Blackjack is a hugely popular casino game, both to play online or to play at “real” casinos. However, whilst we normally talk about strategies and tips, blackjack bonuses or ways to try and make money playing blackjack, here we’re having a lighter look at blackjack and how this great game has been portrayed in some classic movies.

James Bond: License to Kill

License to Kill was released in 1989 and was unusual for a number of reasons. It was a rare outing for Timothy Dalton, it was the first Bond movie not to be shot in the UK and it was also the first not to use the title of an Ian Fleming story. Also, unusually, it featured Bond playing blackjack, rather than his usual casino favorite baccarat (Chemin de Fer, to be a nerd about things). One thing that’s far from unusual is that Britain’s best spy wins – an impressive £250,000 ($400,000)!

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

From Britain’s sexiest spy to their silliest, Austin Powers, the comic creation of Canadian Mike Myers, isn’t quite such a hit. Unaware of the rules Powers decides to stay on five. Interesting tactic from the bad-toothed 1960s sex god. Not one that we recommend though, especially as the dealer hits 20, costing Austin Powers $10,000, as you can see below!

Rain Man

One man who did have a better grasp of numbers was Dustin Hoffman’s autistic character in the Oscar-winning movie Rainman. Hoffman’s character uses his savant math genius to win more than $80,000 counting cards in Vegas despite the casino’s use of a six deck shoe. He doesn’t quite have the same luck playing Wheel of Fortune where his call of number 20 costs Tom Cruise $3,000.

Hangover

Hangover is a great movie and whilst there are countless brilliant scenes and comic moments, for blackjack fans the one that will get them most excited is where the unruly bachelor group manage to successfully function as a card counting team and win big. If only blackjack was so easy!

21

21 just has to feature on this list, seeing as it is about the most successful group of card counters of all time, the MIT team who took down casinos all over the world counting cards at blackjack and winning millions of dollars in the process. If this movie doesn’t get you in the mood for some blackjack we don’t know what will.