Directed by Daniel Mann
Produced by Jack Rose
Written by A. Rose (book), Jack Rose
Starring Dean Martin, Lana Turner, Eddie Albert, Walter Matthau
Music by George Duning
Nita Talbot
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Editing by Howard A. Smith
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) December 25, 1962
Running time 93 min.
Country U.S.A.
Language English

Who’s Got the Action? (1962) is a comedy film about a man suffering from an addiction to gambling starring Dean Martin, Lana Turner, Eddie Albert, and Walter Matthau. The film was written by Alexander Rose and Jack Rose, and directed by Daniel Mann.

Plot

The gambling habit of lawyer Steve Flood (Dean Martin) is beginning to get on the nerves of his wife Melanie (Lana Turner), who initially suspects him of marital infidelity. When she learns about the gambling, Melanie talks Steve’s law partner Clint Morgan (Eddie Albert), an old flame, into helping her act as a fictitious horse race bookie offering unusually attractive terms to clients.

The plan is for Steve to lose enough money to permanently rid him of the betting habit, but it goes awry when he suddenly begins winning bets on a number of long-shot horses. Flood’s winning streak attracts the attention of two horse-playing judges, Boatwright (Paul Ford) and Fogel (John McGiver), who persuade Flood to place bets for them with his mysterious “bookie.” Melanie and Morgan are astounded when the judges begin winning large wagers as well.

The make-believe bookmaking activity arouses the ire of syndicate mobster Tony Gagoots (Walter Matthau), who is furious to know who’s “getting the action.” Gagoots’s mistress, a nightclub singer named Saturday Knight (Nita Talbot), happens to be the Floods’ next-door neighbor, and assists Melanie in raising cash for the gambling payoffs by purchasing various furnishings from the Floods’ apartment (using Gagoots’ ill-gotten money).

The source of the mysterious “bookmaking” is traced to the Floods’ apartment by Gagoots through an illegal telephone wiretap. He and a team of thugs descend upon the apartment, where they are surprised to find all the defecting gamblers assembled. They are thunderstruck when a coercive interrogation reveals that Melanie Flood is the “bookie” they have been seeking.

Steve Flood ultimately convinces Gagoots to forgive all of their gambling debts by arguing that only by marrying his mistress Saturday can he avoid the risk of incriminating testimony. In one stroke this fulfills Saturday’s long-sought goal, saves the Floods’ marriage, insulates Gagoots from future prosecution and clears Melanie’s $18,000 gambling payoff burden.

Evaluation

Who’s Got the Action? doesn’t rank as a landmark comedy, it is thoroughly entertaining and well worth seeing. The principal cast members (Martin, Turner, Albert) give creditable performances, but the film benefits much more from knockout performances by the supporting cast (Talbot, Matthau, Ford, McGiver, Glass, various others). The musical score is also excellent. Many of the scenes were filmed on location in Flood’s/Knight’s luxurious penthouse apartments in the historic Talmadge building on Los Angeles’ Wilshire Boulevard; much of the automobile driving shown runs up and down Wilshire. The pace of the action is very fast, with the gag lines (some good, some dull) coming every few seconds. An amusing sideline is the occasional views of Gagoots’ s huge, light-flashing Univac computer, which keeps track of the syndicate’s illegal bookmaking operations.

Movie Origins and Design

The storyline is based on the 1960 novel Four Horse Players Are Missing by Alexander Rose, who also plays a minor role in the film (“Mr. Goody”). This novel, in turn, was closely related to the book Little Miss Marker (1934) by Alexander Hall.

At the detail level, producer/script writer Jack Rose took many liberties to make use of the screen reputations of the cast members. For example, Dean Martin at the “Blue Slipper” night club maintains his boozer image by telling a waiter, “Pour scotch all over us”; in the film’s opening scene he grabs someone else’s cocktail on his way to the phone booth. Straight-laced John McGiver explains that he bets on horses only because “it annoys my wife.”

Matthau’s tour de force portrayal of mobster Tony Gagoots includes a parade of humorous cracks and incongruous actions (drinking from a glass of milk on his desk; biting loudly into apples; ordering his thugs to bring along the artillery “unless you object on religious grounds”; telling Mrs. Flood that he has a deal with Bennett Cerf – “He doesn’t take horse bets, I don’t publish books.”

Famous pin-up model June Wilkinson has no spoken lines, but appears in a bizarre scene in Judge Boatwright’s chambers as a young bride preparing to marry an octogenarian groom. One curious anomaly: Judges Boatwright and Fogel show up in person at a local horse racing track (Hollywood Park) to witness the running of an elderly mare named “Sadness”; this raises the question of why, if the judges could make it to the track, they did not place legal pari-mutuel wagers there instead of making illegal bets through Flood’s mysterious bookie (actually Mrs. Flood). The song performed by Nita Talbot at the night club (“The Lady’s In Love With You”) was of her own composition.

