Variants of the checkers family are often represented in films. Sometimes merely as decoration, often with a deeper, symbolic meaning. Film genres include documentaries, animations, comedies, science-fiction films, and thrillers.
With more than 370 films listed, this filmography shows that checkers is second in popularity just after chess.
It should also be noted that more than 60 silent movies, which showed Checkers, might not have survived. Film researchers presume that about 85% of all the films made during the silent era are lost due to burns, wars or neglect.
Tables[]
Literal Meaning[]
These films refer literally to checkers, the boardgame.
Title | Year | Director | Distributor | Running time | Languages | Genre | Description |
P'Chai My Hero | 2015 | Josh Kim | (independent) | 80 Minutes | Thai | Gay Comedy-Drama | Oat wants desperately to beat Ek at checkers. It’s a deal the brothers have, and if Oat wins, he’ll get anything he wants (photo). |
I'm Winning (Grey's Anatomy - Season 10, Episode 19) | 2014 | Kevin McKidd | ABC | 49 Minutes | English | Drama | Alex checks out Braden who isn't interested in playing checkers or chess with Alex. He says he wants to play with someone his own age. |
The Empty Hours | 2014 | Aaron Fernandez | Strand Releasing | 100 Minutes | English | Drama | Sebastian scaling the motel walls to get a cellphone signal, passing time playing checkers with crushed bottle caps for pieces. |
Episode 4416 (Sesame Street) | 2013 | Bob Phillips & Mike Renzi | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Cookie Monster Plays (Eats) Checkers (video). |
Milka. Trau dich zart zu sein. | 2013 | (?) | Milka | 1 Minute | German | Commercial | The purple cow isn't good at playing checkers (video). |
Rabbidocchio (Rabbids Invasion #34) | 2013 | Franz Kirchner | Nickelodeon | 7 Minutes | English/French/German | Animation | An old man plays checkers with a wooden Rabbid puppet (video). |
A Little Bit Zombie | 2012 | Casey Walker | Cave Painting Pictures | 87 Minutes | English | Comedy Horror | Two friends playing checkers in their family's cabin. |
Happy New Year | 2012 | K. Lorrel Manning | One Light Left | 104 Minutes | English | Drama | Lewis plays checkers with Gunny (video excerpt). |
Hatfields & McCoys (Part 1) | 2012 | Kevin Reynolds | History | 95 Minutes | English | Drama, Crime | Playing Checkers. |
The Art of Discource (Community - Season 1, Episode 22) | 2012 | Adam Davidson | Krasnoff Foster Productions | 21 Minutes | English | Comedy | Abed and Troy are playing checkers. |
Big Brother 13 (Big Brother U.S.) | 2011 | Robyn Kass | Endemol USA | [Non Stop] | English | Reality TV | Dominic & Daniele play jelly bean checkers(video). |
Chess Not Checkers (HIP HOP STARZ) | 2011 | Anton 'Brownbilly' Mitchell | Mitchell & Lee Films | 5 Minutes | English | Music Video | Mentions checkers ("like chess not checkers") - but only shows chess. (video). |
Luxus auf dem Meer - Die Geschichte der Kreuzfahrt (Part 1) | 2011 | Reinhard Jakosch & Annette Sander | ARD | 45 Minutes | German | Documentary | Includes a game of checkers filmed in the 1930s (part 2 also shows Chess). |
Masha + Kacha (Masha i Medved') - Episode 16 | 2011 | (?) | Animaccord Studios | 7 Minutes | Russian | Animation | How to learn Checkers (video). |
Maurice at Peace The Penguins of Madagascar - Season 2, Episode 42) | 2011 | Nick Filippi & Ant Ward | DreamWorks Animation | 24 Minutes | English | Animation | King Julien: "Uh, checkers!" Then Julien whips out a checkers board with a yoyo, a small shoe, an ace, a screwdriver, a peanut, a game piece, and two die on it. |
Checkers | 2010 | Ryan Pence | The Clapboard Studios | 4 Minutes | English | Short Film | A girl tries to play checkers with her toy cow (video). |
Checkers at 9th and S | 2010 | Kaveh Rezaei & Peggy Fleming | [Independent] | 10 Minutes | English | Mini Documentary | About members of the Capital Pool Checkers Men's Club in Washington DC (photo; video). |
Cool Dog | 2010 | Danny Lerner | M2 Films | 88 Minutes | English | Comedy | The dog shoots tennis balls at some punk kids, attacks some New York thugs, covers his eyes during scary movies, plays checkers (and wins), plays guitar, plays piano, and orders hot dogs. |
Grilled Cheesus (Glee) | 2010 | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon | FOX Broadcasting Company | 44 Minutes | English | Musical Comedy-Drama | While playing checkers, Sue asks her sister, Jean, if she believes in God, admitting that she doesn't because of the cruelty Jean experienced. |
Jangan Pandang Belakang Congkak | 2010 | Ahmad Idham | Metrowealth MIC | 90 Minutes | Malay | Horror / Comedy | A short checkers scene at a street cafe. |
King Me | 2010 | Geoff Yaw | [Independent] | 80 Minutes | English | Documentary | King Me explores the, sometimes surreal, world of competitive checkers play as seen through the eyes of South African township resident (full movie). |
O chyom govoryat muzhchiny | 2010 | Dmitriy Dyachenko | Kinokompaniya "Kvadrat" | 93 Minutes | Russian, Ukrainian | Comedy | Quote: "Wins - losing! We play checkers, they play in the giveaway." |
[http://madagascar.wikia.com/wiki/Operation:_Cooties Operation: Cooties (The Penguins of Madagascar - Season 2, Episode 10) | 2009 | Nick Filippi | DreamWorks Animation | 24 Minutes | English | Animation | While the chimps were playing checkers, King Julien jumps in, ruins the game and tells them that Marlene is coming. |
Style and Grace | 2010 | Linda Friend | [Independent] | 40 Minutes | English | Creative Documentary | The film celebrates a sector of the Madison community made up of the patrons of the salon who stop by to play checkers, to catch up with friends, and to ruminate on current events. |
A Hindu's Indictment of Heaven | 2009 | Dev Khanna | Ouat Media | 11 Minutes | English | Short Film / Comedy | St. Peter plays checkers. |
Dominoes and Checkers | 2009 | Alexander Gornovsky | Mosfilm Cinema Concern | 16 Minutes | Russian | Mini Documentary | Board game competition (dominoes and draughts) between inmates of a Russian mental hospital. |
Episode 4191 (Sesame Street) | 2009 | Kevin Clash, Ken Diego & Jim Martin | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Telly and Baby Bear get too hot to play tag, so Chris suggests they play checkers. |
Hannah Free | 2009 | Wendy Jo Carlton | Ripe Fruit Films | 85 Minutes | English | Lesbian Romance | Quote: "Rachel, one last game of checkers? I'll let you win. - My turn." |
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell | 2009 | Bob Gosse | Freestyle Releasing | 105 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Well, what do you want to do, Dan? Play checkers?" |
Like This | 2009 | Dedrick Rolison ("Mack 10") | BET | 4 Minutes | English | Music Video | Quote: " Homey,this ain't checkers, this a game of chess" (official video). |
Mask of the Raccoon (The Penguins of Madagascar - Season 1, Episode 16) | 2009 | Nick Filippi | DreamWorks Animation | 24 Minutes | English | Animation | The chimpanzees know how to play checkers. |
Needle Point The Penguins of Madagascar - Season 1, Episode 19) | 2009 | Nick Filippi | DreamWorks Animation | 24 Minutes | English | Animation | Mason: "Phil, I don't know how to break this to you. There is no checkmate in checkers." |
Owl and Rabbit Play Checkers | 2009 | David B. Levy & Robert M. Charde | [Independent] | 6 Minutes | English | Animation | Mismatched pals Owl and Rabbit are supposed to be meeting to play checkers, but today Rabbit has a different plan in mind (photo). |
Untouchable (The Penguins of Madagascar - Season 1, Episode 38) | 2009 | Nick Filippi | DreamWorks Animation | 24 Minutes | English | Animation | Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico see Private in a robot suit playing checkers with Barry. |
Wojna polsko-ruska | 2009 | Xawery Żuławski | Film Media S.A. | 108 Minutes | Polish | Drama | Quote: "Just don't catch a cold, and don't trip, and watch your head, and drop by sometime to play checkers. I'm crazy for checkers." (video). |
Bedtime Stories | 2008 | Adam Shankman | Walt Disney Pictures | 99 Minutes | English | Fantasy-comedy | Quote: "'Fair' as in 'doesn't cheat at checkers'?" |
Bible Fruit (Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Season 5, Episode 9) | 2008 | Matt Maiellaro & Dave Willis | Cartoon Network | 15 Minutes | English | Animation | As Bert Banana tears up the Aqua Teen's house looking for a fix of "booger sugar," liquor or anything to give him a buzz, Frylock and Meatwad civilly play checkers on the lawn. |
Checkers | 2008 | Brad Porter | Red & Black Productions | 4.5 Minutes | English | Short Film | Playing checkers at the ending of life (video). |
Der Mondbär - Das große Kinoabenteuer | 2008 | Thomas Bodenstein, Mike Maurus & Hubert Weiland | Universum Film | 78 Minutes | German | Animation | Moon Bear is playing draughts with the Moon. |
Madagascar:_Escape_2_Africa Escape 2 Africa | 2008 | Tom McGrath & Eric Darnell | Paramount Pictures | 89 Minutes | English | Animation | Mason: "I believe that's checkmate!" (playing checkers whith Phil) . |
How to Play Checkers | 2008 | Damon Wolf & Lee Wolochuk | [Independent] | 8 Minutes | English | Short Film / Animation | A moosehead looks on as a competitive game of checkers morphs into so much more (photo; video). |
Le Jeu de Dames | 2008 | Irene de Lucas | [Independent] | 20 Minutes | French | Short Film / Comedy | The film establishes a parallelism between the game of seduction and the game of draughts. |
Lokas | 2008 | Gonzalo Justiniano | Sahara Films | 90 Minutes | Spanish | Comedy | Quote: "You're bored! We can pIay something. I have checkers, chess, or Chinese checkers... - No, man, I don't want to pIay anything." |
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | 2008 | Mark Herman | Miramax Films | 94 Minutes | English | Drama | Bruno brings Shmuel food and plays draughts with him through the fence of the concentration camp. |
The Grand | 2008 | Zak Penn | Anchor Bay Entertainment | 104 Minutes | English | Improv Comedy | Quote: " I could take one of my kids to Disney World, and I had what I called the World Series of Checkers. They were going to play seven checker games. The winner was going to go to Disney World." |
