(Topic ID: 232598)

Gambling pinballs in movies or TV?

By BlackCatBone

5 years ago


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    #1 5 years ago

    I’ve always enjoyed spotting vintage pinballs in movies and TV shows, but catching a glimpse of a bingo pinball or other gambling pinball has been a rare event in my not inconsiderable years. The only sighting I can recall is in ‘The Harder They Come,’ an early 70s movie starring reggae singer Jimmy Cliff. There’s a scene where he’s in a bar and a bingo is sitting unplayed in the background. It’s been decades since I’ve seen the movie and I have no idea what game it is, but it made me sit up straight at the time.

    Anyone else know of any movies or TV shows that include gambling pinballs?

    #2 5 years ago

    If you want to be systematic, you can use an advanced search on IPDB with various values in the Specialty field to get a list of game names. Here's one:
    https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?specialty=10&sortby=name&searchtype=advanced
    (produces a list of all the games that have been annotated as payout games)

    You could then use that list to search the PinGeek listings of several hundred movies where a pinball game appears.
    .................David Marston

    #3 5 years ago

    Funny you mention that "BCB" !
    I was just watching "The Hustler" the other day.
    I really expected to see one there.
    Didn't see one.
    Terry K

    #4 5 years ago

    'Bad Day at Blackrock'@ 1955
    In scene where Spencer Tracy fights Ernest Borgnine in the café.
    Nice cabinet artwork....... don't know the name though!

    #5 5 years ago
    Quoted from dmarston:

    If you want to be systematic, you can use an advanced search on IPDB with various values in the Specialty field to get a list of game names. Here's one:
    https://www.ipdb.org/search.pl?specialty=10&sortby=name&searchtype=advanced
    (produces a list of all the games that have been annotated as payout games)
    You could then use that list to search the PinGeek listings of several hundred movies where a pinball game appears.
    .................David Marston

    Thanks, that is a cool web site, and new to me. There are a handfull of bingos listed, and one horserace game that I noticed. The bingo in "The Harder They Come" is listed as Palm Beach. I don't believe JKnPA's "Bad Day At Blackrock" is included in pingeek's list.

    #6 5 years ago

    The machine in 'Bad day at Blackrock' is not a Bingo. I was only responding to the topic mentioned.
    The movie is from 1955, so the machine in question predates that year.
    *****Nice cabinet artwork. Anyone know the name of the machine in the movie?

    #7 5 years ago
    Quoted from JKnPA:

    The machine in 'Bad day at Blackrock' is not a Bingo. I was only responding to the topic mentioned.
    The movie is from 1955, so the machine in question predates that year.
    *****Nice cabinet artwork. Anyone know the name of the machine in the movie?

    Genco 'Follies of 1940'

    https://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?gid=911

    #9 5 years ago

    Gomer Pyle, Dick Van dyke, Andy Griffith shows all had a United Tropics in them (likely the same studio prop) ... screen cap images are on the internet if you want to poke around.
    Movie "Cars" with Curt Russell has a County Fair (if i recall properly) being played in a bar scene.
    I saw others too but don;t recall ... Breakfast Club? ... maybe??
    ...
    Just found this old post I sent Danny a few years ago - with Photos !!
    http://danny.cdyn.com/Bingo%20Pinball7.htm

    #10 5 years ago
    Quoted from Pinball_Muggle:

    ...
    Just found this old post I sent Danny a few years ago - with Photos !!
    http://danny.cdyn.com/Bingo%20Pinball7.htm

    Great information and a wonderful link. Did you spot all those bingo appearances yourself?

    #11 5 years ago

    This one's not a bingo, but maybe a second cousin. There's a scene near the end of "A Bronx Tale" (1993) where one gang attacks the HQ of a rival gang. Someone throws a brick through the storefront window and straight into the backglass of one of those "Queens" one-ball games that Bally produced around 1960 (Beach Queens, Island Queens, etc.) The glass immediately shatters, and the whole scene is a fraction of a second, but I'm pretty sure it one of those games.

    #12 5 years ago
    Quoted from BlackCatBone:

    Great information and a wonderful link. Did you spot all those bingo appearances yourself?

    Yes sir ... (when I watch TV it's older stuff)

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