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The Gambler

  • 19741974
  • RR
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
5.7K
YOUR RATING
The Gambler (1974)
CrimeDrama
Axel Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all of his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother, and finally some bad guys that chase him. ... Read allAxel Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all of his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother, and finally some bad guys that chase him. Despite all of this, he cannot stop gambling.Axel Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all of his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother, and finally some bad guys that chase him. Despite all of this, he cannot stop gambling.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
5.7K
YOUR RATING
    • Karel Reisz
    • James Toback
  • Stars
    • James Caan
    • Paul Sorvino
    • Lauren Hutton
    • Karel Reisz
    • James Toback
  • Stars
    • James Caan
    • Paul Sorvino
    • Lauren Hutton
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 55User reviews
    • 32Critic reviews
    • 65Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Photos77

    Lauren Hutton publicity photo for "The Gambler"
    James Caan in The Gambler (1974)
    James Caan in The Gambler (1974)
    Lauren Hutton in The Gambler (1974)
    James Woods, James Caan, and Jacqueline Brookes in The Gambler (1974)
    Jacqueline Brookes in The Gambler (1974)
    Lauren Hutton in The Gambler (1974)
    The Gambler (1974)
    James Caan in The Gambler (1974)
    James Caan, Starletta DuPois, and Antonio Fargas in The Gambler (1974)
    Antonio Fargas in The Gambler (1974)
    Paul Sorvino in The Gambler (1974)

    Top cast

    Edit
    James Caan
    James Caan
    • Axel Freed
    Paul Sorvino
    Paul Sorvino
    • Hips
    Lauren Hutton
    Lauren Hutton
    • Billie
    Morris Carnovsky
    Morris Carnovsky
    • A.R. Lowenthal
    Jacqueline Brookes
    Jacqueline Brookes
    • Naomi Freed
    Burt Young
    Burt Young
    • Carmine
    Carmine Caridi
    Carmine Caridi
    • Jimmy
    Vic Tayback
    Vic Tayback
    • One
    Steven Keats
    Steven Keats
    • Howie
    London Lee
    • Monkey
    M. Emmet Walsh
    M. Emmet Walsh
    • Las Vegas Gambler
    James Woods
    James Woods
    • Bank Officer
    Carl W. Crudup
    Carl W. Crudup
    • Spencer
    Allan Rich
    Allan Rich
    • Bernie
    Stuart Margolin
    Stuart Margolin
    • Cowboy
    Ric Mancini
    • Sal
    Joel Wolfe
    • Moe
    Raymond Serra
    • Benny
      • Karel Reisz
      • James Toback
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to James Toback, before his screenplay was accepted at Paramount Pictures, and was making the rounds with actors, Peter Boyle was first interested in playing the lead. Robert De Niro lobbied hard for the role, to the point where De Niro started to dress like the writer. Toback pressured director Karel Reisz to meet with De Niro. After meeting him, Reisz said that he would not, and could not consider De Niro for the role, and if Toback kept insisting, he would not be allowed to collaborate on the film further.
    • Goofs
      Axel knocks the pimp's hat off on the second punch. It reappears on his head on the following one.
    • 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.

    • Connections
      Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Gambling Movies (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Symphony No. 1 in D
      by Gustav Mahler (as Mahler)

      Performed by Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest (as The Concertgebouw Orchestra)

      Conducted by Bernard Haitink (as Haitink)

      Courtesy of Philips Records

    User reviews55

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Why not quit while you're ahead?
    I grew up amongst gamblers, spending much of my time hustling bowling and gin rummy throughout the Midwest, until, at 17, I shuffled off to the Ivy-covered walls of a prestigious Eastern College.

    This gives me much simpatico with Axel Freed, the central character and portrait of self-destruction, the gambler, and James Toback, the film's author. Toback's own reflections suggest that Axel is in many ways auto-biographical.

    As a film, The Gambler is shortsighted, an ambitious but nonetheless failed attempt by a first-time screenwriter in difficult waters. It is not without its brilliance-its relentless dedication toward conveying that any gambler's true goal is not success, but utter humiliation-destruction of one's self, and anything and anyone around him. It can be no other way.

    In the 1990's where independent film has achieved an emergence and respect in its own, a film like this might have found the strength among the very talented people involved, (Toback, James Caan, Karel Reisz) to emerge into a true gem. Alas this 70's neglected studio cast-off didn't have that opportunity.

    London Lee is great in support, Paul Sorvino and Burt Young are well cast as Freed's mob-ties. Young's performance as a mob leg-breaker includes quite a raw, and shocking collection scene.

    Probably a pass for any but the gambling addict, for them, a head (as in tape-head) burner. For those who are intrigued by Toback's intelligent approach to the seedier side, try his next effort, Fingers (1978), a diamond in the rough.
    helpful•12
    6
    • Doctor_Bombay
    • Feb 11, 1999

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 17, 1975 (Denmark)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Harlem, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 51 minutes
      • Mono

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