War Games: The Dead Code | 2008 | Stuart Gillard | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | 100 Minutes | English | Drama | When the computer is being bombarded with online games, popups of go games can be seen among games of chess, checkers, etc. |
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | 2008 | Malcolm D. Lee | Universal Pictures | 114 Minutes | English | Comedy | Playing checkers (video excerpt). |
Episode 4160 (Sesame Street) | 2007 | Kevin Clash, Ken Diego & Victor DiNapoli | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Prince Charming and Sleeping Beauty are playing a game of checkers, but her narcolepsy frustrates the prince. |
Episode 4158 (Sesame Street) | 2007 | Kevin Clash, Ken Diego & Victor DiNapoli | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Elmo is looking forward to playing checkers with Gina, but it becomes difficult because Marco needs his mommy's attention. |
Episode 4139 (Sesame Street) | 2007 | Kevin Clash, Ken Diego & Victor DiNapoli | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Elmo wants to play tag, but Zoe wants to play checkers. |
FCU: Fact Checkers Unit (Episode 1) | 2007 | Dan Beers | Moxie Pictures | 9 Minutes | English | Short Film | Murray invites the fact checkers to watch television with him; after M*A*S*H, the three share drinks, read, play checkers, play catch while Murray does his ironing, and play "Chopsticks" on the piano (video). |
Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity | 2007 | Michael Simon | Comedy Central TV | 80 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "And what kind of battle? -Checkers. Every time l`d get a king, he`d blow it up." (video). |
Kabadayi | 2007 | Ömer Vargı | Fida Film | 140 Minutes | Turkish | Drama | Quote: "Come for coffee tomorrow morning. We can play draughts." |
Love’s Unending Legacy | 2007 | Mark Griffiths | Hallmark Channel | 84 Minutes | English | Christian Drama | Clark played checkers with Matty while Missie and Marty have their time together. |
Remember When (The Sopranos - Season 6, Episode 15) | 2007 | Phil Abraham | HBO | 58 Minutes | English | Drama | Uncle Junior and Carter are playing a game of checkers. |
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium | 2007 | Zach Helm | 20th Century Fox | 95 Minutes | English | Fantasy | Eric Applebaum: "Do you like to play checkers?" |
More Than Just A Game | 2007 | Junaid Ahmed | Distant Horizon | 89 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: "Chess and cards, which we made out of cardboards, or draughts, which was made out of pieces of soap or even wood. And of course there was Ludo." |
Norbit | 2007 | Brian Robbins | Paramount Pictures | 102 Minutes | English | Comedy | Norbit and Kate were always together, played checkers together, peed together, and even got married under a tree, when they lived in an orphanage. |
S neue Schpil (Guetnachtgschichtli: Dragon Alphons de blau Drache - Season 3, Episode 58) | 2007 | Thomas Schneider-Trumpp | SRF | 15 Minutes | Swiss German | Animation | Dragon and Beaver play their favorite games: Checkers, juggling and belching (photo). |
Szalency | 2007 | Pawel Wendorff | SPI International | 83 Minutes | Polish | Comedy | Quote: "The hotel was empty, you could pick and choose. But no longer. 100 checkers players checked in today. - Checkers players? - Yes. It's a tournament." |
The Comebacks | 2007 | Tom Brady | Fox Atomic | 107 Minutes | English | Satirical Comedy | Quote: "People talk about you. You cheat at checkers." |
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters | 2007 | Seth Gordon | Picturehouse / Dendy Cinemas | 79 Minutes | English | Documentary Film | Quote: "Games, checkers, cards, Present and past. Show me even a nun or a hermit who has not played cards or checkers." |
The Snuke (South Park - Season 11, Episode 4 | 2007 | Trey Parker | Parker-Stone Studios | 21 Minutes | English, German | Animated Comedy | Bahir plays checkers with Butters. Quote: Butters: Hey, Bahir, uh since we get to go home, you wanna come over uh, play checkers? Bahir: Sure. (video (in German)). |
Vergiftete Geschenke - Wie die EU Afrika in die Armut treibt | 2007 | Ralph Quinke, Lutz Ackermann, Klaus Brinkbäumer & Beate Schwarz | SPIEGEL TV | 93 Minutes | German | Documentary | Short checkers scene on a fish trawler. |
Wonderful Town | 2007 | Aditya Assarat | Memento Films | 85 Minutes | Thai | Drama | Young people ride motorcycles, play snooker, and get drunk. Old people play checkers, and complain, and remember better times in the past. |
Bobby | 2006 | Emilio Estevez | The Weinstein Company | 120 Minutes | English | Biographical Film | Robert F. Kennedy claims that checkers is not as intimidating as chess. Quote: "It scares people, intimidates them, and that's why they invented checkers." (video excerpt). |
Checkers | 2006 | Kyle Lemke & Jaimz Asmundson | [Independent] | 3 Minutes | English | Short Film | A couple of slackers spend the afternoon at home, playing a paranoid game of checkers, while in a drug-induced haze. |
Cracked China (Robot Chicken) | 2006 | Matthew Senreich | ShadowMachine Films | 11 Minutes | English | Comedy / Animation | A game of checkers leads to an interstellar war (video). |
Episode 4132 (Sesame Street) | 2006 | Bob Phillips & Mike Renzi | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Big Bird and Snuffy want to play with Marco. They suggest baseball, roller skating, pogo stick jumping, and checkers as activities...but Marco's not old enough. |
Episode 4124 (Sesame Street) | 2006 | Bob Phillips & Mike Renzi | Sesame Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Gabi and Miles engross themselves in a game of checkers, but realize that they're missing a playing piece. The caped Slimey appears and curls up into a checker piece, winning the appreciation of the cast. |
Fly Boys | 2006 | Tony Bill | Electric Entertainment | 140 Minutes | English, French, German | Action | Checkers and Chess being played in the bar. |
Full Faith and Credit (Deadwood - Season 3, Episode 4) | 2006 | Ed Bianchi | Home Box Office (HBO) | 51 Minutes | English | Drama | Alma gazes out the window while Ellsworth and Sofia play checkers by the soft glow of kerosene lamps. |
Kubrador | 2006 | Jeffrey Jeturian | MLR Films | 98 Minutes | Tagalog | Drama | Quote: "Wait, the one who will play checkers can play inside. - They can also play outside. Salvie will put up a tent." |
Le Jeu de Dames | 2006 | Jayson Sansol | Obscure Film | 2 Minutes | [Instrumental Music] | Short Film | A strange person is playing checkers alone in a cave. |
Running with Scissors | 2006 | Ryan Murphy | TriStar Pictures | 116 Minutes (122 Minutes DVD Release) | English | Comedy-drama | Quote: "Wanna play checkers, Dad?" |
Tell Him Something Pretty (Deadwood - Season 3, Episode 12) | 2006 | Mark Tinker | Home Box Office (HBO) | 50 Minutes | English | Drama | Rutherford is playing checkers with a despondent Steve. |
Tell Your God to be Ready for Blood (Deadwood - Season 3, Episode 1) | 2006 | Mark Tinker | Home Box Office (HBO) | 53 Minutes | English | Drama | Ellsworth and Sophia play checkers and worry about Alma. |
The Monster of Phantom Lake | 2006 | Christopher R. Mihm | Saint Euphoria Pictures | 97 Minutes | English | Comedy / Science Fiction | Quote: "Your move, Mr. Pierce. - Like I said, Mr. F, checkers is hard enough. I don't get this game. - Play." |
A Lie Agreed Upon: Part II (Deadwood - Season 2, Episode 2) | 2005 | Ed Bianchi | Home Box Office (HBO) | 51 Minutes | English | Drama | Stubbs: "It ain't checkers Honey, don't be jumping one over another."' |
Bonfire of the Manatees (The Simpsons) | 2005 | Mark Kirkland | 20th Television | 30 Minutes | English | Satire / Animation | Homer is playing Checkers with a rooster and is, of course, losing. |
Checkers | 2005 | Bob Hummer | First Team Productions & Montana Twenty | 86 Minutes | English | Dark Comedy | The Checker game ends up causing an explosion where you see who the dad really was. |
Cry Wolf | 2005 | Jeff Wadlow | Universal Pictures | 90 Minutes | English | Horror / Slasher Murder Mystery | Doger makes a deragoratory remark about Checkers: "You guys have no imagination. It's like your playing checkers... And I'm playing chess. ". |
El Método | 2005 | Marcelo Piñeyro | Palm Pictures | 115 Minutes | English, French, Spanish | Thriller | Quote:"Of course, but we're not arguing about playing cards or checkers." |
Folge 2300 (Sesamstraße) | 2005 | (?) | NDR | 25 Minutes | German | Animation | Elmo tries playing checkers with Gloria. Repeated in "Folge" (Episode) 2420. |
Iznogoud: Calife à la place du calife | 2005 | Patrick Braoudé | Vertigo | 95 Minutes | French | Animation | Quote: "Your highness! Continue our game? - Chess is too complicated for me. - Checkers? - No, I am getting a headache! - Games bore him Even women! We won't get an heir to the throne." |
The Bad News Ghouls/House of No Tomorrow (Grim & Evil) | 2005 | Robert Alvarez, Brian Sheesley & Juli Murphy | Castle Creek Productions / Cartoon Network | 30 Minutes | English | Animation | Master Control (the computer of the future) says: "My intelligence is beyond measure, I know everything there is to know, and I'm not too shabby at checkers." |
The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove | 2005 | Elliot M. Bour & Saul Andrew Blinkoff | The Walt Disney Company | 75 Minutes | English | Animated Musical Comedy | A checkers board is shown. |
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till | 2005 | Keith Beauchamp | Till Freedom Come Productions, LLC | 70 Minutes | English | Documentary | A witness recalls some people playing checkers (video). |
The Whores Can Come (Deadwood - Episode 2, Season 11) | 2005 | Gregg Fienberg | Home Box Office (HBO) | 47 Minutes | English | Drama | Alma Garret: "I've wished sometimes only to play checkers or to occupy myself some other way than having to see and feel so much sadness, or feel every moment how difficult things are, to understand or to live with." |
Their Eyes Were Watching God | 2005 | Darnell Martin | ABC, Harpo Films | 113 Minutes | English | Drama | Some of the locals gather up to play checkers in front of the Starks' shop. As Janie is standing there with them watching them play, Amos Hicks admires her hair and lightly touches it. |
Wedding Crashers | 2005 | David Dobkin | New Line Cinema | 119 Minutes | English | Comedy, Romance | Jeremy Grey confessed to Father O'Neill: "We used to play checkers with each other every day, and bless his heart, Shiloh would always let me win!" |
