The Gambler '74

Director: Karel Reisz Karel Reisz

Overview

The Gambler stars James Caan in the title role. Constantly in debt, college professor Caan must rely on his former friends and associates to bail him out. Morris Carnovsky, as Caan's grandfather, is the first but hardly the last person close to Caan who washes his hands of the whole mess. As his habit becomes an incurable disease, Caan finds that the only people who will have anything to do with him are those to whom he owes money--particularly the polite but deadly loan shark portrayed by Burt Young.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/25/2023
UPC:	0810103687790
Original Release:	1974
Rating:	R
Source:	Paramount
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	39,152

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

James Caan	Axel Freed
Paul Sorvino	Hips
Lauren Hutton	Billie
Morris Carnovsky	A.R. Lowenthal
Jacqueline Brookes	Naomi
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 Crudup	Spencer
Allan Rich	Bernie
Stuart Margolin	Cowboy
Ric Mancini	Sal
Joel Wolfe	Moe
Ray Serra	Benny,Benny
William Andrews	Basketball Coach
Joseph Attles	Singer in the Park
Antonio Fargas	Pimp
Ernest Butler	Vernon
Sully Boyar	Uncle Hy
Gregory Rozakis	Joe
Starletta DuPois	Monique
Louise Lasser	Actor
Lucille Patton	Ricky's Wife
Ed Kovens	Ricky
Baron Wilson	Basketball Janitor
Richard Foronjy	Donny
Frank Sivero	Donny's Driver
Frank Scioscia	Man in Park with Donny
Philip Sterling	Sidney
Beatrice Winde	Receptionist
Patricia Fay	Teller
Leon Pinkney	Street Basketball Boy
Starletta DePaur	Monique
Alisha Fontaine	Howie's Girl
Presley Caton	Monkey's Girl
Mitch Stein	College Announcer
Jonathan Koshner	College Announcer
Charles Polk	Bartender
Dick Schaap	TV Announcer
Chick Hearn	Radio Announcer

Technical Credits

James Toback

Robert Chartoff	Producer
Karel Reisz	Director
Irwin Winkler	Producer
James Toback	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Screenwriter James Toback's adaptation of the classic Dostoevsky novella, directed by Karel Reisz, is excellent on the details of the life of a compulsive gambler, but never gets far beneath the surface and trails off disappointingly. Toback, who has discussed his gambling and substance abuse problems publicly, has an intimate understanding of this subject, and while he uses aspects of Dostoevsky's novella, it's clearly his own life, including the privileged background, from which he's drawn this script. Caan makes the film's literature professor seem a charismatic character at first, one able to translate the complexities of Dostoevsky into an idiom that can hold the attention of easily bored students, while effortlessly picking up beautiful women such as Lauren Hutton. But he's clearly restless and dissatisfied in this role, and as his dangerously high-stakes betting increases, the extent of his pathology becomes more obvious. His expensive habit has already alienated his wealthy family, and at this point, his closest relationships; the film's best and funniest scenes are with loan shark Burt Young and his hired muscle Paul Sorvino. Yet while the film conveys both the high, the illusory sense of omnipotence when one is winning, with the low, not only of loss but of looming death if one loses, it never convincingly connects Caan with his disease on a deeper level. The direction of the talented Reisz, who hadn't made a film in six years, seems uncertain at times. Caan, dead-on as the glib, self-deceiving professor, leads an excellent cast which also includes Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brooks, James Woods, and M. Emmet Walsh.