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Title: The Gambler (1974)
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| 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 | |
Axel Freed, a college professor and very successful at his job, is addicted to gambling, who wins big, but loses it all just as fast. He borrowed from his girlfriend, his wealthy mother, and last but not least a loan shark. It just gets worse for him because he can't stop. But when his girlfriend decides to leave him, his mom decides to disown him, and the mob wants to kill him, Axel decides to make a big score to win big and pay off everyone to stay alive and keep his dignity and come out ahead. Written by Wesley Benton
Just about everyone who has posted a reply about the shocking ending was simply left too much in the dark to realize that it tied together a different root demise of Axel Freed than gambling.
Just as a compulsive behavior leads to compulsive gambling, the root evil of Axel Freed was that he had a masochist behavior. When you look a little closer at all the scenes where he acts out this kind of behavior, it makes more sense. The problem lies in that the casual observer is only looking at the problem gambling aspect. There is more to this guy than just that.
The ways he handles his relationships with his mother, girlfriend, grandfather and feelings at the end towards the basketball player ALL indicate there is masochist behavior involved. These are more than just selfish acts. There is some actual self hatred going on as well. Without giving away the final scene, this scene further accentuates the point by sending himself into that situation. The final scene was a conscious act, not something resulting from random chance or risk.
So despite the movie having some gambling theme to it, this really wasn't necessarily about gambling addiction. It was about the nature of Axel Freed. If the movie had no gambling scenes in it at all this point would be more readily identifiable.
The only real oddity in the final scene is the placement of the final scene. If this scene was placed somewhere in the middle of the movie, the underlying theme of his masochist pattern of behavior would have been more easily identified with. Because the movie started with a gambling scene, we all assumed it was just about gambling. Wrong!
Its a tricky concept to catch the first time. Watch this movie again with this concept in mind and the movie will make more sense.