Baccarat- is there still a possibility?
Nightshooter
In bed with SolitairePosts: 2,917MI6 Agent
I was reading I think what was yesterdays USA Today article on CR, and it said that the game Le Chiffre would be playing was indeed Baccarat. It wasn't talking about the book, either. Is it a possibility that it could still be Baccarat, or did they just report wrong?
Comments
SPOILER FOLLOWS
there are two card games in the film, so both might not be poker...
that is good. Poker just doesn't quite fit Bond.
I agree, let us hope it's baccarat. The casino-scene will be a very important scene in the movie. So it's important that they play the best cardgame (baccarat). Aah, I can't wait to see Bond sitting in the casino, facing Le Chiffre. Both actors (Craig and Mikkelsen) have a mean look, so I think it will be a powerful scene if they act good.
Please let this be true...
@merseytart
I'm hoping for the one card game, just with Le Chiffre, to keep the tedium to a minimum. Shorter and fewer card games the better, for me!
And I understand the concerns of non-card players like M5---I don't have much of a head for cards myself, but Baccarat has always been close enough to the fairly simple 'Blackjack' that I can appreciate the skill and chance which intersect whenever huge sums of money are at stake. The key card game scenes in CR won't necessarily be lengthy---but I predict (or rather, hope
* Assuming any resemblance remains by the time the film premieres.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
The thing about Texas Hold'Em, though, is that it's the only 'epic' card game if you want to call it that. There can be tons of players at once, and each round, and there are usually many, is quite long and can be extremely suspenseful because the stakes are usually very high. That's why I occasionally watch it on ESPN and can't stop.
I've made peace with Texas Hold 'Em Poker, if it truly is the game of CR...but I confess to being a bit of a traditionalist in this regard, and prefer the game we've seen (and read) Bond playing since '53. Either way, I'm there when the lights go down.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
It's theoretically possible to make anything exciting- Goldfinger even made golf a great scene. I know exactly what you mean as I'm a bit concerned about the torture scene- I've never seen one that didn't drag, but that doesn't mean they can't make it well in theory.
And I don't think there's any doubt that there are two games- we've seen them filming the intro to the first (DB5).
I used to always read your posts against the card games and agree whole-heartedly, thinking they were boring and dull. But when I recently re-read CR, I took the time to read Bond's explanation of the rules to Vesper carefully and precisely until I understood the game adequately. I was amazed, it was like reading something new - despite knowing the outcome, I was thrilled and incredibly tense when I read the card game. I think that Jetsetwilly is right, if they manage to explain the game to the audience (which I appreciate will be hard, and THAT could send them to sleep), then the game will be excellently tense.
Um, even when it relates to watches, lol.
I'm probably still more in the camp of less cards, not more. But I must also confess to being quite moved by the Goldfinger golf game reference. Never played a game in my life the first time I saw that classic 1964 face off, yet that dramatic tension was very clear to me (and remains great epic to this day, in my opinion).
In reading Casino Royale over the weekend, I further got to thinking that card games and gambling aren't today what they were when Fleming wrote about it in 1953. We have Indian casinos here in Michigan, for goodness sakes! not just the exotic locales of Europe and Las Vegas. Whole TV series revolve around casino runnings, and stars play games off against each other.
So, a familiarity and popularity to be leveraged by Our Man, perhaps.
Poker is not a game of pure luck like baccarat, and I think this would give Bond chances to outplay and outwit Lechiffre. Some of my favorite scenes in Bond movies are where Bond outwits the villain and infuriates him ala GF or OP.
So I think they could play up a great scene where Bond takes all of his chips. Maybe LeChiffre bluffs, maybe Bond makes him sweat and then calls with a sweet hand, lots of dramatic possibilities. Plus, just the way the dealer puts up the cards on the board can be very intense and pleasing to the eye I think.
Of course some think poker should have no place in Bond movies and I can understand this opinion as well as sentiment for all of the great baccarat scenes over the years, so if they stick with baccarat I won't be too upset either.
Well put and now that I've given it some thought, I agree. It's good to see the whole of "Bond" swing back toward the "feel" of the novels, even if the details don't.
Chris
When i read CR, i had no idea how to play Baccarat, but when Bond explains Vesper.. i've got it, and sweat in the game itself. so, it doesn't matter if there is a card game or two, i hope they explain something (to make the audience understand and then suffer)
but yeah, i hope in some point we see baccarat - as a posibility to raise the funds for Bond or Le Chiffre. what i understand every Bond (perhaps not Dalton) had played a important game of Baccarat
Fiona Volpe: Some men don't like to be driven.
Bond: No, some men don't like to be taken for a ride.
I have a copy of the script on my desk at the moment, and I can tell you that the game they play is Texas Hold 'em, however it is never referred to by name.
In fact, the “Dealer” introduces it as “no limit Tenez Les Cartes” in the script.
Hope this clears things up