Directed by Karel Reisz
Written by James Toback
Starring James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton
Music by Jerry Fielding
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) October 1974 (USA)
Running time 111 min.
Language English

The Gambler is a 1974 movie starring James Caan, Lauren Hutton, and Paul Sorvino.

The film is loosely based on the short novel The Gambler by Fyodor Dostoyevsky^[1][2] and was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine. Caan was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance.

Plot

Axel Freed is a New York City English professor with a gambling addiction that begins to spiral out of control. In the classroom, Freed inspires his college students with his interpretations of Dostoevsky. In his personal life, Axel has the affection of the beautiful Billie and the admiration of his family, including his mother Naomi, a doctor, and his grandfather, a wealthy businessman.

Unbeknownst to them, Axel’s reckless gambling on basketball games has left him with a huge debt. His bookie Hips likes the professor personally but threatens grave consequences if he doesn’t pay up.

Axel’s descent into addiction requires him to extort a hefty $44,000 from his mortified mother to repay what he owes. He goes away with Billie to a casino where he makes a small fortune, only to blow it all again on basketball bets.

He takes out his anger on Billie, who doesn’t appreciate having loan sharks come to their apartment in the middle of the night. Expecting help from the grandfather who loves him, Axel gets nothing but the older man’s disappointment and disgust.

The only solution left is to lure one of his students, a basketball star, into accepting a bribe to deliberately shave points in a game so that Axel can pay off his debts. Having corrupted a previously innocent youth, Axel is so appalled by his own behavior that he masochistically confronts a dangerous man who leaves him with a bloody and permanent reminder of his actions.

Cast

James Caan as Axel Freed
Paul Sorvino as Hips
Lauren Hutton as Billie
Morris Carnovsky as A.R. Lowenthal
Jacqueline Brookes as Naomi Freed
Burt Young as Carmine

References

Links

• Rotten Tomatoes
• The Gambler at the Internet Movie Database

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.