Gambling Boat In Florida Keys
| Florida Straits | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action Adventure Romance |
| Written by | Roderick Taylor (screenplay) |
| Directed by | Mike Hodges |
| Starring | Raul Julia Fred Ward Daniel Jenkins |
| Music by | Michael Colombier |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Bob Cooper |
| Producers | Stuart B. Rekant John D. Schofield (associate producer) (as John Schofield) Stephen L. Wald (co-producer) |
| Cinematography | Dennis C. Lewiston |
| Editor | Edward M. Abroms |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Production company | HBO Pictures |
| Distributor | HBO |
| Release | |
| Original network | HBO |
| Picture format | Color |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | October 26, 1986 |
Florida Straits is a 1986 made-for-television adventure film that originally aired on HBO. It stars Fred Ward, Raul Julia, Daniel Jenkins and Antonio Fargas.[1] The film had several theatrical releases in other countries as well as video premieres in later years but it originally aired in 1986. The production was filmed in South Carolina standing in for Cuba in the 1980s. It was one of a number of 1980s adventure films with a heist theme.
Plot[edit]
- A Florida gambling ship called the 'Big Easy,' once operated out of the port of St. Petersburg, closed in late 2009. The Discovery Cruise line, which once provided day gambling trips to the Bahamas, closed in 2011. The gambling cruise ship industry in Florida is not a stable one.
- Casino Cruise Ships combine a short ocean cruise with the opportunity to gamble at sea. The ships take take a six hour cruise into international waters where gambling is legal. The casinos are similar to land based casinos with slots, poker, and all the popular table games including craps and roulette.
The casino boats in Florida offer gamblers the opportunity to board ships that cruise offshore where casino gambling is legal. From the west coast, the boats travel nine miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. From the East coast, they travel three miles out into the Atlantic Ocean. The minimum drinking age on all boats is 21. Big M Casino Cruise Fort Myers Beach Florida Big M Casino Cruise - Fort Myers Beach - Florida The Big M Casino Cruise is a 400 passenger ship that sails from Moss Marina on Fort Myers Beach. Big M has 240 slots, 14 table games and one restaurant.
Lucky (Ward) operates a for-charter sight-seeing boat in the Florida Keys. He keeps company with salty gambling and drinking barroom types. One day a young man, Mac (Jenkins), recently from college shows up and enters into a poker game with Lucky. Mac is proficient at cards which belie his youthful looks. Lucky unable to pay, Mac eventually ends up in a partnership with the young man and the two of them now share Lucky's boat The White Witch.
As time goes on, a political prisoner from Cuba, called Carlos (Julia), lands in Miami. He has been imprisoned by Castro since 1961 and was a DC-3 pilot during the planned Bay of Pigs Invasion. Carlos eventually meets Lucky and Mac and persuades them to use their boat White Witch to take him back to Cuba. Carlos has two reasons to return to Cuba, a lost lady love (Payán) whom he thinks is still waiting for him after twenty years and a crate of gold coins he parachuted from the DC-3 just before he bailed out of the aircraft in 1961. The three end up in Cuba and face a band of rebels led by El Gato (Fargas).
Cast[edit]
- Raul Julia - Carlos Jayne
- Fred Ward - Lucky Boone
- Daniel Jenkins - Mac
- Jaime Sánchez - Innocente
- Victor Argo - Pablo Cheruka
- Ilka Tanya Payán - Carmen
- Antonio Fargas - El Gato Negro
- Jesse Corti - Guido
- Raúl Dávila - Esteban
- Ed Grady - Lenny
See also[edit]
- High Risk (1981)
- Green Ice (1981)
- Romancing the Stone (1984)
References[edit]
Gambling Boat In Florida Keys West
External links[edit]
- Florida Straits on IMDb
- synopsis at AllMovie