental institution can maintain custody of Raymond.

During the course of the journey, Charlie learns about Raymond’s autism, which he initially believes is curable — resulting in his frequent frustration with his brother’s antics. He also learns about how his brother came to be separated from his family, as a result of an accident when he was left alone with Charlie when Charlie was a baby. Raymond also sings “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles like he did when Charlie was young. Charlie proves to be sometimes shallow and exploitative, as when he learns that Raymond has an excellent memory and takes him to Las Vegas to win money at blackjack by counting cards. However, towards the end of their trip Charlie finds himself becoming protective of Raymond, and grows to truly love him.

Charlie finally meets with his attorney to try to get his share of his inheritance, but then decides that he no longer cares about the money and really just wants to have custody of his brother. However, at a meeting with a court-appointed psychiatrist and Dr. Bruner, Raymond is unable to decide exactly what he wants. Eventually, the psychiatrist presses Raymond to make the decision, upsetting him and leading Charlie to request that the doctor back off. Raymond is allowed to go back home to Cincinnati. Charlie, who has gained a new brother and mellowed considerably, promises Raymond as he boards an Amtrak train that he will visit in two weeks.

Cast

Tom Cruise as Charlie Babbitt
Dustin Hoffman as Raymond “Ray / Rain Man” Babbitt
Valeria Golino as Susanna
Jerry Molen as Dr. Bruner
Jack Murdock as John Mooney
Michael D. Roberts as Vern
Ralph Seymour as Lenny
Lucinda Jenney as Iris
Kim Robillard as Small Town Doctor
Barry Levinson (uncredited) as Doctor
Bonnie Hunt as Sally Dibbs

Effect on popular culture

Rain Man‘s portrayal of the main character’s condition has been seen as inaugurating a common and incorrect media stereotype that people on the autism spectrum typically have savant skills, and references to Rain Man, in particular Dustin Hoffman’s performance, have become a popular shorthand for autism and savantism.^[12] However, Rain Man has also been seen as dispelling a number of other misconceptions about autism and improving public awareness of the failure of many agencies to accommodate autistic people and make use of the abilities they do have, regardless of whether they are savant skills.^[13]

References

Links

• Rain Man at the Internet Movie Database
• Rain Man at the TCM Movie Database
• Rain Man at Allmovie
• Rain Man at Box Office Mojo
• Rain Man at Rotten Tomatoes
• Rain Man at Metacritic

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Ron Shelton
Produced by Stephen Chin, Kellie Davis, David V. Lester
Written by Ron Shelton
Starring Antonio Banderas, Woody Harrelson, Lolita Davidovich, Tom Sizemore, Lucy Liu, Robert Wagner, Tony Curtis, Wesley Snipes, Mike Tyson, Kevin Costner, Rod Stewart, Jennifer Tilly, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Drew Carey
Music by Alex Wurman
Cinematography Mark Vargo
Editing by Patrick Flannery, Paul Seydor
Distributed by Touchstone Pictures
Release date(s) December 25, 1999
Running time 124 min.

Play It to the Bone is a 1999 sports/comedy-drama film, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, written and directed by Ron Shelton.

It follows the adventures of two boxers and best friends who travel to Las Vegas in order to fight each other for the sake of a chance to compete for the middleweight title. The film also starred Lolita Davidovich, Tom Sizemore, Lucy Liu, and Robert Wagner.

Cameo appearances include: Tony Curtis, Wesley Snipes, Mike Tyson, Kevin Costner, Rod Stewart, Jennifer Tilly, Natasha Gregson Wagner and Drew Carey.

Plot

Aging prizefighters and longtime pals Cesar Dominguez (Banderas) and Vince Boudreau (Harrelson) always regretted not getting one last shot. Out of the blue, such an opportunity comes their way — except it is to fight each other.

Boxing promoter Joe Domino (Sizemore) has a problem on his hands. The fighters scheduled to be on his undercard in Vegas, a preliminary to a main event featuring heavyweight Mike Tyson, suddenly become unavailable at the last minute. He needs replacements fast, so a call is made to a gym in Los Angeles to see if Dominguez and Boudreau would be willing to step into the ring against one another.

The boxers negotiate one condition: that the winner will be given a chance to fight for the middleweight championship. Domino agrees, although the untrustworthy promoter is not necessarily a man of his word.

Cesar and Vince have only a day to get to the fight. They decide to drive rather than fly, so they call upon their friend Grace (Davidovich) to drive them in her lime green Oldsmobile 442. Grace is a former love interest of both. Grace’s own plan is to pitch her various money-making ideas to Vegas bigshots like hotel and casino boss Hank Goody (Wagner) and raise venture capital. Along the way, they pick up a hitchhiker (Liu) whose insults finally result in Grace’s flattening her with a solid right cross worthy of her traveling companions.

