Guns, Girls and Gambling

Plot synopsis:
John Smith (Christian Slater) is down on his luck. His girlfriend left him for a doctor. He headed to an Indian Reservation casino only to have his wallet stolen by a hooker. His money was in a security wallet though, so he enters an Elvis Impersonation contest and loses but then proceeds to plays cards with four other Elvis impersonators: The Winner Elvis (Gary Oldman), Gay Elvis (Chris Kattan), Little Person Elvis (Tony Cox), and Asian Elvis (Anthony Brandon Wong). They beat him at cards enough times to bankrupt him and then he dozes off. He is later awakened by casino security guards who think he stole a priceless ancient Native American mask.
It turns out that the owner of the casino "The Chief" had the ancient Native Mask in a saferoom and now it's gone and witnesses saw an Elvis impersonator steal it, so John becomes the prime suspect. The two Native security guards figure John didn't take it but they still decide to kill him while they hunt for the real culprit, presumably Winner Elvis. The Chief says he will pay $1,000,000 for its return. The last thing John sees is them opening the trunk of his car, then writing down Elvis's address, then they knock him out.
Meanwhile, we get introduced to a hitwoman known as "The Blonde" who quotes Edgar Allan Poe before killing her victims. She confronts Gay Elvis and asks where the mask is. He tells her he doesn't have it. She kills him and leaves one of John Smith's credit cards on his corpse (apparently she is allied with John's wallet thief).
John regains consciousness and is still in the trunk of the car. He escapes and finds the Native security guards shot dead. He gets Winner Elvis's address and goes to his house. When he gets there, he meets Elvis's neighbor Cindy (Megan Park). They realize the mask isn't there, but they find Asian Elvis's address and decide to go to his house. Before they leave, they are almost shot to death by another hitman "The Cowboy" (Jeff Fahey) and his sidekick Mo. As they escape, John suggests calling the sheriff only to have Cindy explain that there are two sheriffs and both are corrupt. One is on The Chief's payroll and the other is on The Rancher's payroll. They also encounter "The Rancher" (Powers Boothe). He explains that he hired the Elvises to steal the mask because he used to have it. It is revealed through a flashback that back in the 1980s, a family consisting of a father, mother, and son were working for the rancher and transporting the mask. They reached a train station only to get ambushed by Natives who killed the family and took back the mask. Now he wants it back and will pay $1,000,000 to whoever gets it.
They leave and go to Asian Elvis's house. He tries to kill them before getting tomahawked to death by another hitman "The Indian". They escape and head back to Elvis's house only to have Little Man Elvis show up with a gun asking them where the mask is. Before he can shoot them, The Blonde shows up and kills Little Man Elvis. As they are leaving, they run into The Sheriffs who arrest John for Little Man Elvis's murder. However, Cindy posts bail and he is released. But the Sheriffs know that John knows more than he's letting on so they follow him.
Meanwhile, Winner Elvis is on the way to delivering the mask only to have his car break down. He hikes a long way and gets to a bus stop. As he boards the bus, The Blonde enters and shoots him. As he is dying he whispers something to The Blonde and she smiles broadly. The bus driver is on the phone with someone and The Blonde deduces that he is in cahoots with The Rancher and The Chief playing both sides. She kills him as well.
Later, John, Cindy, and The Sheriffs make it to the bus. They see Elvis and the bus driver's bodies inside the bus and written on them is "Bring the mask and John Smith to Station 12". Station 12 is the same station where the family was killed in the 60s. As they're leaving, The Cowboy and Mo show up and reveal that The Cowboy is a fast sharpshooter who killed the two Indian security guards earlier in the film. As The Sheriffs are drawing their guns, The Cowboy kills them both. Then The Indian shows up and tomahawks The Cowboy and Mo before they can get a shot off. The Indian accompanies them to Station 12.
As they show up, The Rancher and The Chief also show up each holding a briefcase with $1,000,000. At this point, Cindy reveals that she is The Rancher's daughter and was following John to make sure he would find the mask for her father. The Blonde comes out and instructs them to hand their briefcases to John and he enters the station alone. The Indian has a better idea and runs in with his tomahawk to kill The Blonde. The Indian then tries to attack The Blonde, but she blocks all of his attacks. She then kicks him several times, knocking him out. Then The Blonde shoots The Indian and kills him. She re-emerges and repeats her instructions promising more deaths if they don't comply.