Barbershop 2: Back in Business | 2004 | Kevin Rodney Sullivan | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 106 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Checker Fred, back to checkers." |
Big Brother 5 (Big Brother Germany) | 2004 | (?) | Endemol | (24h live broadcast) | German | Reality Television Show | Countless draughts scenes, which include: Franziska and Karim playing draughts, also Frank and Sascha and then Thomas and Jerry (June 2); Thomi, Karim, Frank and Sascha having a draughts tournament (June 3); Jerry playing draughts with Karim, then Frank with Mark (June 5) - archived diary. |
Das neue Spiel (Dragon: Der kleine dicke Drache - Season 3, Episode 58) | 2004 | Thomas Schneider-Trumpp | scopas Medien AG / Cité Amérique / ZDF / ZDF Enterprises | 15 Minutes | German | Animation | Dragon and Crocodile play their Checkers. Dragon always loses (more information). |
Her Majesty, The Dragon (Potatoes & Dragons) | 2004 | Jean-Christophe Roger | Cookie Jar Entertainment | 7 Minutes | English / French | Animation | During a game of checkers, the king makes a rash bet: if the dragon can beat him, he'll let the dragon take his place as king and rule over the kingdom for twelve hours while Hugo spends the same period in the cave. |
Milhouse Doesn't Live Here Anymore (The Simpsons) | 2004 | Matthew Nastuk | 20th Television | 30 Minutes | English | Satire / Animation | Bart: "Ralph, we're playing Checkers". |
Pilot, Part 2 (Lost- Season 1, Episode 2) | 2004 | Jeffrey Jacob Abrams | Buena Vista Television | 40 Minutes | English | Mystery | Locke claimed Backgammon is a better game than Checkers, as it dates back 5,000 years. |
Tabula Rasa (Lost- Season 1, Episode 3) | 2004 | Jack Bender | Buena Vista Television | 40 Minutes | English | Mystery | Locke: "Do you play checkers with your Pop?" - Walt: "No. I live in Australia with My Mom. She got sick, she died a couple of weeks ago." |
Bad Santa | 2003 | Terry Zwigoff | Dimension Films | 91 Minutes | English | Christma Crime Comedy | Playing checkers (video excerpt). |
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin | 2003 | Richard Schickel | Lorac Productions | 132 Minutes | English | Documentary | Quote: "The example I always gave was the difference between chess and checkers. It's like checkers to do it silently. You can figure out the gags... and painstakingly write them, and then execute them..." (video). |
Dogville | 2003 | Lars von Trier | Lions Gate Entertainment | 178 Minutes | English | Drama | Tom visits everyone before stopping to play checkers with the 'none too bright' Bill and the checkerboard seems like a cheeky metaphor for their surroundings. |
Freddy vs. Jason | 2003 | Ronny Yu | New Line Cinema | 97 Minutes | English | Horror | Inmates of a mental health institution are playing checkers (video excerpt). |
Südsee (Das Traumschiff) | 2003 | Michael Steinke | ORF / ZDF | 90 Minutes | English | Romance | Two elderly people play checkers on board the "dream ship". |
The Checker King | 2003 | David L. Gould & Kevin Kelley | Fanlight Productions | 39 Minutes | English | Documentary | After the death of his wife, 81-year-old Harold O'Brien enters the National Checker Championship. |
The Murder of Emmett Till (American Experience - Season 15, Episode 6) | 2003 | Stanley Nelson | PBS | 53 Minutes | English | Documentary | Narrator: "Customers were sitting outside, talking and playing checkers in the shade." - (video). |
We're So Screwed - La Bomba Into the Lion's Den - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Farscape - Season 4, Episode 21)] | 2003 | Rowan Woods | The Jim Henson Company | 44 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Harvey tells John: "Your dog could beat them at checkers!" . |
A Line in the Sand (Sahara with Michael Palin - Episode 2) | 2002 | Michael Palin | BBC | 50 Minutes | English | Documentary | Michael Palin wins a game which he compares to checkers in a giant refugee camp in Algeria - (video (starting at minute 22)). |
Barber Shop | 2002 | Tim Story | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 102 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Checker Fred, just sit there and play checkers." |
Improbable (The X-Files) | 2002 | Chris Carter | 20th Century Fox Television, | 60 Minutes | English | Drama / Mystery / Science Fiction | Mr. Burt convinces the agents to play checkers, which leads to Reyes noticing that their colors are red and black, which fits into the pattern of the serial killer, he had been killing women by patterns of hair, the last victim being blonde. |
Into the Lion's Den - Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (Farscape - Season 3, Episode 21) | 2002 | Rowan Woods | The Jim Henson Company | 44 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Scorpius takes one of his own checkers and jumps several of John's - thus proving that he wins no matter what game John is playing (source). |
Like Mike | 2002 | John Schultz | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | 99 Minutes | English | Comedy / Fantasy / Sport | After Mr. Bittleman jumped, sending his chess game flying, Frank Bernard commented: "Playing checkers, I see." |
The Buys (The Wire) | 2002 | Peter Medak | HBO | 56 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama / Mystery | Preston 'Bodie' Broadus confuses chess with checkers (video excerpt). |
Tussenland | 2002 | Eugenie Jansen | Waterland Film & TV | 92 Minutes | Dutch | Drama | Jakob plays checkers against himself and so loses his last friends. |
Big Diet (Tag 25) | 2001 | Margarethe Schreinemakers | Endemol | [Non-stop] | German | Reality TV Show | Klaus and Daniel play checkers. |
Just Visiting | 2001 | Jean-Marie Gaubert | Hollywood Pictures & Gaumont | 88 Minutes | English/French/German | Comedy | A checkers board is shown in the museum towards the end of the movie. |
The Journey | 2001 | Eric Saperston | Journey Productions Inc. | 93 Minutes | English | Documentary | Playing Checkers with Governor Ann Richards (photo). |
The Thin White Line (Family Guy) | 2001 | Glen Hill | Fuzzy Door Productions / 20th Century Fox Television | 30 Minutes | English | Animation | Brian plays checkers with an old woman (video). |
Training Day | 2001 | Antoine Fuqua | Warner Bros. Pictures | 122 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama / Thriller | Pervasive language (rated R) comparing chess with checkers: "The shit's chess, it ain't checkers." (video excerpt) |
Checkers Dog (Poochini's Yard) | 2000 (first aired) | Dave Marshall & Dave Thomas | EM.TV | 30 Minutes | English | Animation / Comedy | The dog Poochini wins 100 out of 100 checkers games - he must go to the World Checkers Championship! (video) |
Death Is A Bitch (Family Guy) | 2000 | Michael Dante DiMartino | Fuzzy Door Productions / 20th Century Fox Television | 30 Minutes | English | Animation | Two passengers of an airplane are playing checkers. |
Episode 3879 (Sesame Street) | 2000 | Ken Diego, Steve Feldman & Jim Martin | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Big Bird and Snuffy learn that the checkers are not alive. |
Gossip | 2000 | Davis Guggenheim | Warner Bros. | 90 Minutes | English | Teen Drama | Quote: "Somebody at the PeninsuIa sees him pIaying checkers with the doorman." |
Running Mates (Family Guy) | 2000 | John Holmquist | Fuzzy Door Productions / 20th Century Fox Television | 30 Minutes | English | Animation | Brian accuses Peter of being unable to handle loosing and recalls a checkers game in which Peter went to lengths to hide the evidence of his loss (photo). |
The Emperor's New Groove | 2000 | Mark Dindal | The Walt Disney Company | 78 Minutes | English | Animated Slapstick Comedy | Two Checkers players are shown. |
Uncle Jenima's Pure Mash Liquor! (Saturday Night Life) | 2000 | Beth McCarthy-Miller | Broadway Video | 90 Minutes | English | Sketch Comedy | Sammy, while playing checkers, asks: "Whatchoo swattin’ at?" |
Don't Fear the Reaper (Big Wolf Campus) | 1999 | Peter D. Marshall | YTV | 22 Minutes | English | Comedy / Horror | Death is challenged to a game of chess and wins. Then he is playing a game of checkers, and wins again. |
Genghis Blues | 1999 | Roko Beli | Roxie Releasing | 88 Minutes | English | Documentary | Quote: "Somebody at the Peninsula sees him playing checkers with the doorman ." |
Jannes | 1999 | Rein Hazewinkel | [Independent] | 59 Minutes | Dutch | Documentary | About the world checkers champion Jannes van der Wal. |
Man on the Moon | 1999 | Andy Kaufman | BBC Films | 119 Minutes | English | Biographical Comedy-drama | Quote: "Monopoly, Twenty-one Checkers and Chess." |
Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy (SpongeBob SquarePants) | 1999 | Walt Dohrn & Paul Tibbitt | MTV Networks International | 22 Minutes | English | Animation | Mermaid Man illegally moves one of his checkers into a red space before the screen switches to "King Me!" . |
The Games We Play (Caribbean Eye #11) | 1999 | Tony Hall, Christopher Laird & Bruce Paddington | Unesco/Banyan | 26 minutes | English | Documentary | Showing Draughts in Barbados, Dominoes in Dominica, All Fours in Trinidad, and Warri on Antigua. |
Zelyonyy slonik | 1999 | Svetlana Baskova | Supernova Group | 86 Minutes | Russian | Horror / Thriller | Quote: "Then we will....so that we wouldn't be completely bored we will play checkers and bet." |
Episode 3783 (Sesame Street) | 1998 | Ted May | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | As Telly plays checkers with Lexine, Rosita shows up again to ask them to help her continue her lecture. |
Episode 3764 (Sesame Street) | 1998 | Ted May | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Rosita and Lexine are playing checkers in front of the Furry Arms Hotel. |
Escape from Oz (Season 2, Episode 8) | 1998 | Jean de Segonzac | Levinson/Fontana | 68 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama / Thriller | Quote: "What caused the riot? - Two brain-dead, crackhead motherfuckers playing checkers. And then all of a sudden, the world imploded." |
Natural Born Kissers (The Simpsons) | 1998 | Klay Hall | 20th Television | 30 Minutes | English | Satire / Animation | Grampa in the Flanders' house watching Rod and Todd play checkers. |
