Breaking Vegas

May 9, 2004

1h 15m

★ 7.0

The True Story of the MIT Blackjack Team

Overview

Documentary tracing the attempts of a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Institue students to become rich playing blackjack at casinos throughout the United States and the attempts of the casinos' management to thwart them.

Genres

Documentary

Breaking Vegas Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator

Aaron Stanford

Semyon

Staas Yudenko

Frank Scoblete

Don Niam

Katie

Catherine Kresge

John C.

Michael Bou

Bill (as Ed Villaume)

Edward F. Villaume

Andy Anderson

Bud Watson

Himself

Andy Anderson

Poker Announcer

Joe Boyd

Herself (as Katie Lilienkamp)

Katie Byl

Himself

Joseph Phong Dao

Himself

Semyon Dukach

Las Vegas — to many it's a 24-hour fantasy world filled with showgirls, high rollers and outrageous theme hotels. With a roll of the dice, 75 year-old Lou stakes everything to retire and start a new life there. But beneath the glittering surface of the city, Lou discovers a world quite different from his dreams. This compassionate portrait follows Lou and several other residents over a two-year period, documenting a community living in the shadow of the Las Vegas strip, where gambling is a constant temptation and reality is more subtle and stirring than any game.

0.0

Permission to Exist

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In just sixty years, South Korea went from being one of the poorest countries on the Asian continent to having the 12th largest economy in the entire world. Every year, it is measured that Korean students have some of the highest test scores and a higher rate of acceptance into Ivy League schools compared to all other nations. But on the flip side, South Korea also has one of the highest suicide rates in the developed world, the highest gender pay gap of all developed countries, and the highest plastic surgery rate per capita. Always expected to receive top scores and constantly bombarded by media and messages that seem to demand nothing short of visual “perfection,” how do these individuals come to accept and learn to love themselves as they are?

7.0

Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul

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10.0

The Story Of Pakt

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A short student-made documentary that details the creation and operation of the Cornish underground event management business "Pakt Events"

7.0

Pieces of a Dream: A Story of Gambling

Apr 1, 2003

When Michelle Wong's brother, Philip, committed suicide at the age of 36, she felt that she had to find out why. Her film, Pieces of a Dream, is her attempt to understand her brother's death and to deal with his loss.

No Image

4.0

Wright's Law

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Every now and then, we get a teacher who doesn't just connect with us -- they make us a better person in the world. Jeffrey Wright of Louisville, Ky. is one of those teachers. He uses wacky experiments to teach high school kids about science and the universe. But it's his own personal story about his relationship with his disabled son that shows his students the true meaning of life.

0.0

A Simpler Way

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Four students from the President's Leadership Circle at Frostburg State University journey to a remote village in Uganda to discover a radically simple solution to an urgent global problem. What they find there changes their lives in unexpected ways. A Simpler Way is a documentary production from Frostburg State University and Interdependent Pictures that explores the need for simple, affordable solutions to global development issues and the role of personal experience in meaningful, transformative education.

6.2

What Happened in Vegas

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Ramsey Denison investigates a terrifying pattern of police corruption and discovers that behind the shimmering surface of Las Vegas lies a police department with individuals willing to go to any lengths to cover up crimes.

0.0

Stood for this Massive

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A documentary on the life and windfalls of professional gambler Harry Findlay and his wife Kay.

7.5

Conductivity

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Conductivity is a film about creative leadership told through the story of three young conductors at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland; I-Han Fu (Taiwan), Emilia Hoving (Finland) and James Kahane (France). When stepping on the podium, they are put under a magnifying glass. Conductor training, in essence, is leadership training. The film gives a unique viewpoint to follow the students, as this is the first film about conductor training at the Sibelius Academy.

6.0

Architecture of Happiness

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For a hundred years, the former fishing village of Campione d'Italia, an Italian enclave in Switzerland, has drawn enormous wealth from a monumental casino. There is hardly a resident who has not benefited economically or socially from it. But the bankruptcy of this colossus destroys all prospects and autonomy. The reopening gives the village one last chance.

6.5

The Gap Year Paedophile

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Reporter Bronagh Munro investigates how a teenage gap year student became one of Britain’s worst ever paedophiles.

6.0

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A documentary about militant student political activity at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s.

6.1

Freakonomics

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Some of the world's most innovative documentary filmmakers will explore the hidden side of everything.

7.0

See you in Vegas

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This is a documentary about the Dutch magician Hans Klok. It's a story about his quest to make his dream come true in the magician capital of the world: Las Vegas.

0.0

Out of Luck

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An in depth look at the full effect of State Lotteries on the players and the people around them.

5.8

The Legend of Jimmy the Greek

Nov 10, 2009

“The NFL Today” on CBS was one of the preeminent sports programs on television in the early 1980s. It was a perfect combination of reporting, analysis, predictions, humor and talent. But there was no personality on the show more popular than Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. Born in Steubenville, Ohio, to Greek immigrants, Jimmy overcame childhood tragedy, moved to Las Vegas, and eventually became the biggest name in the world of sports handicapping. When CBS added him as an “analyst” on “The NFL Today,” “The Greek” not only further increased his stature as a sort of national folk hero, but he also gained an air of respectability never before associated with gamblers. Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Fritz Mitchell, who broke in as an intern on “The NFL Today,” will examine Snyder’s impact on the growth of sports gambling, while also taking a fresh look at The Greek’s tragic downfall.