John takes the briefcases and enters the station. As he enters, he and The Blonde embrace. They are scamming everybody.
It turns out that the family that was killed in the 1980s were John Smith's parents. They had an Indian servant who hid John in the floorboard of the station and told the Indians that he was dead too. The servant was part of a rival Native tribe "The Hopi". The mask really belonged to her tribe and The Chief stole it from her.
The Blonde is the girlfriend who left John Smith at the beginning of the movie because she realized she liked women. However, she knew what happened to John's family so she stuck around long enough to assist him. Also, when John told her she would get one of the briefcases, that enticed her further.
John and The Blonde emerge from the station and tell The Rancher and The Chief why they are doing this. Also, she tells them that Elvis destroyed the mask when he realized he wouldn't be able to sell it. That was what he said to her before dying.
John tells The Rancher and The Chief that he's keeping one briefcase because of what they did to his family. The Blonde tells them she will return and kill them if they try to retaliate. Then she leaves with the other briefcase on a motorcycle driven by the woman who stole John's wallet. She is actually the doctor that The Blonde left him for posing as a hooker.
At this point, he finds Elvis's car and repairs it and drives it. It only broke down before because he sabotaged it in a way that could be repaired. Also, he actually tried to steal the mask earlier in the film, but Elvis caught him doing it and knocked him out and took it for himself.
It turns out the Indian servant was in on the scam too. The mask wasn't really destroyed. John returns it to her since her tribe rightfully owns it. Elvis actually told The Blonde "Elvis has left the building" before dying. She just lied about his last words.
And finally, it is revealed that his name isn't even John Smith. Someone he bumped into at the beginning of the movie is really John Smith and he pickpocketed him.

Tags: revenge, murder, flashback

Review:
This happens so many goddamn times though, that eventually I felt like I was watching Mel Brooks's attempt at a heist flick.
There's gay Elvis (Chris Kattan), midget Elvis (Tony Cox), Asian Elvis (Anthony Wong) and Gary Oldman Elvis, played by Gary Oldman who looks like he was dared into taking the role at a frat party.
Now from what I could make out: Christian Slater plays a dude called John Smith, a 'wrong place at the wrong time' type of guy who is swept up into the intrigue and is in way over head.
Best of the bunch is a snarling Powers Boothe as The Rancher, a good ol' southern gangster who languishes in a white limo longer than the cast list of this movie, chewing scenery as vigorously as his cigar.
I was wondering why Gary Oldman would appear in this film, which was one of the reasons i picked it up.Christian Slater's stardom has long since faded, Dane Cook has yet to be funny in a movie and who's ever heard of Michael Winnick.A 3.5 on IMDb also didn't bode well.
now this is the kind of movie that Christian Slater does best.
:) all the characters are well rendered, the dialog is perfectly paced and the end result: a completely satisfying film that i'll see a few more times yet.there are so many fun twists it'll keep you guessing if not WHO dunnit, HOW the heck they dunnit.
This is actually a great accomplishment as too many movies starting with a similar vibe get goofy and boring after a while.Plot- and character-wise Winnick uses many stereotypes, the ingredients of GGG are very familiar.
Winnick was undoubtedly using the formulas that made both of those Directors/Writers/Actors famous.Unlike some other reviewers, I liked the movie.
As usual he presented a magnetic being that you love to hate.I think if the movie had the name Tarantino or Rodrigues affixed to it, you would see higher ratings but alas, it may take this director time to reach the pinnacle of success claimed by Quinten and Robert..
This film was one of the biggest surprises in the last 2 years given the bad ratings on IMDb. It just seems people have no clue how to handle a self ironic movie making fun about itself.
Not every movie with good old fashioned music and edgy characters is a Tarantino rip off!
Hands down this movie is close to being brilliant, it got everything you expect from it and yet you will end up completely surprised.
The ending will proof to you that it was thought through scene by scene and if you can oversee the bad ratings and watch it with an open mind you will love it..