When You've Got to Go! (Bear in the Big Blue House), also known as "Potty Time With Bear" | 1998 | Mitchell Kriegman | Disney Channel | 80 Minutes | English | Animation | Bear is playing a game of checkers with his mouse friend, Tutter. Tutter has to go to the potty, but doesn't want to stop playing checkers because he is winning (video - part 1 & video - part 2). |
A Game of Checkers (Oz - Season 1, Episode 8) | 1997 | Jean de Segonzac | Levinson/Fontana | 60 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama / Thriller | A riot breaks out in OZ when two men argue over a game of checkers, and the violence spreads. |
For Richer or Poorer | 1997 | Bryan Spicer | Universal Pictures | 115 Minutes | English | Comedy | A very short scene of Amish children playing checkers in the living room (in the background). |
Lawn Dogs | 1997 | John Duigan | Rank Organisation / Strand Releasing | 101 Minutes | English | Drama | Devon Stockard plays draughts with her doll, who loses a limb each time plastic pieces are forfeited. |
Summer Cooler (Bear in the Big Blue House) | 1997 | Hugh Martin | Disney Channel | 30 Minutes | English | Animation | It's a hot summer day and Bear and everyone else in the Big Blue House are taking it easy. Bear receives a checkers set in the mail and plays checkers with both Pip and Pop and Treelo. To his surprise, they win handily, despite never having played the game before. |
Black Sheep | 1996 | Penelope Spheeris | Paramount Pictures | 87 Minutes | English | Comedy | Steve Dodds wins three games of checkers in a row. Quote: "I hardly ever play checkers." |
Checkers | 1996 | (?) | Pixar / The Walt Disney Company | <1 Minute | English | Animation / Interstitial | Woody is playing Checkers with Hand-in-the-Box, who is waiting impatiently for him to make his move. Rex pops up behind Woody and starts giving his opinion on the game while Buzz walks in just after Woody makes his move and tells him "Bad Move." Hand-in-the-Box makes his move and clears the entire board much to Woody's disappointment. |
King Me (also known as "Checkers with Aliens") | 1996 | (?) | Pixar / The Walt Disney Company | <1 Minute | English | Animation / Interstitial | Woody plays a game of checkers with the Aliens, but the aliens manage to win by somehow levitating the checker pieces and finish by saying "King Me". |
Le Damier – Papa national oyé | 1996 | Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda | (?) | 40 Minutes | French | Comedy | The film tells the story of the president of a fictitious African nation who spends a sleepless night playing checkers with a pot-smoking vagabond who is claimed to be the "all-around champion". (more information). |
Trials and Tribble-ations (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) | 1996 | Jonathan West | CBS Television Distribution | 45 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Benjamin Sisko and Jadzia Dax playing Space Checkers (photo). |
Le Damier | 1996 | Bakupa Kanyinda Balufu | Centrale Productions / Myriapodis Films | 40 Minutes | French | Drama | To pass a sleepless night, the creator of life, first citizen of his country, plays a game of draughts with a man from the road who is said to be a champion of all categories. |
Phenomenon | 1996 | Jon Turteltaub | Touchstone Pictures | 123 Minutes | English | Fantasy-drama | George: "I wish we could go back to checkers. Maybe I could win." |
12 Monkeys | 1995 | Terry Gilliam | Universal Pictures | 127 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Cole nods and Jeffrey shows card table where patients are playing cards, checkers, chess, or working on jig saw puzzles: "Here's the games. Game vegitize you. If you play the games, your voluntarily taking a tranquilizer." |
Circle of Friends | 1995 | Pat O'Connor | Savoy | 103 Minutes | English | Drama /Romance | Eve and Aidan are playing draughts. Aidan wins. |
Les Cent et Une Nuits de Simon Cinéma | 1995 | Agnès Varda | 20th Century Fox | 101 Minutes | French | Comedy | Quote: "Anyway, we have to finish our game of checkers." |
The Big Green | 1995 | Holly Goldberg Sloane | Walt Disney Pictures | 100 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "And even checkers at Piggly Wiggly will need math too." |
Toy Story | 1995 | John Lasseter | Pixar / The Walt Disney Company | 80 Minutes | English | Animation | Slinky Dog likes playing checkers with Woody. |
Vsyo budet khorosho | 1995 | Dmitri Astrakhan | Fora Film | 100 Minutes | Russian | Comedy | Quote: "And Petya has grown up, he already knows the letters, l taught him. And we play checkers with him." |
Death Match | 1994 | Joe Coppoletta | Horseplay Productions Inc. | 94 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: "There's two types of fighters--there's a chess player and a checker player. A chess player takes two hits to give one, and a checker player would never take any and give you four, five, or six. Which one are you?" |
Episode 3194 (Sesame Street) | 1994 | Lisa Simon & Jon Stone | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Snuffy asks Ruthie to look after his sister Alice while he and Big Bird play checkers. |
Shawshank Redemption | 1994 | Frank Darabont | Columbia Pictures / Warner Bros. Pictures | 142 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama | Red and Andy Dufresne playing checkers (photo). |
Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood (The Simpsons) | 1993 | Jeffrey Lynch | 20th Television | 30 Minutes | English | Satire / Animation | Clancy Wiggum: "I keep telling you, lady: your husband and son have to be missing for a week before we can start searching. I'd like to help sooner, I would. But we're very, very busy down here. (Hangs up phone) Sheesh! (Turns to dog, whom he's playing checkers with) King me." |
Indien | 1993 | Paul Harather | Dor Film | 90 Minutes | German | Road Movie | Quote: "What is the northern ice-cap of our planet called? lf that's not your strong point, we can play something else. Checkers, pick-up-sticks, dominoes." |
Meatballs or Consequences (Animaniacs) | 1993 | Steven Spielberg | Warner Bros. Pictures | 11 Minutes | English | Animation | During a visit to Sweden, the Warners run afoul of Death, who tries to take Wakko away after he eats one too many meatballs during a contest. To save him, Yakko and Dot challenge Death to a game of checkers (video). |
Philadelphia | 1993 | Jonathan Demme | TriStar Pictures | 125 Minutes | English | Drama | A medical clinic is shown, where patients played checkers and talked while waiting their turn to get hooked up to intravenous drips. |
Community Action (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - Season 2, Episode 17) | 1992 | Andy Borowitz | Warner Bros. Television Distribution | 23 Minutes | English | Sitcom | Quote: "You're playing each piece like losing it hurts. This ain't checkers. You want my king." [Same as in Episode 6, 1991] |
Episode 2946 (Sesame Street) | 1992 | Lisa Simon & Jon Stone | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | PMonty brings a pineapple over to Prairie so he can point out the many things one can do with a pineapple, such as play on a tire swing with it, pretend it's a dog, or teach it to play checkers. |
Episode 2932 (Sesame Street) | 1992 | Lisa Simon & Jon Stone | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Prairie beats Mommy Snuffle in another game of checkers. |
Leap of Faith | 1992 | Richard Pearce | Paramount Pictures | 108 Minutes | English | Drama | Steve Martin, having witnessed a real act of divine healing, walks out amidst all the people who came to his sermon and sees Americana---people telling stories, reading the Bible, playing checkers, all happy, and he realizes that healing is more than just healing the physical body and that faith is real. |
Udju Azul di Yonta | 1992 | Flora Gomes | Arco Iris | 90 Minutes | Portuguese | Drama | Amilcar's father wants to beat Vicente at draughts. |
Beauty and the Beast | 1991 | Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise | Walt Disney Pictures | 84 Minutes | English | Animated Musical Fantasy Film | Gaston flips over a table that men are playing checkers on. |
Guess Who's Coming to Marry (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - Season 2, Episode 6) | 1991 | Andy Borowitz | Warner Bros. Television Distribution | 23 Minutes | English | Sitcom | Quote: "You're playing each piece like losing it hurts. This ain't checkers. You want my king." |
Kathy & Mo: Parallel Lives | 1991 | Art Wolff | EMK Productions | 58 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: " Monopoly, 21, checkers and chess." |
La Gloire de mon père | 1990 | Yves Robert | Gaumont Production | 105 Minutes | French | Biographical Drama | Quote: " Uncle Jules spoke all evening like an erudite professor while my father, a certified school examiner who played checkers so well, and threw balls so well listened to him with an attentive and even ignorant air, like a pupil." |
Las Cartas de Alou | 1990 | Montxo Armendáriz | TVE | 92 Minutes | Spanish | Drama | The game of checkers functions as a metaphor between "blacks" (illegal immigrants) and "whites". |
Sara's Homecoming (Road to Avonlea) | 1990 | Kevin Sullivan | Sullivan Films | 47 Minutes | English | Drama | Aunt Hetty and Sara play checkers. |
Music Box | 1989 | Costa-Gavras | TriStar Pictures | 124 Minutes | English, Hungarian | Drama | Quote: "Well, he goes to church, to the cemetery. He buys strudel at the bakery, he plays checkers in the park. He even makes a few bets on the Cubs and the Bears games." |
Batteries included | 1988 | Eduardo Dinero & Greg Barkhurst | VCA | 75 Minutes | English | Adult | Quote: "Now, you move out, you go to Miami, you sit in the sun, listen to Bing Crosby, play checkers, bingo..." |
Burger King Triple Jump Checkers Game! | 1988 | (?) | Burger King | 1 Minute | English | Commercial | A lottery involving a checkers-like game (video). |
[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Episode_2485 Episode 2485 (Sesame Street) | 1988 | Jon Stone | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Bert teaches his pigeon, Bernice, checkers. Sketch] repeated in Episode 3057, 3096, 3130, 3145, 3986, 4030, 4058 & 4155 (video). |
Queeg (Red Dwarf) | 1988 | Ed Bye | BBC | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Rimmer is playing draughts/checkers with a scutter (and losing badly). |
