- published: 04 Aug 2008
- views: 34542
Shade is a 2003 neo-noir crime drama starring Stuart Townsend, Gabriel Byrne, Thandie Newton, Jamie Foxx, Roger Guenveur Smith, Melanie Griffith and Sylvester Stallone. The film follows a trio of grifters who attempt to set up a legendary card sharp nicknamed "The Dean". The film is a complex web of interwoven and branching scenes and flashbacks.
Many years ago, a young Dean is playing in a mob-run illegal underground poker game. The game is raided by robbers who order everyone to put up their hands. The Dean reluctantly does so, revealing the card he's concealed. Incensed, a fellow player grabs a gun and starts shooting, setting off a firefight that kills everyone in the club except the Dean and one of the mobsters. The two men point their guns at each others' heads.
In present day, Tiffany (Thandie Newton) and Charlie (Gabriel Byrne), two of the three small-time hustlers, run a scam involving a phony diamond ring. The pettiness of the scam (grossing $300) indicates the usual level at which they operate. Later at a Los Angeles club, Charlie and Tiffany meet up with Larry Jennings (Jamie Foxx) as he's taking down an underground poker game. They discuss a partnership to work a "soft game" with a potential profit of $10,000-$20,000. As Charlie and Larry talk, Tiffany is harassed at the bar by a guy trying to pick her up. Larry tentatively agrees to continue talking pending his meeting the third member of the group. In a short flashback, that third member, Vernon (Stuart Townsend), a card mechanic, is working as a Las Vegas blackjack dealer. Working with a small crew, he switches out the contents of a six deck shoe and they take the casino for $40,000.
There you stand,
with your head in your hands, crying out.
Once again,
it has been like then before.
Oh.. it hurts,
oh.. how it hurts.
T’was all your fault,
like all these, these times before.
It’s not his,
no, how could it be..
It was trouble in his job,
it was trouble in his life, but do you believe?
Refrain) All you do is just waiting in his shade,
don’t you want to be free?
Waiting, longing to break out and walk into
the sun of life, out of the life of fearsand the fear for life.
You thought about,
just to run, just to run, to run and hide.
But everytime,
his “Sorry!” is too sweet..
Do you remember, what he said,