A title like "Guns, Girls, and Gambling".
But, I like Slater, and I also like girls and gambling, so I thought, what the hay.G3 is, well, Tarantino-light.
This Winnick guy must know a lot of people in Hollywood, but unfortunately, none of them are writers.The twists in the storyline are nice, and it was nice to see Slater dawn the Elvis sunglasses again.
He claimed the comedy was too predictable, why would Gary Oldman do the movie--I think he would've done it for what I think is his best line--watch it and don't miss it--since telling Clarence "Must not be white-boy day" in True Romance.
Nothing deep,but funny and quite tongue in cheek.Helena Mattson,s character is worth the price of admission!Christian slater is doing an Elvis impersonation again a la 3000 Miles from Graceland.
I love when they kinda tie movies in like that!!I watched GGG three times the 1st setting.
However, it turned out that director and director Michael Winnick managed to pull off quite a surprisingly nice movie, and an entertaining movie at that too.I was initially interested in watching the movie because of the cast, which included Gary Oldman, although in a minor role only, unfortunately.
But it also had Christian Slater in the lead role, and he actually carried his weight quite nicely.The storyline was quite interesting, as it was fast paced, had a really solid script, and the storyline was really unpredictable.
And most of the times, the twists and turns that the story took just makes you go "what just happened?" And it worked out so well in favor for the movie.Writer Michael Winnick has also managed to create some very good, witty and interesting dialogue for the characters in the movie.
As I stated earlier on, they had a great cast ensemble whom did really good jobs with their given roles and characters.
And this was true from both the lead and supporting cast."Guns, Girls and Gambling" was a genuinely entertaining movie that really turned out to be a nice surprise.
If you haven't already seen the movie, then I can warmly recommend that you take the time to sit down to do so..
What you see here is precisely what you get, and that list is as follows: Christian Slater as Christian Slater, endless clichés and plot holes, recycled characters and storytelling devices, shamefully shameless editing, racism, sexism, gratuitous violence, oh, and did I mention Gary Oldman as an Elvis Impersonator?
I won't say why, because that might spoil it for you if you watch 'Guns, Girls and Gambling.' The two films follow (dare I say a 'more British' style?) genre of film where a character gets into trouble with numerous different warring factions (normally gangsters – think Lock Stock, Snatch and Layer Cake) and ends up having to dodge the lot of them and/or pit them against each other in order to come out on top.Christian Slater's offering is – sadly – not quite as good as any of those films I've mentioned.
It's not the longest of films, but it does have some fun scenes which go a long way to make me stay the distance.From the title, you can probably tell that it is going to be a little tongue-in-cheek.
There are some twists in the story – some you'll see coming, others may take you by surprise, but by the time the credits roll, you'll feel satisfied that everything adds up (well, just, but it does more than it doesn't!).If you like those sorts of Guy Richie gangster movies, or are just looking for something loud, a bit cheesy and quick, then give this one a go.
I have to admit that when I sat down to watch "Guns, Girls, and Gambling", I wasn't expecting that much.
I thought the title sounded lame (and I still feel that way.) And there was the fact that Christian Slater was in the movie, an actor who has churned out one lame direct-to-DVD movie after another for some years now.
The screenplay is also very funny at times - there were a number of moments when I laughed out loud, something I seldom do when watching a movie.
And Christian Slater is actually pretty good in the movie's central role.
But most of the credit for the movie's success is due to writer/director Michael Winnick.
There are numerous films that hit the straight to video market featuring a great cast that delivers some interesting filmmaking, but just never get the push you would think.
The latest Guns, Girls, and Gambling sports a cast featuring Christian Slater, Gary Oldman, Powers Boothe, Jeff Fahey, Chris Kattan, Sam Trammell, Tony Cox and Dane Cook.
The trailer looked pretty entertaining, but the title alone explains why it didn't get the wide release push, but it also has potential of delivering something fun or a total train wreck.Guns, Girls, and Gambling follows a wild and crazy heist story featuring Elvis impersonators, Indians, cowboys, a blond assassin, a frat boy, corrupt cops and a prostitute all out for one thing, a priceless American Indian artifact stolen during a poker game.