Armstrong (DuckTales - Season 1, Episode 6) | 1987 | Alan Zaslove | Walt Disney Television Animation | 22 Minutes | English | Animation | Quote: "And, ha-ha-ha, I can play a mean game of checkers with it, too." |
batteries not included | 1987 | Matthew Robbins | Universal Pictures | 106 Minutes | English | Fantasy | Carlos suggests to play checkers (video excerpt). |
Episode 2227 (Sesame Street) | 1986 | Jon Stone | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Bert tries to ask Ernie to play a game of checkers with him - repeated in Episode 2608 & 3875. |
The Aurora Encounter | 1986 | Jim McCollough | Jim McCullough Productions | 90 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | One woman shoots at the pint-sized alien after it peeps at her undressing, while it joins old-timer Charlie Hawkins playing checkers. |
The Color of Money | 1986 | Martin Scorsese | Touchstone Pictures | 120 Minutes | English | Drama / Sport | Fast Eddie Felson says: "Checkers sells more than chess." |
A Soldier's Story | 1984 | Norman Jewison | Columbia Pictures | 101 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: "I played checkers with Cobb till 9:30 and then I went to bed." |
The Outsiders | 1983 | Francis Ford Coppola | Warner Bros. | 91 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: " What do they do for kicks around here? Play checkers?" |
U.F.O. (Benji, Zax & the Alien Prince - Season 1, Episode 2) | 1983 | (?) | CBS | 22 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Prince Yubi and Zax playing checkers (video excerpt). |
WarGames | 1983 | John Badham | MGM/UA Entertainment Co. | 114 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Jim: "Probably classified, too. - If it's military, why does it have games like checkers and backgammon? - Those games teach basic strategy." |
Missing | 1982 | Costa-Gavras | Universal Pictures | 122 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: In a week we're all playing (...) checkers." (video excerpt). |
If We Only Have Love (Dionne Warwick) | 1981 | James Petrie | United Way | 4 Minutes | English | Music Video | Old men playing checkers in city park (video excerpt). |
Private Lives (Sanford) | 1981 | Jim Drake | Tandem Productions | 21 Minutes | English | Comedy | Two men playing checkers (video). |
Coal Miner's Daughter | 1980 | Michael Apted | Universal Pictures | 125 Minutes | English | Biographical Film | Two scenes with boys playing checkers in the back of the room (video excerpt; another scene)). |
Phantom of the Roller Coaster (Wonder Woman - Season 3, Episode 23 | 1979 | John Newland | Warner Bros. Television | 46 Minutes | English | Adventure | Quote: "You should learn to play chess, Mr. Pierce. Wonderful for the mind. - Are you kidding? I have enough trouble with checkers." |
Death on the Nile | 1978 | John Guillermin | Mersham Productions | 134 Minutes | English | Mystery Film | Checkers board on the cruising boat. |
The Wiz | 1978 | Sidney Lumet | Universal Studios | 134 Minutes | English | Musical Film | Children playing checkers (video excerpt). |
Marie-poupée | 1976 | Joël Séria | Coquelicot Films | 120 Minutes | French | Drama | Quote: "Grandpa and grandma came to see me and told me you said hello. - I'm doing well but I miss our games of checkers and our long evenings with grandpa and grandma." |
Casablanca - Shifty Checkers | 1973 | Don Adams | Aurora | 1 Minute | English | Commercial | Promoting Aurora's checkers variant Shifty Checkers (video). |
Walking Tall | 1973 | Phil Karlson | Cinerama Releasing Corporation | 124 Minutes | English | Crime / Drama / Thriller | Lutie says: "You really are out of touch. Man that place is nothing but an old museum. Strictly Senior Citizens. Why, they even play checkers on the bar." |
Deliverance | 1972 | John Boorman | Warner Brothers | 110 Minutes | English | Thriller | Quote: "Right over there's the old fire station. Played a lot of checkers over there." |
The Last House on the Left | 1972 | Wes Craven | Hallmark Releasing Corp | 81 Minutes | English | Horror | Policemen play checkers instead of doing their work. |
Little Murders | 1971 | Alan Arkin | 20th Century Fox | 110 Minutes | English | Black Comedy | Quote: "Golf? Ping-Pong? Checkers? Oh, you must have some fun." |
Episode 0274 (Sesame Street) | 1971 | Robert Myhrum | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Bert is reading a book when Ernie startles him by asking if he wants to play checkers. Bert says, "I thought maybe you weren't here!" Ernie starts to search to see if he can find himself. Repeated in Episode 0715 and also shown in the German co-production Sesamstraße, Folge 0872 (video). |
Rebel Rousers | 1970 | Martin B. Cohen | Four Star Excelsior / Raunchy Tonk | 74 Minutes | English | Biker Film / Crime | Two checkers scenes. |
Episode 0150 (Sesame Street) | 1970 | Robert Myhrum | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Big Bid goes off to play checkers with a pigeon. |
Episode 0115 (Sesame Street) | 1970 | Neil Smith | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Susan passes some kids playing checkers, then greets the viewer. |
Flock of Love (Lassie) | 1970 | Bonita Granville | Wrather Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | Lassie befriends an elderly man whose claim that the flock of birds he feeds love him is scoffed by his cynical checkers opponent. But the faithful birds will surprise them. |
[The Traveling Executioner http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066485/] | 1970 | Jack Smight | MGM | 95 Minutes | English | Western | Stacey Keach was playing checkers (photo). |
Episode 0014 (Sesame Street) | 1969 | Neil Smith | Children's Television Workshop | 60 Minutes | English | Animation | Buddy and Jim try to play checkers, but they can't get their chairs facing the right direction. Repeated in Episode 0030, 0043, 0050 & 0107. |
Sorry Doctor, I Ain't Takin No Shots (Petticoat Junction - Season 7, Episode 8) | 1969 | Elliott Liwis | Filmways Television | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Janet tries to reason with him, use an old checkers playing friend (Uncle Joe) to soften him up. |
The Love God? | 1969 | Nat Hiken | Universal Pictures | 101 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Used to play this when I was a kid. Checkers." |
The Mark of Gideon (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1969 | Jud Taylor | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers can be seen ‘way over at screen left (photo). |
The Southern Star | 1969 | Sidney Hayers | Columbia Pictures Corporation & Euro-France Films | 102 Minutes | English / French | Comedy / Crime | Plankett is playing checkers with shot glasses full of whisky for playing pieces moaing "Please make a move; I'm thirsty" as he looks at his dullard opponent with complete disappointment. |
Uncle Joe Retires (Petticoat Junction - Season 6, Episode 22) | 1969 | Ralph Levy | Filmways Television | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Uncle Joe learns that his big news has made him the laughing stock of the valley as everyone is talking about what a big deal he's made of retiring from nothing to doing what he always does: fish, play checkers and take naps. |
Zbrodniarz, ktory ukradl zbrodnie | 1969 | Janusz Majewski | PRF "Zespol Filmowy" | 94 Minutes | Polish | Crime | Quote: "Do you play checkers sometimes? - Not really. - That's better, I prefer to play with myself." |
By Any Other Name (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1968 | Marc Daniels | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Two Space Checkers sets can be seen in the recreation room, where both game sets of Space Checkers get destroyed rather spectacularly during a fight between Captain Kirk and the Kelvan Rojan (photo 1 & photo 2). |
Emmett’s 50th Birthday (Mayberry R.F.D.) | 1968 | Hal Cooper | R.F.D. Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy / Family | The chief pastry girl at Boysinger’s Bakery, stops by Emmett’s establishment just in time to see county clerk Howard Sprague and gas pump jockey Goober Pyle play a cutthroat game of checkers. |
Bonnie and Clyde | 1967 | Arthur Penn | Warner Bros. Pictures | 111 Minutes | English | Crime | Bonnie and Clyde played checkers and photographed each other incessantly. |
The Alternative Factor (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1967 | Gerd Oswald | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers can be seen aboard USS Enterprise (photo). |
The Trouble with Tribbles (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1967 | Joseph Pevney | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers can be seen in two places in the recreation room aboard USS Enterprise (photo 1 & photo 2). |
Valley of the Dolls | 1967 | Mark Robson | 20th Century Fox | 123 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: "I started playing checkers with this cute little girl." |
Alfie | 1966 | Lewis Gilbert | Paramount Pictures | 114 Minutes | English | Drama | Harry and Alfie play draughts. |
I've Got a Little Song Here (The Monkees - Season 1, Episode 12) | 1966 | Bruce Kessler | Raybert Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | As Mike goes to answer the knock on the door, Peter cheats him at checkers (video). |
Le Roi de Cœur | 1966 | Philippe de Broca | Les Productions Artistes Associés | 102 Minutes | French | Comedy-drama | Quote: "Love is played like checkers, black and white." |
Ophelia Finds Romance (The Addams Family - Season 2, Episode 20 ) | 1966 | Sidney Lanfield | Filmways Television | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy, Horror | Morticia Frump Addams: "I wish I could say the same for Uncle Fester. I caught him cheating at checkers." |
Charlie X (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1966 | Lawrence Dobkin | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers is played in both the recreation room and (in the extreme foreground) in the briefing room aboard USS Enterprise (photo 1 & photo 2). |
The Conscience of the King (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1966 | Gerd Oswald | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers can be seen in the recreation room aboard USS Enterprise (photo). |
