Pros and Cons

This past winter’s release of the award-winning American Hustle was just what the grifter ordered. Movies can trigger all sorts of feelings and memories, but nothing does the job better, at least for me, than a good con artist film. Before I get into it, Flickchart has a pretty good list of these movies if you happen to be interested—I’m particularly fond of Catch Me If You Can.

Without boring you with the details, The Sting was one of the first movies that I remember seeing with my father. Let me rephrase that. It was one of the first movies that I saw with my dad that I completely understood and enjoyed—my first step into the world of mature, non-Disney movies.

Honestly, I don’t think the flimflam lifestyle is really all that poetic. It’s probably a lot more gritty and unattractive than we see in movies. Hollywood does an exceptional job romanticizing the genre. So good in fact, that I still gaze at these webby movies like a wine aficionado ogles a bottle of 1990 Chateau Margaux. The innocence returns and I’m 7 years old all over again, watching in wonder and anticipating the twist.

You would figure that with all of these movies under my belt, I wouldn’t be fooled anymore, but I’m usually caught off guard like ‘the mark’. And for a brief moment, I happily become just another Doyle Lonnegan.

Deal Me In!

My dad didn’t just take me to movies as a child. He would take me to his card games as well. Enter my next childhood fascination, the high stakes poker scene. There are many good movies, like Rounders, with card-gambling premises as seen in this Ranker list. They succeed in making me feel like a player at that table even though I’m not really invested.

I didn’t follow in my father’s poker-playing footsteps, but I can see why people are thrilled to play the game—whether it’s in a casino, a dimly lit room in someone’s house, or online—if only because there are so many varieties out there. According to InterCasino, different takes on poker include ultimate Texas Hold’em (one of the most popular versions), Let It Ride, Three Card, Caribbean Stud…. the list goes on. What ultimately makes poker more appealing than, say, blackjack is simply the fact you could probably never master it. And even if you did, there are a plethora of other versions to take on.

Off to the Races

Try not to judge my dad, but he also took me to the horse track until they opened an OTB (Off Track Betting) branch in our town. As with con artist and poker movies, I’m drawn to the Thoroughbred subject like a moth to the flame. Are you seeing a pattern yet? By the way, you may want to check out The Horse Channel’s list of the best horse movies. Films like The Black Stallion tug at my heart strings and make me reminisce. They take me back to a more innocent time in a not so innocent world—a place where my father was king.

Wins of the Father

My childhood may have been an unconventional one, where fairy tales and arcades were replaced by racing forms and pool halls. Where summers mostly took place in card parlors, not the ice cream variety and every weekend usually had a game theme, only it wasn’t Monopoly or Hide & Seek. It may have all been slightly inappropriate, but I wouldn’t trade those experiences for all of the poker chips in the world. It was an education that pays off every time I see a movie that makes me think of my dad.