"I know, but what do you think?"

nisaba

KSPisces said:
I wonder if you're talking about the coin-toss scene in No Country For Old Men.

One of the most thought provoking scenes in cinematic history, IMO. (Though admittedly, I'm a bit of a weirdo.
Until his recent demise, we had an eccentric and quite philanthropic billionnaire running around in Australia, called Kerry Packer. He was universally hated by the general populace and what media he didn't own because he was quite ugly and very, very rich; he was universally loved by anyone who actually had any personal dealings with him, including a friend of mine. He used to do things like go into a hamburger bar for lunch, and if he was treated like a billionnaire, tip them a few dollars, but if he was treated like everyone else there at the same time, tip them the equivalent of $72,000 Australian dollars (on a trip to America with that friend of mine). When he had a night out gambling at a casino where the husband of another friend of mine works as a stage lighting technician (Star City Casino, Sydney), he dropped half a million on the tables, and when he left gave a tip for all the staff rostered on that night of 1.5 million to be divided equally because he had set himself a limit of losing no more than two mill that night. Even though my friend's husband had been nowhere near him all night, they still ended up with enough money to replace their problem-car and get two mortgage-payments ahead. He also regularly gave money to health-related charities and bought equipment for hospitals, especially anything to do with cardiac or renal health.

The reason why I mentioned all this, was to give you some idea of his character, his open-handedness. His fortune was publicly reputed to be in the many-hundreds of billions, so tips the size of the tips he gave (life-changing for the rest of us) were nothing to him, and he loved to see people smile. And a lot of hospital units in a lot of cities would be less well-equipped if he hadn't kicked in.

The story I was leading up to was this: on a different business trip to America when I was a lot younger and just getting to know the mutual friend he and I share, he and his companions (always more than one) went to a casino for the night, where, I don't remember. He was playing at a high-roller table, and talking quite affably to everyone. He started talking to another guy in a suit, who immediately fronted him up belligerently, and said "Don't talk to me like that! I'll have you know, I'm worth 24 million!". Kerry's minions were doubled over with laughter, knowing roughly what he was worth. Without cracking a smile, Kerry pulled out a coin and said: "Really? I'll toss you for the lot." And you know, the guy backed away, but if they had tossed, and Kerry had won, he would have been delighted to double the guy's fortune on the spot.

Sorry, it's just the biggest coin-toss moment I've ever known about that was real, and witnessed by someone I knew and trusted not to lie.