The Naked Time (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1966 | Marc Daniels | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Three-dimensional Checkers ("Space Checkers") is played in the recreation room aboard USS Enterprise (photo 1 & photo 2). |
Where No Man Has Gone Before (Star Trek: The Original Series) | 1966 | James Goldstone | CBS Television Distribution | 50 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Space Checkers makes its first appearance on-camera. It is being played by the two extras behind Mister Spock in the Briefing Lounge (photo). |
Aboard the Orient Express (Get Smart - Season 1, Episode 13) | 1965 | Frank McDonald | Paramount | 30 Minutes | Engllish | Comedy | Maxwell Smart played checkers with his chess pieces, while the Chief watches. |
Caretaker (The New Three Stooges) | 1965 | (?) | A Cambria-Normandy Production | (?) | English | Comedy (Live-action Wraparound) | Larry and Joe clean out the elephant cage while Moe plays checkers with a chimpanzee. |
Kate Bradley, Girl Volunteer (Petticoat Junction - Season 2, Episode 18) | 1965 | Richard L. Bare | CBS | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Uncle Joe plays a game of checkers with Higgins, the dog (photo). |
Ride in the Whirlwind | 1965 | Monte Hellman | Walter Reade Organization | 82 Minutes | English | Western | Quote: " I don't know. You want to play checkers? - You got any checkers. - Yes we do. - Can we use them? - Playing checkers.....Stealing horses..... -What's the matter with you?" |
Alleman | 1964 | Bert Haanstra | Haanstra & Haanstra Producties | 90 Minutes | Dutch | Documentary | People play international
checkers. |
Nothing but a Man | 1964 | Michael Roemer | Nothing But a Man Company | 95 Minutes | English | Drama | Checkers which are just bottlecaps -- one player has the caps facing up, the other has the caps facing down (movie scene). |
The World of Henry Orient | 1964 | George Roy Hill | United Artists | 106 Minutes | English | Comedy | Two string bass players are deeply involved in a game of checkers. |
Snowy Hydro - Where Men and Mountains Meet | 1963 | (?) | (?) | 3 Minutes | English | Documentary | The workers are shown drinking beer, playing cards, darts and draughts (video). |
Under the Yum Yum Tree | 1963 | David Swift | Columbia Pictures | 110 Minutes | English | Quote: "This is a very respectable unit, my boy. It's all elderly, family-type folk around here. - Yeah, chess and checkers group, maybe a bingo once a month. - Besides, you couldn't afford the rent." | |
Baba Sy Senegal Draughts Champion | 1962 | (?) | (?) | 2 Minutes | [Silent] | Documentary | Various shots inside one of the big rooms in the Hague with 150 draughts boards set on lines of tables. Baby Sy, the world famous Senegal champion is seen walking down the lines of boards moving a draught on each board as he passes. |
Allergies Anonymous (The Real McCoys) | 1962 | (?) | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Checkers night has a new twist: George is allergic to Grampa’s checkerboard. |
American Thrift | 1962 | (?) | Handy (Jam) Organization | 26 Minutes | English | Documentary | Grandmother and grandson play checkers. |
Kid Galahad | 1962 | Phil Karlson | United Artists | 96 Minutes | English | Musical Film | Quote: "They're not New York boys, so their faces won't be familiar. to any boxing commissioner who drops by. They're as legal as a nice game of checkers in this state, Willy, and they'll be staying with you for a while." |
The War Lover | 1962 | Philip Leacock | Columbia Pictures | 105 Minutes | English | War Film | Quote: "Nine o'clock, Farr. Get cracking! - What do you think I'm doing, playing checkers? - Hey, they got Perkins." |
Blacktail (Lassie - Season 7, Episode 1 | 1960 | Gerald Schnitzer | Wrather Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Adventure | Timmy tries to make up for Jerry's handicap by letting him win at checkers, but Paul and Ruth explain this is cheating Jerry. |
Doctor in Love | 1960 | Ralph Thomas | Rank Organisation | 93 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Couldn't you play draughts or something?" |
Práče | 1960 | Karel Kachyna | Filmové studio Barrandov | 84 Minutes | Czech | War Film | Quote: " l smell a game of draughts! - Good day, fellas." |
Village Sunday | 1960 | Stewart Wilensky | Stewart Wilensky | 12 Minutes | English | Documentary | Men playing checkers in Greenwich (video). |
The New Librarian (The Real McCoys) | 1960 | (?) | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | After George cancels their usual date to play checkers, Grampa steps in to thwart the budding romance between George and the new librarian. |
Black Creek Encounter (Frontier Justice) | 1959 | Roy Del Ruth | Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) | 30 Minutes | English | Western | Big Jim Morrison finds himself pitted against a tough checkers hand in Billy Morrison (a repackaged episode from Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, which didn't show the checkers scene). |
Donald in Mathmagic Land | 1959 | Hamilton Luske | Buena Vista Film Distribution Company | 27 Minutes | English | Animation | Quote: "Let's begin with a game that's played on squares. - Checkers? - No, chess, - Chess?" (video). |
Grandpa's New Job (The Real McCoys) | 1959 | Hy Averback | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Luke: "I wonder what it would be like to have a normal grandpa? A nice, old man that just plays checkers, chews tobacco, and scratches his self once in a while!" |
Lady Bug (Goodyear Theatre - Season 3, Episode 7)] | 1959 | (?) | Screen Gems | 30 Minutes | English | Drama | A thinking robot, who was an expert checkers player, and little Benny play checkers (not chess as often wrongly stated!) to see who is the best. . |
Our Man in Havana | 1959 | Carol Reed | Columbia Pictures | 111 Minutes | English | Drama / Thriller / Comedy | Famous liquor bottle checkers scene (video excerpt). |
The Great Discovery (The Real McCoys) | 1959 | Hy Averback | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Luke and Grandpa play checkers (video excerpt) |
The Perfect Houseguest (The Real McCoys) | 1959 | Hy Averback | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Grampa remarks about George: "I didn't know he done dishes. I thought his only vice was cheatin' at checkers!" |
Two's Company (The Real McCoys) | 1959 | Hy Averback | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Luke and Grampa's nightly checkers games leads Kate to feel like she is being neglected. |
Why Braceros? | 1959 (?) | (?) | Council of California Growers | 19 Minutes | English | Documentary | Photo of Mexican farmworkers who are playing checkers to prove that they aren't mistreated in the U.S. (video). |
Ewa chce spac | 1958 | Tadeusz Chmielewski | Zespol Filmowy "Syrena" | 95 Minutes | Polish | Comedy | Quote: "Maybe draughts?" |
For Love or Money (The Real McCoys) | 1958 | Hy Averback | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | George and Grampa play checkers (video excerpt) |
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral | 1957 | John Sturges | Paramount Pictures | 122 Minutes | English | Western | Quote: "How can you sit there like you're playing checkers?" |
Heaven Knows, Mr Allison | 1957 | John Huston | Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation | 106 Minutes | English, Japanese | Drama | Sister Angela attempts to teach her companion checkers. |
In the Suburbs | 1957 | (?) | On Film, Inc. | 20 Minutes | English | Advertising Sales Promo Film | Teach your child to lose by playing checkers (video). |
Sweet Smell of Success | 1957 | Alexander Mackendrick | United Artists | 96 Minutes | English | Film Noir | Quote: "I don't print blind items. - What is this? Chess or checkers?" |
The Artist (Lassie - Season 3, Episode 25) | 1957 | Lesley Selander | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | Gramps plays checkers with Miss Chapen, after they became friends (video). |
The Egg War (The Real McCoys) | 1957 | Sheldon Leonard | Marterto Productions | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Luke and Pepino play checkers (video excerpt). |
Baby Doll | 1956 | Elia Kazan | Warner Bros. | 114 Minutes | English | Black Comedy / Drama | Quote: "A boy in here a while ago beat me playing checkers." |
Bob le flambeur | 1956 | Jean-Pierre Melville | Organisation Générale Cinématographique | 102 Minutes | French | Gangster Film | Quote: " Lemme think it over. It's not like playing checkers." |
Pardners | 1956 | Norman Taurog | Paramount Pictures | 91 Minutes | English | Comedy | The story starts in the old west when Slim and Wade is forced to defend, well not before they finish their checkers game, their ranch and families from masked raiders. |
The Solid Gold Cadillac | 1956 | Richard Quine | Columbia Pictures | 99 MInutes | English | Comedy / Romance | Quote: "You see, this man, Mr. Tobey, he used to live next door to me and when he was sick I used to play checkers with him and sometimes I'd make him a little soup or something." |
The Man Who Knew Too Much | 1956 | Alfred Hitchcock | Paramount Pictures | 111 Minutes | English /French / Arabic | Thriller | Inside Ambrose Chapel young listless Hank McKenna is sitting at a small table. He is playing checkers with the woman who was standing with the autograph hunters. Hank has caught the woman in a checker trap, and with obvious satisfaction jumps three of her men. |
Gramps' Birthday (Lassie - Season 2, Episode 14) | 1955 | Lesley Selander | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | Gramps remembers his weekly checkers game with neighbor, Matt Brockway, but forgets his birthday (video). |
Grandpa's Christmas Visit (The Bob Cummings Show) | 1955 | Rod Amateau | Laurel and McCadden Production | 30 Minutes | English | Comedy | Grandpa is tiring out the family during the holidays with his late nights and early mornings. Bob and Margaret try to slow him down with an evening of checkers. |
The Gift (Lassie - Season 2, Episode 16) | 1955 | Philip Ford | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | Gramps defends checkers as a game of skill (video). |
The Passenger Train (Second Edition) | 1955 | (?) | Encyclopaedia Britannica Films | 11 Minutes | English | Documentary | During the train trip a kid reads, plays checkers, has a sandwich, and spies on his neighbors opening and closing their wash basins. |