The fight between the two friends is sparsely attended, ringside fans and celebrities remaining uninterested until the night’s main event. Cesar and Vince mix it up so savagely, however, beating each other to a bloody pulp, that fans in the arena begin paying more and more attention, as do commentators on TV.

When the action-packed and dramatic bout comes to an end, Cesar and Vince are paid off, but promptly spend most of their money in the casino. Grace, too, comes away bruised and empty-handed, except for her everlasting relationship between a couple of hard-headed but soft-hearted guys.

Reception

The film garnered a generally poor reception, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it an average rating of 3.9 out of 10.^[1] Professional critical reception was similar, with Empire magazine giving it just 2 stars out of 5.^[2]

References

Links

• Play It to the Bone at the Internet Movie Database

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Adrian Lyne
Produced by Sherry Lansing
Written by Novel: Jack Engelhard
Screenplay: Amy Holden Jones
Starring Woody Harrelson, Demi Moore, Robert Redford, Seymour Cassel, Oliver Platt
Music by John Barry
Cinematography Howard Atherton
Editing by Joe Hutshing
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) April 7, 1993 (1993-04-07)
Running time 118 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $38,000,000
Gross revenue Worldwide: $266,614,059

Indecent Proposal is a 1993 drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Jack Engelhard. It was directed by Adrian Lyne and stars Robert Redford, Demi Moore, Woody Harrelson, Seymour Cassel and Oliver Platt.^{[1] [2]}

Plot

Childhood sweethearts David (Harrelson) and Diana Murphy (Moore) are a married couple who travel to Las Vegas, hoping they can win enough money to finance David’s fantasy real estate project. They place their money on red in roulette and lose. After gambling away all of their savings, they encounter billionaire John Gage (Redford). Gage is attracted to Diana and offers David one million dollars to spend a night with her. After a difficult night, David and Diana decide to accept the offer, and a contract is signed the next day. Gage flies Diana to a private yacht, and it is assumed that their arrangement is consummated.

Although he had hoped to forget the whole incident, David grows increasingly insecure about his relationship with Diana, consumed with a fear that she remains involved with Gage; this insecurity is heightened by the fact Diana discovers that Gage has bought their home/property while it was going into foreclosure. Because of this tension on their relationship, David and Diana separate. Gage actively persists and renews his advances on Diana. Although she initially resists, Diana eventually consents to spending time with him, and a relationship develops. David, meanwhile, realizes he cannot go on without the love of his life. When Diana files for divorce, David makes one final attempt to win her back by signing the divorce papers and giving the million dollars away.

Gage sees how Diana looks at David and recognizes that, even if she stayed with him, their relationship would never achieve the intensity she had with David. It is revealed that Diana and Gage did not have intercourse on the contracted night, and a guilty Gage admits to her that she was only the latest in a long line of “million dollar girls”. She leaves Gage and returns to David.

Cast

• Robert Redford as John Gage^[3]
• Demi Moore as Diana Murphy
• Woody Harrelson as David Murphy
• Seymour Cassel as Mr. Shackleford
• Oliver Platt as Jeremy
• Billy Bob Thornton as Day Tripper
• Rip Taylor as Mr. Langford
• Billy Connolly as Auction M.C.
• Sheena Easton as Herself
• Herbie Hancock as Himself

Reception

Box office

The film was a box office success, earning $106,614,059 in the U.S. and $160,000,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $266,614,059.^[4][5]

Critical response

Despite the film’s success at the box office, it received mostly negative reviews from critics.^[6] Gene Siskel gave the film thumbs down. Roger Ebert, however, gave it thumbs up on Siskel & Ebert.^[7] Ebert also wrote a positive print review.^[8] The film was nominated for seven Razzie Awards, and won three: for Worst Screenplay, Worst Picture and Worst Supporting Actor (Woody Harrelson).

Differences between the novel and the film

In reviewing the novel on which this film is loosely based, the New York Times summarized its themes as, “The sanctity of marriage versus the love of money, the Jew versus significant non-Jews such as shiksas and sheiks, skill versus luck, materialism versus spirituality, Israel versus the Arab countries, the past versus the future, and the religious world versus the secular one.”^[9] To those who have seen the film but not read the book, it should be immediately apparent based on that quote that, although this film shares some thematic elements with the novel that inspired it, the underlying plot is entirely different.

In Engelhard’s novel, the main character Joshua is a Jew, and his billionaire foil is an Arab. The extent to which this distinction matters is difficult to overstate, because it changes the entire point: the mental battle between Joshua and his rival is not merely a game of money but rather an extension of the power struggle inherent in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and everything that follows – even down to the references to krav maga – is part of the symbolism of the story.

