Born to Win (1971)

Director:

Ivan Passer

Writers:

David Scott Milton (original story and screenplay)
Ivan Passer (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 November 1972 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy

Tagline:

Their story is written on his arm. If they can get a grip on each other, maybe they can turn their lives around.

Plot:

A smart-mouthed junkie/loser known as J.J. (George Segal) spends his days looking for just "one more fix". |

Plot Keywords:

Drug Addict | Heroin | New York | Heroin Addict | Drug Addiction

Cast

George Segal	...	J (JJ)
Karen Black	...	Parm
Paula Prentiss	...	Veronica
Jay Fletcher	...	Billy Dynamite
Hector Elizondo	...	Vivian
Robert De Niro	...	Danny
Ed Madsen	...	Detective
Marcia Jean Kurtz	...	Marlene
Irving Selbst	...	Stanley
Tim Pelt	...	Little Davey
José Pérez	...	Junior Conception (as Jose Perez)
Sylvia Syms	...	Cashier (as Sylvia Simms)
Jack Hollander	...	Harry
Alex Colon	...	Bus Boy
Max Brandt	...	Store Clerk

Also Known As:

Addict
Born to Lose

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 | Netherlands:12 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Edward Spector Productions Inc.

Trivia:

When Ed Madsen is chasing George Segal down the hallway, he slips and falls. This was not written in the screenplay, however Ivan Passer thought it looked so real he decided to leave it in.

Quotes:

[first lines]
J: They same I'm a charmer... that I charm the people I hustle. Well, that comes after dealing with women, after hairdressing. I love to dress hair! But being that I know what to do, being that I'm hip enough to know, I do it!

Movie Connections:

References Eyewitness (1970)

Soundtrack:

Ooh POO Pah DOO

Paging Martin Scorsese

... not to direct - Ivan Passer's a master who ought to have steady employment and somehow doesn't. But can someone request Scorsese to get behind a restoration of this fine film? It may have been made on a low budget, but that's no reason why the only way to see it anymore is on disgracefully butchered videotapes that leave the story in fragments and turn the color photography into mush (I doubt it was quite this bad when originally released).

I recall from Pauline Kael's review back when it came out that "Born to Win" was dumped on the market and hardly got an audience even then. Maybe with a decent restoration, and a nice DVD transfer, it can finally get some justice? And Ivan Passer can finally get some good projects to work on?

On the critical note, and having seen both Born to Win and Midnight Cowboy again recently, I can say that Passer's film holds up a hell of a lot better than Schlesinger's rather more pretentious contraption. Less showboaty, but also far less sentimental and way more powerful. And a good job by the whole cast.