10 Most Memorable Hammer-Wielding Movie Characters

The swift brutality of a hammer blow powers one of the most memorable and uncomfortable moments of Casino – Martin Scorsese's three-hour epic crime tale set in the world of Las Vegas gambling. It's another of the brilliant roles played for Scorsese by Robert De Niro, who plays a gambling handicapper brought in to oversee operations at a Vegas hotspot.

The hammer scene in question arises when De Niro catches a man cheating in his casino, with the help of an accomplice, who has sight of the dealer in his buddy's game of blackjack. Soon, under De Niro's orders, the accomplice is dragged into a back room, where his hands are extended on a table. Another guard takes a hammer and batters the fingers of the cheater's hand, after it has been established that he is right-handed.

There's almost another beating immediately after, with De Niro threatening the other cheater with the ultimatum that "you can either have the money and the hammer or you can walk out of here". In the case of Casino, even the promise of a hammer is enough of a threat to set anybody on the right path.