References

Links

• Indecent Proposal at the Internet Movie Database
• Indecent Proposal at Rotten Tomatoes

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by Sydney Pollack
Produced by Sydney Pollack, Richard Roth
Written by Judith Rascoe, David Rayfiel
Starring Robert Redford, Lena Olin, Raúl Juliá, Alan Arkin
Music by Dave Grusin
Cinematography Owen Roizman
Editing by Fredric Steinkamp, William Steinkamp
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) December 12, 1990
Running time 140 min.

Havana is an independent 1990 drama starring Robert Redford, Lena Olin and Raúl Juliá, directed by Sydney Pollack and with music by Dave Grusin. In the film, an American professional gambler named Jack Weil (Redford) decides to visit Havana, Cuba to gamble. On the boat to Havana, he meets Roberta Duran (Olin), the wife of a revolutionary, Arturo (Julia). Shortly after their arrival, Arturo is taken away by the secret police, and Roberta is captured and tortured. Jack frees her, but she continues to support the revolution.

Plot

The plot is set on the Eve of the victory of the Cuban Revolution, January 1, 1959.

On the boat from Miami to Havana, Roberta Duran enlists the aid of Jack Weil (Robert Redford) in smuggling in U.S. Army Signal Corps radios destined for the Cuban revolutionary forces in the hills. Jack Weil agrees only because he is romantically interested in Ms. Duran. When they rendezvous for the “payoff”, Roberta reveals she is married, dashing Weil’s hopes.

Weil meets up with a Cuban journalist acquaintance (Tony Plana) and during a night on the town they run into Roberta Duran and her husband, Dr. Arturo Duran. Dr. Duran (Raul Julia) is a leader of the revolutionary movement. When Roberta points Weil out to him, Dr. Duran invites Weil to join them for dinner, and asks Weil for further aid to the cause. Weil turns him down, even after Duran outlines the desperate situation confronting the Cuban majority.

The next morning, after a night of debauchery for Weil, but a night of arrests of revolutionaries by the secret police, Weil reads a newspaper account of Dr. Duran’s arrest and death. In shock he continues with the planned poker game, at which he meets the head of the secret police. He learns that Roberta was also arrested and held. She was also tortured. Weil uses the debt one of the other players (a lieutenant) owes him, to obtain Roberta’s release. In shock from her husband’s death and her own experience in jail, she agrees to let him shelter her in his apartment, but that afternoon she disappears. Realizing that he is in love with Roberta, and encouraged by an old gambling friend, Weil drives into the interior of Cuba to find her at Dr. Duran’s old estate. He persuades her to return with him to Havana and to leave Cuba with him. When she asks, he explains that a lump on his arm contains a diamond he had sewn into his arm in his youth, as insurance that no matter what happens in life, one always has that diamond.

He makes arrangements for her to leave Cuba via boat, but on his return to the apartment, he is assaulted by two Cubans who inform him that Arturo demands that he get Roberta out of the country. In amazement that Dr. Duran is still alive, he wrestles with himself and pretends to Roberta that nothing is amiss. He uses the time thus bought to confirm the story with a CIA agent (Daniel Davis) whose acquaintance he had made. He obtains the information by threatening to blow the agent’s cover of gourmet magazine writer, then uses it also to make a deal with him regarding Dr. Duran. Pretending to work for the CIA, Weil goes to see Dr. Duran, who is held by the chief of the secret police (SIM). He tells the chief that Washington has new plans for Duran and wants him released, with a payoff of $50,000. He “orders” the chief to have Duran cleaned up and dressed (Duran had been tortured and was in extremely bad shape) and taken to his house. Weil goes to a doctor, then a jeweler, to sell the diamond to raise the cash for Dr. Duran’s release.

Back at his apartment, he informs Roberta, who had decided to make a life with him, that her husband is still alive. In shock she leaves on her own to find her husband. Meanwhile, Weil had blown the big game with high rollers he had been angling for since the day he arrived in Havana. The casino manager (Alan Arkin) forgives him, knowing he had made rescuing Roberta his priority.

That night, New Year’s Eve, 1958, the insurrection is won by the revolutionary forces. The upperclass, the government and the secret police all leave their lavish New Year’s Eve parties to make a mad dash to the ports and airport to leave the country. The people pour into the streets, celebrating the victory by trashing the casinos and dancing in the streets. Weil and (Arkin) agree it is a new day and time for them to go.

The next morning Weil is in a restaurant preparing to depart when Roberta shows up to wish him farewell. She discovers, by seeing the bandage on his arm, what it had cost him to save her husband for her. They hug goodbye. She remains with the Revolution, and he has been changed by it. Every year he drives down to the Florida Keys to gaze across the water toward Havana, hoping one day to see her again, but also realizing that the changes in Cuba were being echoed in the changes of the 1960s happening in America.

