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The Gambler (1974) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.9/10   838 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 7% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Karel Reisz
Writer:
James Toback (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Gambler on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
October 1974 (USA) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000.
Plot:
Alex Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all his money, he borrows from his girlfriend... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
Nominated for Golden Globe. more
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
'Tyson' Director James Toback: Grilled
 (From The Wrap. 16 August 2009, 2:21 PM, PDT)
SFIFF52 Day 10: James Toback and "Tyson"
 (From JustPressPlay. 3 May 2009, 9:06 PM, PDT)
User Comments:
A bit disturbing more (29 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

James Caan ... Axel Freed

Paul Sorvino ... Hips

Lauren Hutton ... Billie
Morris Carnovsky ... A. R. Lowenthal
Jacqueline Brookes ... Naomi Freed

Burt Young ... Carmine
Carmine Caridi ... Jimmy
Vic Tayback ... One
Steven Keats ... Howie
London Lee ... Monkey

M. Emmet Walsh ... Las Vegas gambler

James Woods ... Bank officer
Carl W. Crudup ... Spencer

Allan Rich ... Bernie
Stuart Margolin ... Cowboy
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
111 min | Finland:106 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:M
Filming Locations:
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA more
Company:
Chartoff-Winkler Productions more

Fun Stuff

Quotes:
Hips: [following the big college basketball game, in which Spencer Lewis has shaved points for the Mafia to pay off Axel's gambling debt] ... Okay, we're in the clear. In fact, you might just have a couple of favors coming your way.
Axel Freed: How's that? What do you mean?
Hips: What are you, naive? This Lewis kid's got maybe a year or two left before he makes the NBA. You think my friends are gonna let him just slip through their fingers, after a night like this?
Axel Freed: He did it for ME. He won't do it again.
Hips: Ah, quit lying to yourself. Once you ain't a virgin no more, you're a whore till you die.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Family Ties: The Gambler (#2.23)" (1984) more
Soundtrack:
Symphony No. 1 more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful.
A bit disturbing, 19 June 2003
9/10
Author: kayrok from new jersey

From the first scene to the last I was on the edge of my seat. Bet after bet my stomach turned. Caan's Axel Freed is driven to hit the big one, but it never seems to come or be enough. He loves the thrill of losing and feels safe when he is at the bottom.

Watching Freed bet tens of thousands of dollars on whims is excruciating. This film is one huge car wreck that you can't turn away from. With each scene the damage gets worse and worse.

"If all my bets were safe they just wouldn't have any juice," he tells his bookie.

Axel is never happy--even when he is doing the thing he enjoys most. You can see the underlying dissatisfaction he has with his job, his life, and the universe in general. The only constant in his existence is the bet. Win or lose.

Freed is very adept at evading the lowlifes he owes his shirt to. It is a joyride for him to constantly "dodge the bullet". That is why each bet becomes riskier and riskier. He wants to see what will happen to him when all of his luck runs out.

At one point in the film Axel reads a passage from an essay on George Washington to his class. He and his students conclude that Washington was afraid of failure and that he tried to remove the element of risk from everything he did. It is the very antithesis of Axel's life as a gambler. He creates situations that are totally immersed in risk believing that it is the only way to ensure true success. All or nothing. He is willing to compromise not only himself, but anyone around him who cares about him. By displaying his dark, self-destructive side he gambles with their feelings and challenges them to either love him or leave him.

It was a special treat to see two actors (Cann and Sorvino) who are in two of the best crime movies ever made (The Godfather and Goodfellas) together in the same film.

Also Antonio Vargas is appropriately slimy as the Pimp (sort of an R-rated Huggy Bear).

There are some pivotal moments in the film like when Axel is told that he must get one of his basketball-playing students to fix a game; or when he confronts his millionaire grandfather after learning that he refused to cover his debt.

I won't give away the ending, but the payoff is not what you would expect in American cinema.

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