The Rival (Lassie - Season 2, Episode 10) | 1955 | Lesley Selander | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | Gramps has a little heart to heart with Jeff, while playing checkers (video). |
Feud (Lassie - Season 1, Episode 7) | 1954 | Sheldon Leonard | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | During Gramps' and Matt Brokway's weekly Checkers game, they have a falling out, which affects everyone around them, especially Jeff and Porky (video). |
The Carnival (Lassie - Season 1, Episode 12) | 1954 | Sidney Salkow | Classic Media | 26 Minutes | English | Adventure / Drama / Family | While at the carnival, Jeff leaves Gramps playing with "Checkers Charlie" and attends the sideshows. |
Titanic | 1953 | Jean Negulesco | 20th Century Fox | 98 Minutes | English | Drama | Quote: "One game of checkers before we turn in? - Yes, sir"' |
At Sea With Weather Ship (Astra Gazette No. 12) | 1952 | (?) | (?) | (?) | English | Propaganda Film | Work on a draughts board. |
Les Marins Congolais á Anvers | 1952 | Gerard de Boe & Emile Degelin | C.I.D. | 12 Minutes | French | Documentary | Short checkers scene. |
Sailor Beware | 1952 | Hal Walker | Paramount Pictures | 108 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: " What type are you? - Oh, the quiet type. I go to bed at 9:00, see a movie now and then,read some books, play checkers." |
Going Steady? | 1951 | (?) | Coronet Instructional Films | 11 Minutes | English | Educational Film | Jeff plays a checkers game with his father. |
Gateway Drug Facts: Drug Addiction | 1951 | (?) | Encyclopaedia Britannica Films, Inc. | 21 Minutes | English | Educational Film | Marty is caught, sent to a drug rehab center (where he cuts down dead corn stalks and plays checkers), and reforms. |
A Chance to Play | 1950 | (?) | March of Time | 18 Minutes | English | Educational Film | Old men playing checkers in the park. |
Angry Boy | 1950 | Alexander Hammid | Affiliated Film Producers | 31 Minutes | English | Documentary | Mr. Randall and Tommy are just ready to start a game of checkers when she returns and stops the game. She insists that Tommy study fractions with her. |
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town | 1950 | Charles Lamont | Universal Pictures | 79 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "What's your game? - I don't mind checkers now and then if the stakes ain't too high." |
The Men | 1950 | Fred Zinnemann | United Artists | 85 Minutes | English / Spanish | Drama | Ellen and Ken playing checkers (photo). |
The Big City | 1950s | Richard Heffron | Guggenheim (Charles) & Associates, Inc. | 23 Minutes | English | Documentary | Disembodied hand playing checkers. |
Friendship Begins At Home | 1949 | (?) | Coronet Instructional Films | 15 Minutes | English | Educational Film | Mom offers ice cream, Diana offers to get his suit pressed, and kid brother Dick plaintively asks to play checkers. "Boy," Barry cries, "how I'd like to play checkers with you right now!" (video) |
Jolson Sings Again | 1949 | Henry Levin | Columbia Pictures | 96 Minutes | English | Biographical Musical | Quote: "How about a game of checkers tonight, Papa?" (video). |
Take Me Out to the Ball Game | 1949 | Busby Berkeley | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 93 Minutes | English | Comedy / Musical | Quote: "How about a game of checkers? - Checkers? That's for firemen." |
3 Godfathers | 1948 | John Ford | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 106 Minutes | English | Western | Quote: "So that Perley character starts playing checkers with us." |
The Dark Past | 1948 | Rudolph Maté | Columbia Pictures | 75 Minutes | English | Psychological Thriller | Quote: "What's this game like? [pointing at a game of chess] Checkers? - Not exactly. It's more complicated. It requires a great deal of patience." ([video]). |
The Old Shell Game | 1948 | Seymour Kneitel | Paramount Pictures | 7 Minutes | English | Animation | Turtle playing checkers (video). |
Here Is The Gold Coast | 1947 | John Page | Central Office of Information (COI) | 35 Minutes | English | Documentary | Short checkers scene (video). |
Holiday Affair | 1947 | Don Hartman | RKO Pictures | 87 Minutes | English | Romance / Comedy | Quote: "Talk Carl into a game of checkers, I might let him off dishes."' |
Miracle on 34th Street | 1947 | George Seaton | 20th Century Fox | 96 Minutes | English | Christmas Film | Quote: "How about a little game of checkers after lunch, eh?" |
Om het wereldkampioenschap dammen | 1947 | (?) | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision | 1 Minute | Dutch | Documentary | Match between R.C. Keller and P. Ghestem (World Championship in International Checkers, Amsterdam). |
The Jolson Story | 1946 | Alfred E. Green | Columbia Pictures | 128 Minutes | English | Musical Biography | Quote: "I used to be a champ back in Washington. Come on, I'll play you a game. - Checkers, now? You just came in. How about unpacking? - We got months to unpack. - Months." |
The Stranger | 1946 | Orson Welles | RKO Radio Pictures | 95 Minutes | English | Crime | Mr. Wilson plays draughts with the town clerk. |
Our Vines Have Tender Grapes | 1945 | Roy Rowland | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 105 Minutes | English | Drama | Martinius and Selma spend quality time together over a game of checkers (photo). |
Delivery of Christmas Post by Air in Northern Burma | 1944 | (?) | War Office Directorate of Public Relations | 4 Minutes | [Silent] | Propaganda Film | Men playing draughts; another pours out tea. |
Die Deutsche Wochenschau Nr. 699 | 1944 | (?) | UFA | 22 Minutes | German | Propaganda Film | German fighter pilots return from patrol, eat, exercise, receive ultra-violet ray treatments, and play billiards and checkers. |
Going My Way | 1944 | Leo McCarey | Paramount Pictures | 130 Minutes | English | Comedy / Musical | A quiet game of checkers (video excerpt). |
Nazi prisoners volunteer for work in U.S. camp | 1944 | (?) | (?) | 1 Minute | [Music] | Propaganda Film | Prisoners playing draughts and table tennis. |
Prisoner of War in U.S. | 1944 | Ed Herlihy | Universal Studios | 1 Minute | English | Propaganda Film | Nazi prisoners of war devour their food, and return to the recreation rooms for checkers, ping pong and music by a German band. |
The Town | 1944 | Josef von Sternberg | U.S. Office of War | 11 Minutes | English | Propaganda Film | Man with cigar makes move on checkers board ([video]). |
Together Again | 1944 | Virginia Van Upp | Columbia Pictures | 93 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Would you like to play some checkers or something? - If we're going to rot here together, we might as well be gay about it. I don't suppose you realize that most women live eight lifetimes and don't get a chance at a fellow like Georg Corday. You... - What are you crying about? -I hate checkers." |
Operation of C-1 Autopilot, Part 2: Setting Up for Bombing | 1943 | (?) | Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Co. | 24 Minutes | English | Training Film | Quote: "What is it, like, checkers? - Not really. It's a better game than checkers. You play checkers with your pop?" |
Two Weeks to Live | 1943 | Malcolm St. Clair | Jack Votion Productions Inc. | 73 Minutes | English | Comedy | Two elderly small-town men from Arkansas are playing checkers at a country store when they learn that one of them has inherited a railroad from his deceased uncle. |
Bowery at Midnight | 1942 | Wallace Fox | Monogram Pictures | 61 Minutes | English | Crime / Horror | Tramp Playing Checkers at Friendly Mission. |
Hop, Skip & Jump | 1942 | (?) | (?) | 3 Minutes | English | Short Music Film | Charlie Spivak goes into a surreal dream in which he is standing on a stack of checkers conducting the band which is arrayed in the squares of a checkerboard playing the title song Hop, Skip & Jump. |
Quattro passi fra le nuvole | 1942 | Alessandro Blasetti | Società Italiana Cines | 95 Minutes | Italian | Drama | Quote: "What do you do all night? - See? I play checkers. I play by myself, so I always win. Old age is not nice! We are a nuisance to everyone." |
American Eagle Club | 1941 | (?) | (?) | 4 Minutes | English | Propaganda Film | Games room where the men play darts and draughts. |
Captured Italian Airmen | 1941 | (?) | (?) | 1 Minute | English | Propaganda Film | Men strolling, reading newspapers, playing draughts. |
The Strawberry Blonde | 1941 | Raoul Walsh | Warner Bros. | 97 Minutes | English | Romance | James Cagney and Olivia De Havilland play checkers (photo). |
Cupid At Anzac Buffet | 1940 | (?) | (?) | 3 Minutes | English | Propaganda Film | Servicemen on leave play draughts, sing around a piano, read magazines, etc. |
Dreaming Out Loud | 1940 | Harold Young | RKO Radio Pictures | 81 Minutes | English | Comedy | Perhaps the funniest scene has the two of them playing checkers; when Lum quits, Abner decides to go right on playing checkers by his lonesome, only he gets in a big argument when he accuses himself of cheating. |
Let Yourself Go! | 1940 | (?) | Handy (Jam) Organization | 8 Minutes | English | Documentary | Short checkers scene (video). |
South Dakota Saga | 1940 | (?) | Handy (Jam) Organization | 31 Minutes | English | Documentary | Men play chess and checkers. |
Destry Rides Again | 1939 | George Marshall | Universal Pictures | 94 Minutes | English | Western | Playing checkers with the major (video excerpt). |
Young Mr. Lincoln | 1939 | John Ford | 20th Century Fox | 100 Minutes | English | Fictionalized Biography | Quote: " "The sheriff says he never had anybody in here who could beat me playing checkers." |
The Thundering West | 1939 | Charley Chase | Columbia Pictures | 56 Minutes | English | Western | While Helen watches the Judge and Tucson play checkers, the doctor drives up to check on his patient. |
Bear Facts (Our Gang - Episode 164) | 1938 | Gordon Douglas | MGM | 11 Minutes | English | Comedy | Spanky and Alfalfa are playing checkers on Saturday morning, with Buckwheat and Porky watching since none of them have anything better to do. At the conclusion of one game, Spanky is down to a single king, but Alfalfa makes a very bad move, after apparently getting approval from the two spectators, and Spanky captures all of Alfalfa's remaining checkers with a rare septuple jump (video). |