The closing credits, consisting of a beautiful Caribbean sunset with an equally beautiful and haunting musical finale by composer Dave Grusin, is an essential part of the movie, as is the entire bittersweet musical score. Raul Julia’s name does not appear in any of the credits.

Cast

Robert Redford as Jack Weil
Lena Olin as Bobby Durán
Alan Arkin as Joe Volpí
Tomás Milián as Menocal
Daniel Davis as Marion Chigwell
Tony Plana as Julio Ramos
Betsy Brantley as Diane
Lise Cutter as Patty
Richard Farnsworth as the Professor
Mark Rydell as Meyer Lansky
Vasek Simek as Willy
Fred Asparagus as Baby Hernández
Richard Portnow as Mike MacClaney
Dion Anderson as Roy Forbes
Carmine Caridi as Captain Potts

Links

• Havana at the Internet Movie Database

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by: Gil Cates Jr
Produced by: Michael Arata, Steve Austin, Albert J. Salzer
Written by: Gil Cates Jr, Mark Weinstock
Starring: Bret Harrison, Burt Reynolds, Charles Durning, Vincent Van Patten, Michael Sexton, with Jennifer Tilly and Shannon Elizabeth
Music by: Peter Rafelson
Cinematography: Tom Harting
Editing by: Jonathan Cates
Distributed by: MGM Pictures (USA), Seven Arts Pictures (non-USA)
Release date: 2008
Running time: 85 min
Country: United States
Language: English

Deal is a 2008 drama film starring film actor Burt Reynolds, with Bret Harrison, and Shannon Elizabeth. It tells the story of a former poker player (Reynolds) who tutors a younger player (Harrison). The film’s climax is a fictional World Poker Tour championship.

World Poker Tour commentators Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten and Courtney Friel play themselves. A number of other professional poker players and poker-playing celebrities, including Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Greg Raymer, Chris Moneymaker and Isabelle Mercier are in the cast.

Cast

Bret Harrison as Alex Stillman
Burt Reynolds as Tommy Vinson
Shannon Elizabeth as Michelle
Charles Durning as Charlie Adler
Jennifer Tilly as Karen ‘Razor’ Jones
Maria Mason as Helen Vinson
Gary Grubbs as Mr. Stillman
Caroline McKinley as Mrs. Stillman
Brandon Olive as Ben Thomas
Jon Eyez as Mike ‘Double Diamond’ Jackson
J.D. Evermore as Tex Button
Courtney Friel as Herself
Phil Laak as Himself
Antonio Esfandiari as Himself
Vincent Van Patten as Himself
Scott Lazar as Himself
Chris Moneymaker as Himself
Greg Raymer as Himself
Isabelle Mercier as Herself
Mike Sexton as Himself

Production

The World Poker Tour set was shipped to New Orleans for filming.

During the production, Charles Durning treated the cast and crew to a tour of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans and recounted his own World War II experience at Normandy during the D-Day invasion and in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was wounded and taken prisoner.

Reception

The film received extremely negative reviews by getting 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 26 reviews. Metacritic rated it 35% based on 9 reviews.

Box office performance

With a 5 million dollar budget, the movie opened taking $35,281 from 50 theaters ($705 average). As of May 11, it has grossed $61,626 domestically.

The Filmwatchers of America (FOA) have ranked this particular film as the worst movie ever made and ever to be made.

Links

• Official site
• Deal at the Internet Movie Database
• Deal at Rotten Tomatoes
• Deal at Metacritic
• Deal at Box Office Mojo
• Deal at Allmovie

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Directed by: Robert Luketic
Produced by: Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Dana Brunetti, Michael DeLuca
Written by: Ben Mezrich, Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb, Chris Kalyvas
Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Liza Lapira, Aaron Yoo, Josh Gad, Jacob Pitts, Kieu Chinh
Music by: David Sardy
Cinematography: Russell Carpenter
Editing by: Elliot Graham
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release date: March 28, 2008 (2008-03-28)
Running time: 123 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $35 million
Gross revenue: $157,927,340

21 is a 2008 drama film from Columbia Pictures. It is directed by Australian director Robert Luketic and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, and Aaron Yoo. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team as told in Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich.

The film received accusations of ‘whitewashing’ due to the fact that the real MIT Blackjack Team was predominantly composed of Asian Americans, while the film portrayal was a predominantly white cast. Organizations such as the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) spoke out against the film and its producers’ alleged mixed messages about casting decisions. Despite its largely negative reviews, 21 was a box office success and was the number one film during its first and second weekends of release.

Links

• Official website
• 21 at the Internet Movie Database
• 21 at Rotten Tomatoes
• 21 at Metacritic
• 21 at Box Office Mojo
• 21 at Allmovie
• MIT Alumnus and Busting Vegas Author Describe Experience of Beating the House
• Photos of the filming of 21 near the campus of MIT: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
• Official world wide release dates with links to different national sites

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.