Great Scene: “Rounders”

October is Great Scene month at Go Into The Story whereby we put a spotlight on notable movie scenes, then analyze and discuss them. Their structure, themes, character dynamics. Why do they work? What are their narrative elements that elevate them to greatness? Let’s face it: In a fundamental way, screenwriting is scene-writing, so the more we learn about this aspect of the craft, the better.

Today’s suggestion by ryanleegilmore: The 1998 movie Rounders, written by David Levien and Brian Koppelman. IMDB plot summary:

A young man is a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.

It’s the final showdown between Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) and Teddy KGB (John Malkovich). The irony is Mike finds himself in this tense situation because of a debt, not owed by him, but his friend Worm (Edward Norton Jr.). This is literally do-or-die:

One thing about a poker scene: You can really milk the tension as the filmmakers do here in spades. With Teddy’s increasing mania, several shots of the Heavy waiting to pound on Mike, a room full of thugs… and what looks to be a shit hand being dealt Mike’s way. But there he sits: “Check… check… check.” Great stuff.

There’s a rumor floating around about Rounders 2. That’s one sequel I can get behind.

What’s your take on this scene? Why does it work so well? What takeaways are there for us?

To read all of the entries in the Great Scene archive, go here.

Thanks for the suggestion, Rahul! If you have an idea for this Great Scene series, check out the responses people have made so far here. If you have a different scene in mind you think would be worthy of analysis, please post it there or in comments for this post. Thanks!