Marie Antoinette | 1938 | Woodbridge Strong "Woody" Van Dyke, Jr. | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 149 Minutes | English | Biographical Drama | Quote: "We were just enjoying a game of checkers." |
Tassels in the Air (Three Stooges) | 1938 | Charley Chase | Columbia Pictures | 17 Minutes | English | Slapstick Comedy | Curly's jacket goes from buttoned, then unbuttoned when he and Larry are playing checkers with the paint cans. |
Captains Courageous | 1937 | Victor Fleming | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 115 Minutes | English | Adventure Film | Quote: "You want to row over for a game of checkers?" |
She Loved A Fireman | 1937 | John Farrow | Warner Bros. Pictures | 58 Minutes | English | Action / Drama / Romance | Red seems to think firemen are slackers who play checkers or rescue cats all day. |
Love Is News | 1937 | Tay Garnett | 20th Century Fox Film Corporation | 77 Minutes | English | Comedy / Romance | Quote: "Fine animal you got here, Mr. Jeffrey. Play polo? - No. Do you? - No. Checkers is my game." (movie scene) |
Every Sunday | 1936 | Felix E. Feist | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 11 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Film / Musical | Men playing checkers. |
Love on the Run | 1936 | Woodbridge Strong "Woody" Van Dyke, Jr. | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 80 Minutes | English | Comedy / Romance | Quote: "More backgammon? -No, thank you. - Casino? Checkers?" |
Rural life in Southern mountains of Tennessee and Kentucky | 1935 | (?) | Critical Past | 1 Minute | [Silent] | Documentary | Men play checkers on a porch, holding the checker board on their knees. A man sits nearby and watches the game. |
Lady Killer | 1933 | Roy Del Ruth | Warner Bros. | 76 Minutes | English | Comedy / Crime | Quote: " I think I'll stick to checkers." |
Okraina | 1933 | Boris Barnet | Mezhrabpomfilm | 98 Minutes | Russian, German | Drama | Quote: "They played checkers with my father all the time. - He was the one who taught me." |
The Silk Express | 1933 | Ray Enright | Warner Bros. Pictures | 61 Minutes | English | Drama / Mystry / Thriller | Summit telegrapher playing checkers. |
Cock of the Air | 1932 | Tom Buckingham | The Caddo Company | 80 Minutes | English | Comedy | The table on which Craig and Whatever are placed is a checker pattern and therefore they are inspired to play a game of checkers with the cocktails. |
The Royal Bed | 1931 | Lowell Sherman | RKO | 73 Minutes | English | Romance | King Eric passes his time playing checkers with his assistant Phipps. |
The Smiling Lieutnant | 1931 | Ernst Lubitsch | Paramount Pictures | 93 Minutes (original version) | English | Romance | A frustrated daughter and her concerned father play a game of checkers on the same bed. Quote: "Black or White? - I don't want to play checkers!" |
Brats (Laurel and Hardy) | 1930 | James Parrott | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 20 Minutes | English | Comedy | Laurel and Hardy are spending a night in with the kids. The fathers are playing checkers and snooker, but are constantly distracted by their own incompetence and by their children, constantly bullying each other and trying to stay up late (photo). |
Soup to Nuts (Three Stooges) | 1930 | Benjamin Stoloff | Fox Film Corporation | 71 Minutes | English | Slapstick Comedy | Fireman playing checkers. |
Windjammer und Janmaaten - Die letzten Segelschiffe | 1930 | Heinrich Hauser | Filmarchiv Amsterdam | 35 Minutes | [Silent] | Documentary | Below decks two men play draughts (video excerpt). |
Chelovyek s kinoapparatom | 1929 | Dziga Vertov | (?) | 68 Minutes | [Silent] | Creative Documentary | People are playing checkers in a Soviet pub. |
The Manxman | 1929 | Alfred Hitchcock | British International Pictures | 129 Minutes | [Silent] | Drama | Pete and Philip play checkers, waiting on news from upstairs. |
His Unlucky Night | 1928 | Harry Edwards | Mack Sennett Comedies | 22 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | Andy Clyde plays checkers with Pussums (a cat) (video). |
No Man's Law | 1927 | Fred Jackman | Pathé Exchange | 55 Minutes | [Silent] | Comedy / Western | After losing a game of checkers to see who will leave the cabin, Sharkey throws the table against Spider knocking him to the floor. |
Tretya meshchanskaya | 1927 | Abram Room | (?) | 80 Minutes | [Silent] | Comedy | Kolia and Volodia are absorbed in a game of draughts, while Liuda sits bored at her window. |
The Fouth Alarm (Our Gang - Season 5, Episode 2) | 1926 | Robert F. McGowan | Hall Reach Studios | 20 Minutes | [Silent] | Comedy | One of the gang is envious of the firemen because they spend most of their time playing checkers and snoring (video). |
Innocent Husbands | 1925 | Leo McCarey | THal Roach Studios | 21 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | All Charley wants is to play checkers with his neighbor but his jealous wife thinks he’s stepping out. |
Entr'acte | 1924 | René Clair | Société Nouvelle des Acacias | 22 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Film | An offscreen jet of water ruins a game of checkers. |
Asleep at the Switch | 1923 | Roy Del Ruth | Mack Sennett Comedies | 22 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | Ben Turpin plays checkers against Cameo the Wonder Dog in a train depot (video excerpt). |
The City Slicker | 1918 | Gilbert Pratt | Rolin Films | 12 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | Two old men playing checkers with Snub Pollard kibitzing. |
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish | 1916 | Christy Cabanne & John Emerson | Triangle Film Corporation | 26 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | Coke Ennyday, scientific detective, has a quick game of checkers with his manservant when he's supposed to be embarking on a case. |
The Fireman | 1916 | Charles Chaplin | Mutual | 24 Minutes | [Silent] | Short Comedy | The excited Frenchman get a fireman away from his game of checkers (video). |
Metaphorical Meaning[]
These films do not relate to checkers as a board-game in a literal sense. In English and French "checkers" is often used as a metaphor for sexual intercourse. Sometimes the game can take on other metaphorical meanings too.
Title | Year | Director | Distributor | Running time | Languages | Genre | Description |
Deja Vu All Over Again (Jersey Shore - Season 2, Episode 12) | 2010 | (?) | 495 Productions | 40 Minutes | English | Reality-TV | The girl replies "what, I never said anything about checkers old man." |
Kit and Kaboodle (Good Luck Charlie) | 2010 | Bob Koherr | Disney Channel | 23 Minutes | English | Comedy / Family | Amy Duncan tells her daughter that when she and her husband started dating, they didn't do a lot of talking, but were mostly playing checkers. |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | 2009 | Michael Nay | DreamWorks Pictures | 149 Minutes | English | Science Fiction Film | When the crazy robot girl says she wants to have fun, and then Sam says, "Wanna have fun, ok lets play some checkers"! (video excerpt). |
Wyvern | 2009 | Steven R. Monroe | RHI Entertainment | 89 Minutes | English | Horror | Quote: "That's funny coming from a guy who plays checkers with himself." |
Smother | 2008 | Vince Di Meglio | Screen Media | 92 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: " It sticks his balls against the microwave! - Helen stood five foot six and loved playing checkers. - I'm sure we can all agree Helen was an outstanding checkers player." |
The Snuke (South Park - Season 11, Episode 4) | 2007 | Trey Parker | Comedy Central | 22 Minutes | English | Animation | Quote: "Hey Baahir, since we get to home, you wanna come over and play checkers?! - Sure, okay! - Alright!" |
Taxi to the Dark Side | 2007 | Alex Gibney | THINKFilm | 106 Minutes | English | Documentary | Quote: "In bed with what they call "comfort", which is objects such as toothbrushes, but also games of checkers." |
Funny Money | 2006 | Leslie Greif | Castel Film Romania, FWE Picture Company & Tobebo Filmproduktions | 98 Minutes | English & Romanian | Comedy | Henry confuses draughts with darts. Quote: "We were in the middle of the game of draughts. Draughts..." - "You know, darts. Henry!" |
Hard Luck | 2006 | Mario Van Peebles | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | 101 Minutes | English | Action Film | Quote: "Will you let me whup you in some checkers later?" |
George Carlin: Life Is Worth Losing | 2005 | Rocco Urbisci | able Stuff Productions | 75 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "Yeah, it's right up there on the bulletin board. Checkers, handball, cornholing." |
Silent Warnings | 2003 | Christian McIntire | Sci Fi Channel | 87 Minutes | English | Science Fiction | Quote: "What do they do for fun in this pIace? - Play checkers? - Hey, I think it's kind of cute, alright?" |
Girl Fever (also known as "100 Women") | 2002 | Michael Davis | Dream Entertainment | 98 Minutes | English | Comedy | Quote: "What are you doing with my box that we can play checkers?" |
It Takes Two | 1995 | Andy Tennant | Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. | English | Romance | Quote: "Might we entice you to play something? -Of course. I'd be delighted! Whatever did you have in mind? Checkers?" (video). |
The Woman in Red | 1984 | Gene Wilder | Orion Pictures | 87 Minutes | English | Romantic Comedy | Quote: "You guys want to play some checkers?" |
Tom Horn | 1980 | William Wiard | Warner Bros. | 98 Minutes | English | Western | Quote: "Now sit down, and I'll whip your ass at checkers." |
Les tripes au soleil (also known as "Checkerboard") | 1959 (USA: 1969) | Claude Bernard-Aubert | Les Films Fernand Rivers | 125 Minutes | French | Drama | The title of the English release symbolizes the relationship between Whites and Blacks in racist America. |
Seven Sinners | 1940 | Tay Garnett | Universal Pictures | 87 Minutes | English | Drama / Romance | Quote: "It's been a good many years since I've done any dancing. Getting too old for that sort of thing. I getting so I get out of breath playing checkers." |
External Links[]
- Mancala Filmography at Mancala World
- Go filmography of the European Go Federation
- A list of 1746 movies with Chess scenes by Bill Wall
Copyright[]
By: Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.