Christian Slater has always been great, but for some reason been bumped to the straight to video market lately, but this is by far the best film he has delivered and really seems to having a great time.
Seeing Gary Oldman walk around as an Elvis impersonator is pretty much worth the film and the fact that he seems to be having fun with it makes it that much better.
The rest of the cast do great with their parts to bring this violent dark comedy to life.This is one of those films that doesn't deliver anything all that new, but has enough star power and fun to create a film worthwhile to check out.
Unlike most of the films like this that are released straight to video this one works and delivers exactly what the title says.
If you like any of these actors and just want to have a crazy ride through an over the top story of violence, betrayal, cowboys, Indians, and Elvis then this is the movie for you..
The title, which sounds like a prop list, should have clued me in that this effort would be about as original and inspired as butter on toast -- an infinitely shallow and stupid Tarantino pastiche cobbling together every trite and overdone Hollywood cliché of the last 20 years.
The cast quickly overpopulates with a mind-numbing parade of cardboard cutouts, introduced with freeze frames and jittering titles: "The Girl Next Door." "Asian Elvis." "Midget Elvis." "The Cowboy." The usual spectacle of tired violence and mayhem ensues.This kind of cool campy violence has come under a lot of critcism after all the mass shootings recently.
Cheap thrills, and morally obtuse, making this effort bad on another level.If Saturday Night Live had produced a satirical skit on how to produce a paint-by-number Hollywood film to entertain jaded morons, they couldn't have done a better job.
The writer(s) also must have thought they were being really clever by having movie clichés and racial stereotypes blatantly pointed out, yet they use them like they were going out of style (see what I did there...).
Some of those colorful caricatures include four different Elvis impersonators, a rancher, a cowboy, a college student, two sheriffs a lesbian prostitute and a blonde assassin who wears black and has a penchant for quoting Edgar Allan Poe. And that, my friends, is as far as the character development goes.
Someone has stolen a valuable Native American mask stolen during a Elvis impersonator poker game at a casino.
I originally watched this because of Gary Oldman, Jeff Fahey and the Elvis theme that was underpinning it.Considering Fahey had nailed his performance in Machete around the same time...he totally locked-out on this dire role.
Christian Slater movies are globally accepted as trash these days so I did have that niggle in the back of head when picking it up...I wasn't let down LOL!!
Had this movie been done by either Tarantino or Rodriguez then it would be another cult classic like Machete, but I defy anyone to say they would keep this well below par, poorly acted, body-less FAIL in their collection..
An all-star cast, witty writing & funny dialog make this a very fun movie to watch.
"Give me the mask!" Six Elvis impersonators are sitting around playing poker, in the morning one of them (Slater) wakes up alone at the table and is quickly accused of stealing a Native American mask.
I have said for a while that just because a movie has an all star cast doesn't mean that it's automatically good.
This is one of the better straight to video movies that I have seen in a while.
This is the type of movie you can just put in and watch without having to think about.
Overall, a very entertaining movie with witty writing.
Just by adding an endless stream of different characters and freeze framing their names like "The Cowboy", "The Chief", "The Rancher", "The Indian", "The Girl Next Door" and "The Blonde" as just a few examples is silly and boring and very much overdone.
There must have been 20 or more characters they introduced with the freeze frame title approach in an effort to make the plot more interesting and confusing.
The plot is everyone and their brother are chasing Christian Slater who plays John Smith because they believe he stole a mask in the middle of a poker game which is a rare priceless Indian artifact.For these types of movies to really be effective they need to have a great story line, which this film does not come close to having.
The film does have several Elvis impersonators including a gay Elvis played by Chris Kattan and a Midget Elvis played by Tony Cox. Oh yeah we even have an Elvis Elvis played by the Grade A actor Gary Oldman.
Helena Mattsson may have looked great in the black leather jumpsuit but her portrayal of a two gun toting Edgar Alan Poe quoting gunslinger for hire was also boring.Christian Slater plays the lead character John Smith, and he is also another one of the Elvis impersonators who everyone is after because they assume he has the stolen Indian mask.
