Rating: 
Summary: A sure thing
Review: A neglected and underrated masterpiece, presenting one of the most convincing and thorough psychological studies in all cinema. James Caan, in what may well be his best-ever performance, portrays a compulsive gambler with an unusually acute awareness of his own motivations. The 'back story', from which we learn how his family background helps feed his obsession, is subtly and convincingly portrayed. The whole is a tragedy, laced with grim humor.The score uses Mahler's music to great effect, the direction is tight and closely focused throughout and the final scene can only be described as perfection.
Rating:
Summary: A sure thing
Review: A neglected and underrated masterpiece, presenting one of the most convincing and thorough psychological studies in all cinema. James Caan, in what may well be his best-ever performance, portrays a compulsive gambler with an unusually acute awareness of his own motivations. The 'back story', from which we learn how his family background helps feed his obsession, is subtly and convincingly portrayed. The whole is a tragedy, laced with grim humor. The score uses Mahler's music to great effect, the direction is tight and closely focused throughout and the final scene can only be described as perfection.
Rating:
Summary: A well written and superbly acted film about gambling
Review: A very powerful movie about a man on the road to self destruction. James Caan is excellent as an intelligent English professor who falls victim to the seedy world of compulsive gambling. This is the most realistic movie ever made about gambling and its influence on others. A great supporting cast and a well written script make this truly a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Caan,s Con!
Review: A Very sardonic James Caan plays a self destructive addicted gambler to the hilt. Even during moments of supposed euphoria..Caan seems to know the "drug" will wear off son. Students and other people have no meaning..they are not even a diversion..because his one goal is ACTION..and without action he is nothing to himself as he is a lonely man on a very lonely journey..Paul Sorvin plays " Hips" ( aptly named) A very downbeat film with a terrifying finale..if one comprehends the reflection in the mirror.
Rating: 
Summary: the downward slide
Review: An excellent look at the effects of serious gambling addiction. Good plot- How a man with every reason in the world to not be involved in the shady world of gambling (fulfilling profession, good family, the intelligence and clarity to know exactly what's happening to him) lets it dominate him. Makes you wonder how many people across from you at the table in Vegas or the Indian reservation are also on the slippery slope. One complaint: Nobody doubles down with 18, expecting to get a 3 to beat the dealer's supposed 20, not even a reckless maniac. Observation: Basketball talent has improved considerably since the 70s! However the Manhattan court scenes with afros were great!
Rating:
Summary: the downward slide
Review: An excellent look at the effects of serious gambling addiction. Good plot- How a man with every reason in the world to not be involved in the shady world of gambling (fulfilling profession, good family, the intelligence and clarity to know exactly what's happening to him) lets it dominate him. Makes you wonder how many people across from you at the table in Vegas or the Indian reservation are also on the slippery slope. One complaint: Nobody doubles down with 18, expecting to get a 3 to beat the dealer's supposed 20, not even a reckless maniac. Observation: Basketball talent has improved considerably since the 70s! However the Manhattan court scenes with afros were great!
Rating:
Summary: This should cure you of that gambling problem
Review: An excellent, well-acted, harrowing film that closely reflects the stark reality of a problem gambler. Most gambling films make allusions to the dark side, but this film is explicit: you hear the wheels in his mind click, watch questionable calls unfold, followed by the crushing debt and threats of torture and mayhem that accompany it. You'll see and hear some of that violence too. This is much closer to how it is, which makes it a hard film to truly enjoy, but after it's over, you'll be impressed by how bold these filmmakers were.
Rating:
Summary: "FOR $10000.00 THEY BREAK YOUR ARMS...
Review: For $20,000.00 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000." I was captivated by the tag line of this lost jewell of the '70's, which stands alongside Karl Reisz' other forgotten masterwork of the decade (WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN?). James Caan radiates a brilliant character study of a degenerate gambler hellbent on self destruction, not only at the tables and back rooms, but in life. He throws away his birth rite to riches, his family, a beauty (Lauren Hutton in her first significant screen role). It's a road well traveled by the lost and Caan has it mastered. Great screenplay by James Toback, written immediately prior to his own lost marvel of the 1970's, FINGERS (1979).
Rating:
Summary: "FOR $10000.00 THEY BREAK YOUR ARMS...
Review: For $20,000.00 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000." I was captivated by the tag line of this lost jewell of the '70's, which stands alongside Karl Reisz' other forgotten masterwork of the decade (WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN?). James Caan radiates a brilliant character study of a degenerate gambler hellbent on self destruction, not only at the tables and back rooms, but in life. He throws away his birth rite to riches, his family, a beauty (Lauren Hutton in her first significant screen role). It's a road well traveled by the lost and Caan has it mastered. Great screenplay by James Toback, written immediately prior to his own lost marvel of the 1970's, FINGERS (1979).
Rating:
Summary: "FOR $10000.00 THEY BREAK YOUR ARMS...
Review: For $20,000.00 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000." I was captivated by the tag line of this lost jewell of the '70's, which stands alongside Karl Reisz' other forgotten masterwork of the decade (WHO'LL STOP THE RAIN?). James Caan radiates a brilliant character study of a degenerate gambler hellbent on self destruction, not only at the tables and back rooms, but in life. He throws away his birth rite to riches, his family, a beauty (Lauren Hutton in her first significant screen role). It's a road well traveled by the lost and Caan has it mastered. Great screenplay by James Toback, written immediately prior to his own lost marvel of the 1970's, FINGERS (1979).
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