In Josef von Sternberg's exotic and intoxicating "The Shanghai Gesture," "Mother" Gin Sling's Casino is yet another monumental temple of sin: an inverted Tower of Babel with concentric Dantean circles of hell. The roulette table, presided over by the Master of the Spinning Wheel (Marcel Dalio) is in the dead center of the pit at the bottom. The place makes Vegas look like kindergarten (or Disneyland, as Rothstein says it has become). Gambling here is a matter of serious life-and-death. Doctor Omar of "Shanghai and Gomorrah" (Victor Mature, in a tuxedo with a fez and burnoose) explains: "I cheat at everything ... but cards."

If ever a movie captured the allure of forbidden wagers, where anything and everything is up for grabs, this is it. As the provocatively named Poppy (Gene Tierney) rhapsodizes: "It smells so incredibly evil. I didn't think such a place existed except in my own imagination. It has a ghastly familiarity, like a half-remembered dream. Anything could happen here, any moment ..."

In Stanley Kubrick's stately 1975 masterpiece, "Barry Lyndon," Redmond Barry (Ryan O'Neal) improves his station in life through luck, fate and fraud. (Not coincidentally, the William Makepeace Thackeray novel on which it is based is called "The Luck of Barry Lyndon.") The son of an Irish farmer's widow, Redmond Barry aspires the style and title of a gentleman, and rises up to become the aristocrat known as Barry Lyndon. But his powdered wig and finery cannot disguise indefinitely his true identity as a rogue and card sharp. The cards are stacked against poor Barry from the first frames of the movie. He's entrapped not only by 18th century social structures but also by Stanley Kubrick, the not-so-benevolent god who thwarts the pathetic character's every attempt to become the captain of his own fate, and the master of his own destiny.

In the end, Barry's biggest gamble -- attempting to behave like a true gentleman by dueling with his spoiled, foppish stepson -- is a noble yet foolish bet on the content of the boy's character, as Barry loses everything in one hand. When we last see him, entering a carriage that may as well be a coffin and disappearing into anonymity, the narrator tells us: "His life on the continent we have not the means of following accurately; but he appears to have resumed his former profession of a gambler, but without his former success."

Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) never even had former success. With access to millions in customer accounts, the shy, oleaginous Toronto bank manager feeds his gambling addiction to the tune of $10 million. That's the true story of "Owning Mahoney," a portrait of excruciating dissolution in which Hoffman captures the quiet desperation of a man who is over his head and slowly drowning in a sea of debt.

Then there are the pitiful protagonists of "Lost in America." Los Angeles advertising executive David Howard (Albert Brooks) and his wife, Linda (Julie Hagerty), decide to drop out of society and travel around the country in a Winnebego. No way could he have anticipated getting no farther than Las Vegas -- their very first stop -- before his spouse succumbs to a roulette rush and in one night loses their entire nest egg. The famous scene in which Howard attempts to persuade the head of the casino (Garry Marshall) to return the money is an unforgettable study in loud desperation and strident denial, as well as a keen dissection of the psychology of risk-taking: "My wife and I aren't gamblers! That's the distinction. My wife and I represent the few people -- and I'll tell you something, there's probably nobody else that's ever gonna come and have this happen; so, really, probably, we're the only two. We represent the people who have taken the chance. And we made a mistake and then the Desert Inn corrects it and gives it back! There is a warm feeling here!"

Perhaps gluttony and sloth, in their various guises, afflict shambling libertines Bill Denny (George Segal) and Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) in Robert Altman's "California Split" (1974). For them, gambling is not just a vice but a high -- an addiction -- and all other pleasures take a back seat. They're the leisure-suits and Hawaiian shirts, American rebels throwing off the shackles of conventional morality on a freedom spree ... until the buzz starts wearing off.

Another pair of gambling buddies, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) and Lester "Worm" Murphy (Edward Norton), are known as "Rounders" -- a term that WordNet defines as "a dissolute person; usually a man who is morally unrestrained." In this modern noir by director John Dahl ("Red Rock West," "The Last Seduction"), it's the card sharks against the loan sharks. When Worm gets out of prison, the (formerly) reformed Mike agrees to help his friend win back the money he's lost to Russian mobster Teddy KGB (John Malkovich playing like Boris Badenov). Here, at last, is a movie that celebrates the joys of poker, rather than the dangers of debt and addiction. If that makes it seem a little frivolous and unrealistic, well, you play the hand you're dealt.

Still not satisfied? Place your bets on these:

Karel Reisz's "The Gambler"
Jean-Pierre Melville's "Bob le flambeur" and Neil Jordan's remake, "The Good Thief"
Robert Rossen's "The Hustler" and Martin Scorsese's sequel, "The Color of Money"
Mike Hodges' "Croupier"
Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven" (and "Twelve" and "Thirteen")
Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing"
Michael Curtiz's "Casablanca"
George Roy Hill's "The Sting"
H.C. Potter's "Mr. Lucky"
Norman Jewison's "The Cincinnati Kid"

What are your favorite gambling movies? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com

In addition to his regular contributions to MSN Movies, Jim Emerson is the former editor of Microsoft's online/CD-ROM movie encyclopedia, Cinemania. He has written a lot over the years, mostly about movies, for many publications and Web sites, and is now the editor of RogerEbert.com, where he also publishes his blog, Scanners (blogs.suntimes.com/scanners).

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