While there aren’t as many casino-based films as some people might think, the ones that have been able to become definitive pieces of cinema within this genre have developed an almost cult-like status within the film and gambling community.
Film buffs who have a more general view of gambling-based films might immediately jump to landmark blockbuster titles such as Martin Scorsese’s Casino or, more recently, Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler. However, it’s films like 21 that can fly under the radar, even though it was a box office success when it first hit screens in 2008.
The Background of 21
21 is based on the best-selling book, Bringing Down The House, and is, of course, centered around blackjack. It is about a group of MIT students who developed an idea to get ahead and beat the house, mostly in Vegas, but the book also details their international exploits, too, fusing mathematical analysis and probability with the card counting to get one over on the house.
The film first hit cinemas in 2008, but the book it’s based on came out five years earlier, long before the days when the art of the blackjack game was specifically a land-based venture. Casinos quickly realized that card counting could tilt the odds in favor of the player who knew how to work them.
Now that online blackjack has become the game of choice for many, it’s virtually impossible for players to pull off what the MIT team managed to do throughout the 1980s and 1990s. That said, it is one of the handful of casino films that became a box-office success and has stood the test of time.
As casino games become more accustomed to digital format, and popular media and DIY projects like podcasts become prevalent in the digital world, 21 might not have the same sort of impact as it did a couple of decades ago. Below are some of the more memorable scenes from the movie.
#1 Learning the Ropes at Blackjack Club
It’s a memorable moment in the film because we realize for the first time that the professor isn’t just in the business of teaching students. He’s also looking to recruit for the lucrative card-counting MIT team. This selection strategy was part of why the team, unaware of their methods, regularly won six-figure sums in casinos. It also introduces several of the other main characters and shows the specifics of how the team got so good at card counting.
#2 First Card Counting Scene in the Casino
This scene flicks between his internal monologue and how he uses math to stay ahead of the house. It’s the first time we see Ben testing everything he’s learned and applying it for real. It shows how all those hours of practice are now paying dividends on the casino floor during a live game, which is the foundation of the best-selling book the film is based on. So yes, it is undoubtedly one of the more memorable scenes.
#3 Angering the Pit Boss
It’s important to remember that 21 took place in casinos throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Casinos were not as privy to card counting methods back then, and many of them also had a criminal element operating at the top of their hierarchy.
Some viewers have stated that the scene when Ben gets caught by the pit boss and his goons and is taken into the back room for interrogation is the most unrealistic part of the film, given that card counting isn’t technically illegal.
While that’s the case in the modern day, Vegas was a much different place in the 1980s and 1990s. The film is also memorable because we get to see Laurence Fishburne, one of the biggest names in the film, showcase his acting repertoire. Fishburne was notably absent from the recent Matrix movies, highlighting the weight that his presence has in film—and this is one scene where we get to see one of the biggest names in the cast display his talent to full effect.
#4 Escaping Vegas
Once the jig is up and the pit boss becomes aware of the team and how they operate, it’s time for the profitable team to cash their chips and get out of Vegas. In a chase scene that goes through the back of the casino and into the kitchen and features Ben removing his disguise as he manages to evade capture from the pit boss and his security team, it’s the most memorable scene that helps us realize that the card counting days are coming to a premature end.