Cast

Dean Martin as Steve Flood
Lana Turner as Melanie Flood
Eddie Albert as Clint Morgan
Walter Matthau as Tony Gagouts
Paul Ford as Judge Boatwright
Nita Talbot as Saturday Knight
John McGiver as Judge Fogel
Jack Albertson as Hodges

Links

• Who’s Got the Action? at the Internet Movie Database
• Who’s Got the Action? at AllRovi

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Directed by Stephen Kessler
Produced by Jerry Weintraub
Written by Screenplay: Elisa Bell
Story: Elisa Bell, Bob Ducsay
Characters: John Hughes
Starring: Chevy Chase, Ethan Embry, Marisol Nichols, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid
Music by Joel McNeely
Cinematography William A. Fraker
Editing by Seth Flaum
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) February 14, 1997 (USA)
Running time 93 min.
Language English
Gross revenue $36,429,528 (USA)

Vegas Vacation is a 1997 comedy film. It is the fourth film in the original Vacation film series centering around the fictitious Griswold family, following Vacation, European Vacation, and Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase reprises his starring role as Clark W. Griswold, the patriarch of the family. The film opened at #4 at the box office and grossed over $36.4 million domestically.^[1] This is the only theatrical Vacation film not to be sponsored by National Lampoon.

Plot

At work, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) has invented a long life food preservative, earning him a large bonus check. Clark announces to his family that he is taking them on vacation. Enthusiasm wanes, however, when Clark says they are headed to Las Vegas, Nevada.

His wife, Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), and teenage daughter, Audrey (Marisol Nichols) have their doubts, as Las Vegas is not known for its family-friendly atmosphere, while teenage son Rusty (Ethan Embry) appears to be more eager, even asking if prostitution is legal there.

Upon arriving in Vegas, the family embarks upon a series of mishaps and adventures. Clark crosses paths with Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), the husband of Ellen’s cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn). Eddie and his family now live in the desert just north of Las Vegas, on what used to be an H-bomb test site.

While on a group tour of the gigantic Hoover Dam, Clark foolishly leaves the group after accidentally creating a leak in the dam’s inside walkways, and is forced to climb the scaffolding to the very top of the dam to get out, because his cries for help cannot be heard over the roaring water of the spillway.

During the vacation in Las Vegas, Clark becomes addicted to gambling (mostly Blackjack, which he usually loses), Rusty gets a fake ID and becomes a winning high roller (taking on the pseudonym ‘Nick Pappagiorgio’), Audrey starts hanging out with Eddie’s wild stripper daughter Vickie (Shae D’Lyn) (and hanging out with impersonators of The Beatles as well), and Ellen becomes addicted to Wayne Newton (playing himself), who may have feelings for Ellen, and it’s making Clark jealous.

After Clark gambles away the family’s $22,600 bank account, Eddie—who has money buried in his front yard—tries to come to the Griswold family’s rescue in return for everything the Griswolds have done for him and his family over the years.

Ultimately, the family begins to fall apart, thanks to Clark’s obsessive gambling, Ellen’s infatuation with Wayne Newton, Rusty’s new winning lifestyle, and Audrey’s desire to engage in exotic dancing with Cousin Vicki rather than spend time with her family.

The Griswolds must learn how to come together as a family, or “Sin City” just might destroy their very fabric.

Near the climax of the film, the Griswolds gamble their last two dollars on a game of Keno. They take a seat next to an older man (Sid Caesar in a cameo) who compliments Clark on his lovely family, and hints that he’s been lonely all of his life. Out of guilt, Clark tells the man to consider himself part of the Griswold family for the night. The man happily accepts Clark’s kind words, and both parties begin the game. At first, the Griswolds are hopeful, but as they realize they’ve already lost the game, they sadly sit for moments in silence. Suddenly, the man next to them ecstatically declares that he’s won the game. As he continues to express joy, he suddenly begins to slip in and out of consciousness while Ellen sends Rusty for help. He awakens one last time and whispers a message to Clark, before dropping his winning ticket and falling one final time. Clark, puzzled, tells Ellen that the man said “take the ticket”. When the casino security guards and paramedics arrive, they declare the man officially dead. They tell the Griswolds his name was Mr. Ellis, and commented on how sad his loneliness was to them. As Mr. Ellis is carried away, a janitor approaches with a vacuum cleaner; walking straight for the winning ticket on the floor. Though it appears Clark is going to allow it to be lost, he at the last moment pulls the ticket out of the path of the vacuum.

Clark and Ellen remarry at the end. Afterwards, Clark hands Eddie a large pile of cash (Eddie can be overheard saying $5000 after counting it) and explains by telling him that “we were very fortunate last night”. Rusty tells Clark of the four cars he had won, a Dodge Viper, a Ford Mustang, a Hummer H1, and a Ford Aspire. Clark takes all the keys away from Rusty, but instead of confiscating them, he gives the keys to each family member. The movie rolls credits as the Griswolds are shown on Interstate 15, driving back home to Chicago.