Yes, there is lots of shooting, stabbing, tomahawk throwing, punching and kicking, all in an effort to just pad the movies length.I should have known the movie would be below par when I read that Michael Winnick was the producer, writer and director for Guns Girls and Gambling.
For those unaware, for those wondering, there is a Mamie Van Doren Drive-In Flick from 1959 called Guns, Girls, and Gangsters.After that, we have here every modern Cult Movie cliché wrapped together in a Direct to Video (who decides this thing?) star-studded Comedy/Action wisp that is so full of froth that it glides along with jaw dropping easiness.
What the hell was a star like Gary Oldman thinking!
As for the other characters, most of them are near the end of there careers so it's not a surprise that there in a straight to DVD movie.
This movie goes from violent to racist with a flip of the wrist, and then throws out some bad action film clichés that I guess are supposed to be funny.
If you like horrible films that make you laugh because they are so utterly bad, then give this a try..
Nice to see Christian Slater in a good role!.
This movie is all about the fun, no award buzz here, but I really liked it.
Let me confess, I'm a Christian Slater fan, True Romance is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Christian plays a guy named John Smith, who is having a bad life.
Unfortunately, the girl dumps him right after stealing his wallet.So, Mr Smith gets drunk and enters a poker game with his fellow Elvis impersonators: Gay Elvis, Midget Elvis (Bad Santa), Asian Elvis, and Elvis Elvis (Gary Oldman).
One of Christian Slater's Best Straight to Video Pix. Writer & director Michael Winnick's "Guns, Girls, and Gambling" is truly a guilty pleasure.
This lightweight, breezy, shoot'em up, road trip epic about a group of Elvis impersonators and the search for an ancient Hopi Indian mask is a lot of fun.
A diverse cast, funny performances, interesting characters, scenic settings, amusing dialogue, a little nudity, and good cinematography make this opus worth watching.
The Elvis impersonators reminded me of the Kurt Russell & Kevin Costner shoot'em up "10,000 Miles to Graceland" and the quirky humor sounded like something out of a Cohen brothers movie.
Calling "Guns, Girls, and Gambling" a Tarantino movie because of a trunk shot and Christian Slater's presence is pretty facile.
John Smith (Christian Slater) is at an Indian casino and participates in an Elvis impersonator contest.
This grindhouse aspect of Poe reading was done rather well by Daryl Hannah in "Eldorado in 3D." The fact is that they stole the idea and could not improve upon it.Be warned that Christian Slater performed as well in this one as he did in "Hatfields and McCoys: Bad Blood" and "Soldiers of Fortune."The film has some twists, but lacks any serious clues, so don't look for any.
First thing that hit me here...this is a rip off of '3000 Miles to Graceland' surely, it even stars Christian Slater who does yet more Elvis mincing.
A group of Elvis impersonators are after a native Indian relic, so are some crooked cops, a cowboy hit-man, a female assassin and a crime kingpin called 'The Rancher'.
They all think Slater has it but he doesn't, no one knows who has it and naturally they're all trying to kill each other left right n centre.This film follows the trail of so many other heist films these days.
Characters are introduced like a video game with their names popping up on screen alongside hokey graphics which looks so tacky now.
All the characters are clichéd unoriginal and mundane...'The Rancher' who looks like 'Boss Hog', 'The Cowboy' 'The Chief' 'The Indian' 'The Blonde' all speak for themselves really, oh geez!.
Then of course you have the four Elvis impersonators, an Asian, a black midget, a homosexual and Gary Oldman who clearly can't do Elvis impressions.The film pretty much consists of all these characters running around shooting at each other and beating up Slater.
I must admit some of the gun action is quite good, there is some blood and gore at times which does make the film feel better than it should...or more exciting anyway.
Obviously they included a hot blonde female assassin in a figure hugging black catsuit to attract more viewers...OK OK it worked.As with a lot of these straight to DVD crime heist flicks its an ensemble cast which is impressive, clearly everyone thought they might be in the next big crime comedy.
Powers Boothe, Oldman, Jeff Fahey, Chris Kattan (where has he been?!), Tony Cox and Slater, OK so a few big names and a few B-movie stars.
The only thing here which is remotely interesting are the Elvis impersonators, but even that has been done before in '3000 Miles to Graceland' and much better.