Printable View
I stumbled upon this movie tonight, of which I had never heard of. Has anyone seen it? It was only made last year (2019) and may have been initially titled "walk to Vegas". It was only in theaters for 4 days. It might be my new favorite gambling movie. I highly recommend you take a look.
BTW, supposed to be based on a true story, but who knows how closely or loosely based.
I remember the film getting some scuttlebut in the gambling forums. Vince Van Patten made and starred in the movie. It's based on a story his father, Dick Van Patten told him. Dick used to hang out with rich gamblers that made crazy bets back in the day.
I'm up playing Santa Claus. We watched this movie earlier in the year and it was pretty good. For anyone interested it's free on Amazon Prime right now.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. We've had a decent year considering--covid hasn't affected us at all except for wearing stupid masks everywhere, and even though our choice for president didn't win and we truly believe he would have won without the massive mail-in-ballot corruption, who's president doesn't really affect our life as retirees. Maybe he takes a few more tax dollars (not really sure) but overall it'll be entertaining watching old Joe stumble thru the job.
Vince first popped up on the 1998 WSOP broadcast. His dad did a few of the early 90s ones.Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeycrimm
Still trying to find out what happened to the 1992 televised final table. I can't find any info on it other that it was supposedly filmed. Only thing I can think of is that it got destroyed somehow.
There is a reason when movies are only in theaters for 4 days. That’s a really good sign it sucks.Quote:
Originally Posted by kewlJ
The movie was entertaining for the fact of show casing how wealthy stupid gamblers have to eventually end up broke.
Only a Las Vegas gambling asshole would consider such a pathetic movie his favorite gambling movie. Will you ever realize how bad you make yourself look on these forums.
Shows how wildly stupid and out of touch you are. Must be a black hole where your brain was meant to be. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by blackhole
It is not the 1900's anymore. There are many platforms for movies these days. Some movies, especially lower budget and independent films are targeted to a limited audience and go straight or almost straight to DVD or pay services. Anyone limiting themselves to movies that had long runs in theaters, are missing out on a lot of good movies.
Typical what the fuck are you talking about response.Quote:
Originally Posted by kewlJShows how wildly stupid and out of touch you are. Must be a black hole where your brain was meant to be. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by blackhole
It is not the 1900's anymore. There are many platforms for movies these days. Some movies, especially lower budget and independent films are targeted to a limited audience and go straight or almost straight to DVD or pay services. Anyone limiting themselves to movies that had long runs in theaters, are missing out on a lot of good movies.
So I watched 7 Days to Vegas. It was okay. Some funny scenes. Some nice hustles.
I enjoyed the movie. Thanks for the recommendation. Were those characters for real or or fictional exaggerations?
Vince Van Patten's dad, Dick Van Patten hung out with a bunch of rich gamblers that would bet on all kinds of crazy stuff and hustle each other. Vince made the movie based on stories his father told him.Quote:
Originally Posted by wasilla
Thanks. That makes the movie even better. Teaching in a prison and traveling a lot left me thinking that I'd met all types of people, but these guys were off the chain.Quote:
Originally Posted by mickeycrimmVince Van Patten's dad, Dick Van Patten hung out with a bunch of rich gamblers that would bet on all kinds of crazy stuff and hustle each other. Vince made the movie based on stories his father told him.Quote:
Originally Posted by wasilla
Read your PFA post. Congratulations on your road trip. You may recall that there is no place worth driving to up here this time of year. I'm jealous.
Some thoughts on the movie:
Found out 33 minutes in that VVP's character is 48 years old -- just like me. I thought, "No fucking way that's anywhere near his age." Looked him up. He was 61 when they filmed this. Not sure why they fudged his age so much.
Regarding his walk from the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles) to Vegas:
I was actually fairly impressed with its authenticity. They clearly couldn't film on I-15, but they found enough excuses to send the main character off the main highway (usually claiming "shortcuts"), and indeed, in those locations, there really were small roads going that direction.
The only BS part was where he was walking on a 2-lane paved road from Baker to the Nevada state line, which supposedly follows I-15. No such road exists. You're either taking the freeway or going waaaay out of the way.
