Best Slot Machine Scenes in Films
Some of the best movies of all-time use casinos as their settings, whether it is the classic James Bond scenes from Casino Royale or comedy romps such as Hangover.
Las Vegas creates a great backdrop for such stories and as far back as the sixties, the excitement and glamour of a game table gave directors a chance to build tension and drive the narrative. In more recent films, such as Casino, it provides the key plot vehicle for the whole film.
Whilst the casino is a staple of the silver screen, slot machines are a relatively new arrival to films. However, they are every bit as synonymous with the bright lights of Vegas these days, as well as across other forms of media and entertainment. Slot machines have become incredibly popular, jumping out of the casinos and films and into people’s living rooms. The extensive range of slots games on Cheeky Bingo shows how this classic game has been adapted to cater to all tastes, especially when it comes to honoring movie franchises in titles loosely based on 300, Fantastic 4 and Thor. With plenty of scope for lights, sound and excitement, they make a great prop and narrative driver for any modern movie.
So, we have selected a handful of popular movies which incorporate slot machines scenes for you to enjoy.
Ocean’s 13
The Ocean’s series of movies are classic examples of casinos being used to drive home a great story, with plots that have more ups and downs than a night at the tables. The obvious choice from Ocean’s 13 would be the setting up of a slot machine to win big as part of the main plot, but instead, we have gone for a more subtle scene featuring Brad Pitt’s smartly dressed character Rusty.
He sets up a slot to win big in an airport lounge, passing it over to the hotel reviewer whom they had given a horrible experience to throughout earlier scenes. It is a heart-warming scene of sorts, a nice pay-off for a character given a hard time throughout the film.
National Lampoon’s Vegas Vacation
‘I put a dollar in, I got a car’ – the classic lines spoken by another Rusty, this time the son of National Lampoon’s favorite Clark Griswold. The Chevy Chase movies were not classics by any stretch of the imagination, but they were an early example of a slot machine being used in a movie as the only son of the protagonist wins an array of vehicles. Another classic scene sees Chase and Randy Quaid in a cheapo casino with slots in the background, which provides a great alternative aspect of the City of Lights.
The first film saw the hapless family head to Wally World, whilst the second took them to Europe. The third in the series was the Christmas film, which we feel is in the top ten festive flicks of all time. By the time 1997 came around, they were back on American soil in Las Vegas making the fourth in the franchise, which was a commercial success, costing $25m to produce and grossing $34m.
Casino
It would be hard to write a list of some of the most famous slot machine scenes without touching upon the epic 1995 film Casino, starring Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone. Telling the story of Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein, it charts the rise and fall of a Casino empire, entwined with a great mobster tale too.
One memorable and iconic scene sees Sam firing his slots manager after three huge payouts on one of the machines in a short space of time. De Niro’s fearsome character delivers a dressing down to local boy Don Ward, played by Joe Bob Briggs.
