History of Russian Roulette: How did it all start?
Russian Roulette is believed to originate from Tsarist Russia . The precise time at which this concept arose is uncertain, but it is believed to have been approximately between 1850 and 1920, as the number of revolvers increased substantially. It is also in this period that the first references to the practice associated with the civil war appear.
We found evidence of its existence when this game came out for the first time in a 1,600-word story by Georges Surdez, a Swiss author. In 1937, it appeared in Collier's Illustrated Weekly , one of the most highly regarded magazines of the time. Much of deafness ' work was inspired by numerous romantic stories he read as a child, originating with the French Legion. Given that we are talking about a roulette wheel, there are much nicer versions as is the case with the online roulette , available on the vast majority of quality casinos we review. In this way, you can entertain yourself a little more after knowing in greater detail the history of the darkest version of Russian Roulette as a game. Returning to the work of deafness, Russian Roulette it told the story of a young German recruit who tries to cover up the suicide of his Russian comrade. In a letter sent to his superior, he describes the game of the same name. According to Comrade tumbled, the Tsarist officers were in the habit of practicing this fatal form of gambling in 1917 during the last days of the First World War .
The narrative goes that the Russians would randomly pull out their revolvers, remove a bullet, turn the barrel, point the gun at their head and pull the trigger. Sergeant Burkowski, the victim of this story, was also a compulsive gambler. After the story was told, the German recruit demonstrated how to play a variant with a single bullet in the drum instead of five. Despite greatly increasing the odds of getting out of this somewhat sadistic game alive, we still prefer a good round of live casino and come out with your head intact.
There remain numerous unanswered questions about Russian Roulette, as well as why the original rules of the game were changed to include one and not five bullets. It is an accepted concept that the reduced risk it results in the prolongation of the game, which in turn offers greater excitement. It seems to us, however, that having only 1 in 6 chance of survival they are the kind of odds that even the most insane would dispense with. In the end, there remains the legend and a concept that has taken root in Pop culture all over the world.
Russian Roulette: a game with an extensive list of fatalities
The story did not fail to attract the attention of numerous readers and was republished in Fiction Parade & Golden Book Magazine in May of the same year. Less than a year later, a young man named Thomas H. Markley Jr. shot himself on his 21st birthday. He would be only the first of about 2,000 victims counted in Russian Roulette. Some of them, celebrities who decided to enter this deadly game .
- John Marshall Alexander Jr. also known as Johnny Ace he was a popular R&B musician in the United States. On Christmas Day 1954, nearing the end of a year-long tour, he was playing at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas. At one point, he shot himself while handling a .32-caliber handgun. Although witnesses at the scene indicated that excessive alcohol, coupled with poor handling of the weapon led to the tragedy, the official police report indicates that the incident resulted from a game of Russian Roulette.
- Aimo Leikas it was a Finnish illusionist who became popular a lot thanks to his main act: Russian Roulette. The trick was quite simple, although dangerous. The gun was fully loaded with five rounds of gunpowder and one real bullet. The illusionist claimed to be able to choose the safe chamber using the power of his mind. The trick gained popularity over the course of more than a year until, in 1976 while performing it on stage, the illusionist got it wrong.
- The cast of the American show Cover Up witnessed a tragic incident. While John-Erik Hexum he played with a prop revolver loaded with dry powder. Waiting between scenes of a grueling day of shooting, he put his revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The infamous Magnum .44 was not effectively loaded, however, the plastic-filled papers were projected with such force that they penetrated the skull. At just 26 years old, his life and promising career were cut short by a bizarre accident.
- The star of 007 and X-men, Alan Cumming he uncovered a sinister story about a close family member on the popular BBC show in 2010 Who Do You Think You Are? The investigative journalist managed to unravel one of the mysteries that remained in the actor's closest family. It was believed that his grandfather, who had served in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders he had died accidentally while cleaning his gun. The truth, it turns out, is far more disturbing. Traumatized by the war, Tom Darling held a gun to his head in a Malaysian bar in 1951 while participating in a game of the infamous Russian Roulette.
- One of the most recent cases reported is from January 24, 2019 in St. Louis, Mo. Two policemen, one of whom was on duty, played a variant of Russian Roulette dubbed Russian Poker. The principle is quite similar, with the difference that the participants point the gun at the head of the opponent. In the second round of this game, the gun fired and killed the police officer Katlyn Alix , 24 years old. Officer Nathaniel Hendren was charged with involuntary manslaughter, to which he pleaded guilty and is now serving a 7-year prison sentence.
Russian Roulette as part of Pop Culture
As the world of sports betting , Russian Roulette frequently figures in numerous films. Its origin in pop culture can be traced back to 1937 when it made its first public appearance. Since then, the concept has become famous quite a bit for the whole world. Although it consists of numerous areas such as music, literature or animation for adults, the impact on cinema is undeniable . As such, there are some honorable mentions on the silver screen:
- Bugs Bunny (1951)
- Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
- A Little Night Music (1973)
- Sholay (1975)
- The Hunter (1978)
- The Bund (1980)
- Murderous Perversion (1986)
- Tales of chills (1990)
- 187-The Code (1997)
- 24 (2003)
The best movie about Russian Roulette?
In this list, the most notorious name associated with Russian Roulette is surely the fantastic film of 1978, The Deer Hunter – The Hunter , of original title The Deer Hunter . If you haven't seen it yet, spoiler alert ! The plot revolves around three friends, Michael (Robert De Niro), Steven (John Savage) and Nick (Christopher Walken), from a small town in Pennsylvania, who in 1968 enlist in the US Army and are sent to Vietnam. Once here, they become prisoners of war and are forced to play a version of Russian roulette with three bullets to the delight of their Viet Cong guards. After the gun fails to fire three times, Michael takes the chance to shoot down the guards and make it easier for the three to evade.
The scene is, even by today's standards, charged with emotion between the characters involved as they hold the gun to their heads and pull the trigger. As much as we hope for a happy ending to this story, Nick, traumatized by his experiences during the war remains in Vietnam. His friend Mike goes in search of him to find him in a bar, the playing Russian Roulette as a way of earning a living. Once again, the two find themselves face to face in this deadly game as Nick desperately tries to save his friend.
The film is still a non-consensual work today, widely criticized for portraying a version of the Vietnam conflict that was not faithful to how prisoners of war were treated by Viet Cong captors. Indeed, several Army officials say there is no evidence to support the theory that prisoners were forced to play Russian Roulette. Regardless of the claims, the film is one of the best ever in portraying the conflict, joined by Platoon – The Brave of the platoon, Apocalypse Now, born to kill and born on the 4th of July.
Many critics still consider it one of the best cinematic works of all time. If you haven't seen it yet, we highly recommend it as we were careful not to spoil the ending. With regard to Russian Roulette, we believe that it will continue to be part of pop culture in the future . After all, it serves as a perfect metaphor for unnecessarily taken risks that can have unpredictable results.
If inspiration leads you to it after you reach the end credits of the film, nothing like a light round of fun by some of the best online casinos that we chose for you, as long as you don't look for Russian roulette . After all, there are stories that are so strong that we might as well relax a bit while we digest them.