Cast

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
Beverly D’Angelo as Ellen Griswold
Marisol Nichols as Audrey Griswold
Ethan Embry as Russell “Rusty” Griswold
Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine
Shae D’Lyn as Cousin Vicki
Wallace Shawn as Marty
Julia Sweeney as Mirage Reception Person

Cameos

Wayne Newton as himself
Siegfried & Roy as themselves
Toby Huss as young Frank Sinatra impersonator/fake i.d. salesman
Christie Brinkley as “Girl in the Red Ferrari” from the first film
Sid Caesar as Mr. Ellis
Jerry Weintraub as “Gilly from Philly”

Production

The Mirage Resort on the Las Vegas Strip was a major filming location for this movie. It was filmed during the busy tourist season, from mid-June, through late September 1996. Several sections of the movie are filmed at Shenandoah, the home of entertainer Wayne Newton, who also appears in the film.

Nichols and Embry became the fourth different set of actors to play the Griswold children, Audrey and Rusty. This fact is referenced early in the film when Clark Griswold comments that he hardly recognizes his children anymore. The role of Huss was similar to a number of MTV commercials from the early 1990s that featured Huss as a Vegas crooner.

This was the first (and only) theatrical Vacation film in the series to receive a PG rating. The first Vacation film was rated R, while European Vacation and Christmas Vacation received PG-13 ratings. As a result the language, and vulgar/sexual situations as in the previous films do somewhat exist but are much more mild and toned down than the other installments.

Critical reception

The film has received mostly mixed to negative reviews. The film has garnered a “Rotten” rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a weighted average score of 20 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[3] However, the film has received a C+ rating at Box Office Mojo and a score on 5.5 on Internet Movie Database.

Despite mixed reviews, Vegas Vacation has found success on DVD and on television.

References

Links

• Vegas Vacation at the Internet Movie Database
• Vegas Vacation at Allrovi

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77 Park Lane is a 1931 British thriller film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Dennis Neilson-Terry, Betty Stockfeld and Malcolm Keen.^[1] At an upmarket gambling house in Park Lane, a woman tries to save her brother from ruin.

Cast

Dennis Neilson-Terry … Lord Brent
Betty Stockfeld … Mary Connor
Malcolm Keen … Sherringham
Ben Welden … Sinclair
Cecil Humphreys … Paul
Esmond Knight … Philip Connor
Molly Johnson … Eve Grayson
Roland Culver … Sir Richard Carrington
Molesworth Blow … George Malton
John Turnbull … Superintendent
Percival Coyte … Donovan

References

1. ^ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/50198

Links

• 77 Park Lane at the Internet Movie Database

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

Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. 1594.

Gambling has had many different meanings depending on the cultural and historical context in which it is used. Currently, in western society, it generally has an economic definition and meaning and typically refers to “wagering money or something of material value on something with an uncertain outcome in hope of winning additional money or material goods”. Furthermore:

• the outcome of the wager is typically evident within a short period of time
• the primary intent of the bet is to win additional money or material goods

This definition of gambling usually excludes:

• emotional or physical risk-taking where what is being risked is not money or material goods (e.g., skydiving, running for office, asking someone for a date, etc.)
• buying insurance, as the primary intent of the purchase is to protect against loss, rather than to collect or win
• all forms of long-term ‘investment’ (stock market, real estate) with positive expected returns and economic utility
• starting a new business, as time and effort are also being wagered and the outcome is not determined in a short period of time
• situations where the possibility of winning additional money or material goods is a secondary or incidental reason for the wager/purchase (e.g., buying a raffle ticket to support a worthy cause)

Gambling varies on four dimensions:

• 1. What is being wagered (money or material goods).
• 2. How much is being wagered.
• 3. The predictability of the event. For some things such as lotteries, slot machines and bingo, the results are random and unpredictable. No skill or system will give you any advantage. For other things such as sports betting and horse racing there is some predictability to the outcome. In this situation greater knowledge and skill gives a person an advantage over other bettors.
• 4. The ‘expected value’, the positive or negative mathematical expectation.

Bibliography

• Brisman, Andrew. American Mensa Guide to Casino Gambling: Winning Ways (Stirling, 1999) ISBN 080694837X
• Ortiz, Darwin. Gambling Scams: How They Work, How to Detect Them, How to Protect Yourself (Carol, 1990) ISBN 0396083668 (Hardcover) ISBN 0818405295 (Paperback)
• Reith, Gerda. Age of Chance: Gambling in Western Culture ISBN 0415179971 (Hardcover) ISBN 0415263093 (Paperback)
• Steinmetz, Andrew. The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims Gutenberg text
• Thorp, Edward O. Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One (Vintage, 1966) ISBN 0394703103

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