I cringed when the cameo scene with Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, and Jennifer Tilly took place, and knew it would suck before I saw it play out. Sure enough, it met expectations in that fashion. Totally unnecessary. And I personally like Jennifer Tilly, from my interactions with her in poker (and on Twitter).
I also didn't understand why they underused character actor Willie Garson. We saw him at the beginning as one of the players in the game, then barely saw him again. I thought he would have been good in a movie like this. Maybe he wasn't available or too expensive for more than he appeared.
Pretty enjoyable with some creative twists, though I felt the ending was kinda predictable. I won't reveal anything though.
Also, I deleted the political garbage out of this thread. Please don't hijack threads here with that stuff.
Thank you. I was disgusted how a thread about a Gambling movie turned Political out of the blue.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Druff
This afternoon my wife and I walked 7 miles. All on paved roads - this was not a hike. It was a spontaneous thing – we didn’t have tennis or running shoes or shorts on, just regular street clothes, and average shoes (rubber sole but nothing intended for long distance running or hiking).
We didn't have to do it, we just did it. The distance over which we walked had an elevation increase of 1000 feet, from where we started, to where we ended, and at two points, including for a solid one mile, it was somewhat steep uphill, and then for about a quarter mile, very steep uphill. She actually jogged some of it - I walked the whole way, but neither of us stopped at any point (she arrived at the destination before I did). I was averaging 20 minute miles until the uphill portions, and ended with about a 21 minute per mile average.
Now seven miles, flat, not such a big deal. But the 1000 feet with most of the elevation increase occurring over the course of about a mile and half, with about two miles having a moderate up and down slope, made the trek not entirely easy.
I’m glad we did it. But tomorrow legs will probably be sore. Now, by way of comparison a famous hiking trail - the Trans Catalina - is 38.5 miles – and intended to be done in 3 days. So now I see how one day - ten miles - quite doable. But by the second and third days without prepping and practice, no doubt would start having issues. And that Catalina trail has a total up and down of 16000 feet, which is no joke.
This got me to thinking about this 7 day walk to Vegas. The Vegas strip is at about 2048 feet above sea level. Picking a spot (let's just say Reseda for example) in the San Fernando Valley in L.A., which I believe is somewhere around where "Duke" lived, the elevation is 733. (And the elevation of L.A. proper - not in the Valley - is more like 285 feet.)
Besides the distance from Reseda to Vegas - 288 miles - the elevation increase of somewhere between 1300 and 1800 feet doesn't sound so bad, but hold on - it's not just a straight jaunt uphill, I believe the trek from Reseda to Vegas would have many ups and downs such as does the Trans Catalina trail. Just to start with, downhill from Reseda (733) to L.A. (285 feet). To get from L.A. to Vegas, you take the 10 East freeway, to San Bernardino (elevation about 1000 – that’s a bit of a climb there), and then the I-15 which climbs up to the Cajon Pass (4160 feet), then drops down to Hesperia (3186 feet) and Victorville (2726 feet) and then winds down eventually back to Barstow elevation (2175 feet) and then some ups and down including ANOTHER high elevation mountain pass (elevation 4730) before arriving in Vegas. That’s a lot of up and down, with mostly UP, which is no fun.
If any of you has driven the L.A. to Vegas trip, on the I-15 you know of that bear of an uphill point that starts around Cosy Dell (elevation 2799 feet) and peaks at that Cajon Pass (4260 feet). That climb of about 1500 feet is over just a couple of miles, not to mention that over all, San Bernardino (elevation 1053) to that Cajun Pass is “just” 20 miles, most of it uphill, about 3200 feet uphill.
Anyway just thinking after today’s little walk about how hard that 7 day walk to Vegas must have been. Day 1 or 2, okay, but after that – especially given the uphill (and to a certain extent too, downhill) portions – nothing easy about it. We did just 7 miles today, up 1000 feet, and I wouldn’t want to repeat it tomorrow. Although I do plan to be at the gym tomorrow (but it’s not legs day, luckily). I could actually see walking some of the way to Vegas from L.A. – but definitely nowhere near all - and especially not in 7 days.