Movies Called Jackpot
Introduction: Movies called Jackpot
Over the years there have been slew of movies all sharing the same title, “Jackpot”. As you’ve probably never heard of any movie by that name, it’s safe to assume that they were pretty much all duds at the box office. Nevertheless, let’s have a look at each of them and see if any have some saving graces for recommendation. And then we give it a Jackpotfinder score out of 10. Watch out, these movies are not your guides to win the Jackpot!
The Jackpot (1950)
This American satire was directed by Walter Lang, who is probably best known for his film “The King and I” with Yul Brunner. This vehicle starred the ever popular James Stewart and Barbara Hale. It also features a young Natalie Wood. The script was based off a true story. It’s about a certain James P. Caffrey who won $24,000 of merchandise from a CBS quiz show in 1948. The movie is largely a comedy of errors. Stewart wins the initial prizes, which include 7,500 cans of soup, 1,000 fruit trees, a Palomino pony, a diamond ring, a french maid along with an interior decorator and a portrait painter. The movie follows his attempts to sell these items as his winnings have saddled him with a tax bill of over $7,000. Though the film is largely forgotten today, it was a success for it’s leading man, Stewart.
Jackpotfinder Score: 8.5.
Jackpot (1960)
Directed by the ever prolific Montgomery Tully with William Hartnell (who was one of the first Dr Who’s) and had the author Ian Fleming (writer of James Bond) in a small but credited walk on part. It’s a black and white film. The jackpot in the title refers to the name of a club. The club safe is robbed of £6,000 (yes, hard to believe but that was once a lot of money!). The police are in a race to find the culprit before the club owners do. To quote a review of the time, “This all sounds really exciting but it’s not. It’s just a dull cheaply made thriller with lots of wooden performances and not many thrills”
Jackpotfinder Score: 3
Jackpot (2001)
Directed by the identical twin brothers, Mark and Michael Polish, this is a quirky drama-comedy that had a limited release back in 2001. It’s the rather dull and depressing story of an aspiring country singer, who dumps his family to go off after fame and fortune. He lives out of his car, a pink Chrysler, and tries and fails miserable at a number of McJobs. Eventually, he has to face the fact it’s just not gonna happen, and so turns the car around and returns home. Yeah, doesn’t sound like a bag of laughs and it certainly wasn’t anything to write home about. But they did manage to score Daryl Hannah for the leading female role, so I guess there’s that going for it. The most positive thing that can be said about the movie is that it eventually ends.
Jackpotfinder Score: 3
Jackpot (2013)
A comedy-thriller in Hindi which was directed by Kaizad Gustad who made the excellent cult film, “Bombay Boys”. This movie stars Sunny Laone (yes, that Sunny Leone) and is set in Goa among the many casino boats. It’s about groups of con artist and has not one redeeming feature in it. The Indian Express gave it only 0.5 stars out of five. They were too kind. Of all these movies called Jackpot, this was by far the worst. While you can only lose with this movie, you can win with the best jackpot reviews.
Jackpotfinder review: 0
Jackpot (2014)
This action-adventure movie from Norway. This is like a Coen Brothers meets Santa meets Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and is a glorious bloody mess. And that’s a good thing! The story comes from Norway’s best selling crime writer, Jo Nesbo. Our protaganist, Oscar Svenden awakes in a strip club holding a shotgun and surrounded with bodies. Oh… and his normal job is a Christmas tree supervisor. With a hard boiled detective in tow, they gradually piece together the story. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 59% and we think they’re not far off.
Jackpotfinder Score: 6
Jackpot (2018)
This was Pakistani romantic comedy which was directed by Shoaib Khan. The film cast include Sanam Chaudhry, Noor Hassan and Sana Fakhar. It also managed to cram a number of celebrities into minor roles. These included the likes of Mehmood Aslam, Afzal Khan, Zara Sheikh, Ismail Tara and Meera, who all made cameo appearances in the film. The plot (if you could be so kind to call it that) revolves around a winning lottery ticket which is mislaid in the star’s lost coat. Essentially the whole movie is people overacting as they search for this garment. Box office-wise the movie was a complete flop having cost over ₨ 4 crore. Unfortunately it’s takings were barely 3 crore (crore denotes 10 million). Yet another terrible movie called Jackpot. One to miss.
Jackpotfinder Score: 1
Jackpot (2019)
This is a Tamil language action-comedy movie directed by a chap called Kalyaan. It stars Jyothika and Revathi. The story starts in the year 1918 and centers around a milkman who finds an inexhaustible vessel while he’s digging a well. (Don’t ask!). He loses it. If only the movie ended here. But this is where the real movie kicks off, as two con women try to get this vessel after learning of it’s whereabouts in a gangster’s home. Even the Times of India were not impressed and gave it a score of 3 out of 5. After all that pointless singing and dancing, along with acting out of a retarded kindergarten, we can’t give it more. You better play the best jackpot slot machines instead of watching this…”movie.”
Jackpotfinder Score: 2
Movies Called Jackpot: Conclusion.
It appears that naming you movie after the biggest win at the casino, does not necessarily translate to box office gold. On the whole they were mostly lazy movies, with little effort put into the writing and characters. The story arches were also lazy. We would recommend The Jackpot from 2014 as this is a small but interesting film that deserves support. The 1950’s James Stewart vehicle, is interesting in that it marks a point in history. An age of innocence and when comedy relied on wit as opposed to crudity. Never the less, an enjoyable romp.
