Mike Johnson History Buff

When I read that the new James Bond movie "Casino Royale" would have a climatic poker scene, I have to admit that I winced. I love poker. I love to play it, I love to read about it, I love to watch it on TV, and I even love it in the movies. Well for the most part I love it in the movies and on TV.

I think that when you have poker in a movie or on TV it can't be forced. The poker action has to either support the story or it has to be the story. It has to flow. Poker in media can't look like something that was added just to draw in a certain audience and boost ratings. An episode of "The Shield" showing the strike team playing a game of poker as they joke around and remember good memories would be a good use of poker. You wouldn't see any of the cards and the main focus would be on the characters camaraderie. An episode of Fear factor where the final stunt included winning a Sit N Go Hold'em tournament would be an example where poker is forced into the story.

From what I've read about the upcoming 007 movie it sounds more like the poker action is going to flow naturally with the story line, much as it does in Rounders or the Cincinnati Kid. (I believe that lady fingers was a mechanic and was in cahoots with "The Man" and stacked the deck on that last hand.) To decide for yourself you can watch the trailer at the link below.

http://www.filmwad.com/out.phtml?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmovies.aol.com%2Fcasino-royale-james-bond%2Fexclusive-video-features

This link also has interviews with the actors and director who talk about the filming of the poker scenes. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that the new James Bond is the most bad ass looking Bond so far. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I'm afraid that the new guy won't pull off the debonair aspect of Bond as well as his predecessors.

Even if the movie sucks at least there's always Bond girls.