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Gambler (1974)
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by Paramount
Sales Rank: 6443
Price: $14.95
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<I>The Gambler</I> is one of the edgier and more interesting, if forgotten, films of the mid-1970s, the kind of studio film that rarely gets made anymore. Based on a screenplay by James Toback (<I>Two Girls and a Guy</I>) and directed by Karel Reisz, the film stars James Caan as a brilliant college literature professor with the same weakness as one of Dostoevsky's characters: He can't resist a wager. Indeed, he's in so deep that even his seemingly good-hearted bookie (Paul Sorvino) is trying to kill him. So he lams out of New York and heads for Las Vegas--where he wins back everything he's lost so he can pay off his massive debts. But is he smart enough to take his winnings and walk away? Caan captures the aggressive compulsiveness of the gambling addict, the strange split between a seemingly intelligent man and an uncontrollably stupid impulse. The film includes early film performances by James Woods and Lauren Hutton. <I>--Marshall Fine</I>
Viewer Reviews
Yes, indeed: I agree that the overlooked gem THE GAMBLER is well worth your time. It's one of James Caan's very best performances, and the best look at what makes up a gambling addiction ever put on screen. Karel Reisz, director of MORGAN! and THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, gets right to the grit of the street, which is where Axel is truly at home. Oddly enough, the character which feels the most for the downwardly spiraling English professor (aside from his mother) is his first bookie, Hips, played by the wonderful Paul Sorvino. Hips tries to get Axel out of his self-destructive whirlpool, but in a telling scene, comes to know that Axel is well aware of where he is going. Like Nicolas Cage in LEAVING LAS VEGAS, Axel sees his future clearly. And in the final shot, we, the audience, know absolutely that Axel understands his future, and is in love with its resolution.
The outstanding cast includes many familiar faces, some in their earliest roles: James Woods, M. Emmet Walsh, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Jacqueline Brooks (in a beautiful performance as Axel's mother), Vic Tayback, Steven Keats, Allan Rich, Stuart Margolin, Sully Boyar, Burt Young (who is the nicest leg breaker you'll ever meet), and Antonio Fargas.
The razor-sharp editing is by future film director Roger Spottiswoode, and the producers, Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler (THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?, ROCKY, NEW YORK NEW YORK, THE RIGHT STUFF, RAGING BULL, GOODFELLAS and many others) are at the top of their game (no pun intended) with THE GAMBLER. This story must have meant a lot to them.
As to the DVD transfer itself: we get THE GAMBLER in its original 1:85 letterboxed aspect ratio, colors balanced, just a tad grainy (but that is, I think, in the original print). The sound is not quite as sharp and clear as a post-2000 film, but quite listenable (especially on headphones). It sounds as though Reisz went for as much live-miking as possible, trying to stay away from post-production looping (there are a few spots where looping is evident). No trailer or other special features.
Unfortunately overlooked in its 1974 release, and now out of print on DVD, catch THE GAMBLER. It's a sure bet.
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Gambler (1974)
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