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Baccarat - Bond's Game
The character of James Bond has been featured in over twenty-feature films. Although chronologically, the first film should have been "Casino Royale", it was actually the explosive "Dr. No" that was released as the first in the series. It would be over thirty years before Casino Royale was finally made. If you consider yourself a Bond trivia expert, you might already know this. Here's another bit of trivia:
What is Bond's favorite card game? If you have just seen Casino Royale, you might be tempted to stand up and shout 'Texas Hold 'em, of course." But you would be wrong! In fact, the novel casino Royale has Bond playing another game entirely. The producers simply assumed that Americans would be more familiar with the game of poker so they switched it.
Now if you really follow Bond, you know that Bond's game is Baccarat. He plays baccarat in five of the movies including the opening scene of Dr. No, his grand public entrance. And if you think about it, it fits with everything else we know about Bond.
Bond is the elite of the elite. He wears finely tailored suits and speaks impeccable English ("Bond, James Bond"). He drinks vodka martinis, shaken not stirred. He does not drink beer. He loves expensive cars and super model women. Would this kind of guy play poker? No, he plays baccarat, the game of the aristocracy! Baccarat is for the masses. In fact, why is it normally played in separate rooms in casinos? Because it is an exclusive game for exclusive people.
In Dr. No, we are introduced to the famous 'gun barrel" introduction. An action packed series begins before even the first credits. The sequence never has anything to do with the actual plot of the movie, it is simply to introduce us to Bond and whet our appetites for the Bond genre. So it is only natural that in the very first Bond movie, in the very first Bond scene, the very first thing we see is Bond playing… Baccarat!
Now here is a really interesting bit of trivia from the film. The casino scene was set at the "Les Ambassadors" Club, in London. The club still exists, and is one of London's most exclusive casinos. Next time you are in London, look it up. But to get in on a good game of baccarat, you had better be dressed right and speak without any accent. After all, the game of baccarat -- where enormous stakes are won and lost in an instant -- is not for everyone.
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