Baccarat In Movies Through The Decades
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When Baccarat was introduced to Las Vegas in the 1950s, it took the whole country by storm.
It was associated with high stakes and high rollers and quickly became the new craze in popular casinos. It caught everyone’s attention from businessmen to politicians, and, of course, the movie industry too.
Baccarat was featured in many popular movies throughout the decades that followed, and to this day, remains one of the most popular live casino games with Live Baccarat websites drawing more players than ever.
Here are some movies that Baccarat was a prominent part of.
Casino Royale
The original Casino Royale, not the one made in 2006, had major plot points based on a game of Baccarat.
Released in 1967, the movie parodies the James Bond franchise by showing the villain’s driving point as destroying Bond’s “celibate image”.
When a nefarious organisation called SMERSH starts eliminating agents of secret agencies all over the world, a previously retired James Bond is roped in to eliminate the threat. When he learns of SMERSH’s motives, Bond renames all the agents as James Bond 007 to confuse his enemies.
The climax of the movie boils down to a game of Baccarat between the villain and Evelyn Tremble, a Baccarat expert hired by James Bond.
Other Bond movies
Ian Fleming, the author who created the famous character James Bond, was a passionate gambler. He’s known to have been inspired by local casino players for many of his spy stories.
Many of the earlier James Bond movies show Baccarat as the character’s favourite pastime. Over the years, he became somewhat of an icon in the world of gambling.
Agent 007 is portrayed as a Baccarat expert in movies where he uses the game to discover his enemies’ secrets.
You can find Bond indulging in his favourite card game in Dr No, Thunderball, On her majesty’s secret service, For your eyes only, and Licence to kill.
A Hard Day’s Night
A documentary film about the life of the Beatles, this movie was released the same year as Casino Royale. It was even proclaimed as one of the 100 best movies in the world.
But how is it connected to Baccarat?
When in England, John’s grandfather tries to play Baccarat in the local casinos. Hitting bottle after bottle and not understanding any of the rules of the game, he makes the scenes hilarious.
In a twist ending, he wins a huge sum of money only to lose it all to pay the casino bar.
Rush Hour 3
The 2007 Jackie Chan starrer Rush Hour 3 has a hilarious scene involving Baccarat as well.
In the scene, Chris Rock’s character assumes he’s won the game seeing his 3 kings when in reality he has received one of the worst possible hands. As the scene is set in France, you can see them playing the Chemin de fer version of the game.
Little known fact: Jackie Chan loves playing Baccarat off the screen too, which probably was the inspiration for the Baccarat scene in Rush Hour 3. He has also played Baccarat in another one of his popular movies, City Hunter of 1993.
