The Last Casino was a Canadian production released in 2004. Largely ignored, it was created during a golden period of film production. We discuss the movie and its impact in the article below.
The real-life story of the MIT Blackjack team has inspired many different television shows, movies, and even documentaries. Like all the best tales, the truth is often just as good as the fiction. It is the story of a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who recruited his students and others from high-profile colleges in a bid to card count at casinos and win money.
The Last Casino
The Last Casino, known as La Mise Finale in French, is loosely based on this story. In the movie, the main character, Doug Barnes, recruits a team of students to take part in his card counting after he is banned from a casino. The plot thickens as Barnes needs to pay back a debt to a gangster, and the students also become embroiled in the trickery. Charles Martin Smith plays the part of Doug Barnes.
Filmed in Canada, the movie is important for two reasons. Firstly, it was a very important step in the evolution of Canadian moviemaking, to the point where the country was a haven for production. Secondly, it was just after the boom in popularity of online casinos in the country. Unlike in the films, where the characters had to visit physical casinos, there are now several providers that let people play from their devices. There are also a host of sites that will review the top online casinos in Canada for customers. This movie is a record of a time when the casino was a closed door to many, and did not have the wide appeal it does now.
The Last Casino was directed by Pierre Gill. A cinematographer, he was the founder of Montreal-based Kino Films. Working on a range of music videos and commercials, Kino is now the name adopted for a network of short filmmakers and companies in the country. Gill then went on to work on many major productions, with some top-class talent such as Denis Villeneuve. Oddly, The Last Casino is only one of three movies he has ever directed, the others being the TV movie Fakers and the series Charlie Jade.
Steven Westren was the writer who turned the story based on the MIT Blackjack team into a more engaging, action-packed comedy drama. His career has mainly been writing for children’s and young teens’ television, both in Canada and abroad. He wrote the series Game On and the animations Almost Naked Animals and Freaktown.
The Movie Landscape in 2024
The year 2024 was an odd one for movies, either one created either in Canada or further afield. In many ways, the public’s appreciation for well-known actors and blockbusters may explain why The Last Casino was not more popular. For example, the highest-grossing film of the year was Shrek 2, backed up by well-known characters like Harry Potter, Spider-Man, and The Incredibles all in the top five. It was a year in which the Academy Awards were dominated by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It seemed that bigger was better in 2004, which left little room for small movies like The Last Casino to thrive.
However, there was also a huge range of movies of Canadian origin released in 2004, which may also explain why it got so overlooked. Many of the smaller movies went on to great success as well. I Curmudgeon, a documentary by Alan Zweig about bad-tempered old folk like himself, was shown at the Chicago Film Festival and was nominated for a Silver Hugo award.
One of the most memorable co-productions between a Canadian studio and the UK was the mockumentary “It’s All Gone, Pete Tong.” It starred Paul Kaye alongside Canadian comedian Mike Wilmott and was the story of a DJ who also lost his hearing. It was nominated for the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Film and Actor and was a moderate hit on both sides of the Atlantic. However, it was not all small films that were made there. Shrek 2 was in part produced on Canadian soil. Another major production of the year filmed in the country was Resident Evil 2.
In many ways, The Last Casino is representative of a golden era in Canadian film production that many did not even realize was there. Locations such as Toronto and Ontario, particularly between 2000 and 2010, have a host of movies created in them. Toronto itself was even referred to as Hollywood North. The last few years have seen a decline in this. Film production is now cheaper in European countries such as Hungary. When looking at production over the last few years, numbers are down. That makes movies such as The Last Casino vital in the history of the country as a filmmaking nation.