Rated R Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC, Psychology and the Mystery of the "Poisoned" Schoolgirls. Mark Wahlberg stars in a remake of "The Gambler," a 1974 film with James Caan. The movie was a hit and the fact that James Caan struggled himself with addiction at that same time made the role complete. The Gambler is a 2014 American crime drama film directed by Rupert Wyatt. [2] It was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine. "[10] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times declared it "a cool, hard, perfectly cut gem of a movie, as brilliant and mysteriously deep as a fine diamond. Along the way, while taking money from his mother and getting further in debt by getting a loan from Frank (John Goodman). It tries justifying Bennetts actions by tying them to the existential works he teaches in his college literature class. Crime Drama Thriller Literature professor and gambler Jim Bennett's debt causes him to borrow money from his mother and a loan shark. Baraka kidnaps Jim, has him tied-up and tortured, confronting him with an ultimatumconvince Lamar to win his college basketball semi-final by a margin of 7 points or less, or he will kill Amy. After class, Jim visits his mother Roberta at the family's luxury estate, but she says that she will not give him any more money. He doesnt have the money, but its been a bigtime game, and he has to find it somewhere or be in heavy trouble. He identifies her as a potential writing prodigy based on her work in his class, as well as having previously encountered her working secretly as a waitress at the underground gambling house. Your start may have been lucky or unlucky, but you can either improve your lot or worsen it. The opening montage shows life in Blue Valley following Eclipso's defeat. "[28], Jessica Lange's performance has received critical acclaim. All of life is about decisions, for which outcomes are unknown. But you can forget about that when it comes new gaming sites. (Whether she's caught for killing her enemy is left up to the eye of the . But director Rupert Wyatt is too busy trying to be arty and daring with his visuals and soundtrack juxtapositions to think about pacing. These are common movie prop-money. Every so often, one of the three shows up to inquire abouttheir money, and theyre always one step ahead of Bennett. He has to find his own dangers, to court and seduce them. Now the problem is, that we do not know what was the exact bet at Roulette wheel, because we do not know how much he won from betting at Lamars game. When Jimfinds out that his inheritance will not be at all what he expected, heembarks on a dangerous venture in his secretlife as a high-stakes gambler. His full debt before the final bet was 636 000$. He may not be right as a precocious, self-loathing intellectual, but he's very much at home playing a dickhead who's gotten in too deep. Develop the ability to have intuitions about others. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D., M.P.H., is Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. This was the real ace. Theyre standing in the kitchen of a New York apartment, and gray dawn is seeping through the smoke. The way Axel solves his problem is only fairly difficult. We can see that there are 38 yellow currency straps and 4 brown straps - that totals to 400 000$. You need to know what to change, and what to keep the same. It is uplifting in that he understood his life before he passed away . [24] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade C+ on scale of A to F.[25], Bilge Ebiri of Vulture.com wrote: "Wahlberg grows into the part. The Gambler: One of the Best Movies About Gambling, 5 Gambling Movie Quotes to Live (And Bet) By. The various bookies and collectors he comes across arent Mafia stereotypes. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. These events are equally likely, or the game would not be fair. Axel Freed is an English professor in New York City with a gambling addiction that begins to spiral out of control. But she doesn't go to jail for Josh's murder. Granted, at the beginning of the film, Bennetts grandfather, played by a shockingly old-looking George Kennedy, informs his grandson that he has left him nothing out of his apparently sizable estate. One who callously mistreats his mother after putting her in danger by purposefully losing even more money. Dont just do something, stand there. vegan) just to try it, does this inconvenience the caterers and staff? You never count your money when youre sitting at the table. And as The Gambler becomes less about its protagonist's dashed intellectualism and more about the gathering danger of his predicament, the film gains power. In that earlier age, he could have tested himself more directly. And so we always called it that. In addition, most online platforms come with mobile apps that can be downloaded on portable devices, making gambling available everywhere. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film two out of four stars, saying: "Wyatt keeps the action coming at a fast clip, but watching Jim repeatedly pursue a path of self-destruction for reasons never made clear grows wearying. This is supposed to be some kind of fable-slash-parable. Caan says the film is one of his favorites. He then earned a Masters Degree in creative writing from The New School in NYC, where he first stumbled upon Screenrant.com when it was just a hobby blog owned by Vic Holtreman. The old man is respectable now (he owns a chain of furniture stores), but the legend of his youth fascinates Axel, who recites it poetically at the eightieth-birthday party. It's a film that is part genre fare (at its best when delivering thrilling scenes of high-stakes gambling) and part art-house fare (dealing with existential crisis), and stranded inthat confusing middle, itnever measures of tothe standard of its director's talent. [13] On March 13, there was a basketball scene filmed in Los Angeles. Margarete Brown (Gennie Nevinson) is an elderly woman who finds companionship in Peter (Daniel Mitchell), a widower. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. Most effective of the trio is Williams, whose Neville serves as a charming mentor to Bennett without losing the dangerous Black man edge that Tobacks earlier films liked to fetishize. "[29] The Huffington Post described her performance as "ferocious" and capable of "knocking down William Monahan's profanity laced dialogue with gleeful abandon"[30] Also, the Boston Herald described her work as "strikingly memorable",[31] which Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Indiewire have agreed with, terming her "affecting", "stirring", and "terrific". Synopsis: Jim Bennett is an English professor and a high-stakes gambler. Director Rupert Wyatt Writers William Monahan (screenplay) 260 000$ (loan from Frank) was betted at Lamars game by Jim, but we did not learn how much he actually won. And yet Axel Freed is not simply a gambler, but a very complicated man in his mid-thirties who earns his living as a university literature teacher. Not in the mood for fancy clothes? "For Rogers and songwriter Don Schlitz, 'The Gambler' was a story song that marked important milestones in both men's careers," it says. Thats what makes life tough. As Dr. Gupta leaves the facility, she . There may be a few rules worth doing all the time, but those tend to be the easy decisions: Dont kill. "[7][8] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and said that director Karel Reisz "is most successful in presenting Axel as a true sickie and his adversaries as genuinely ruthless. The gambling industry has changed tremendously since then. When adapting a book to film, there's always going to be . But for Jim, being behind the eight ball is not a hell, but rather a state of grace. The night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression. Boredom overtook us and he began to speak. Its too in love with his cocky, unflappable arrogance in the face of danger. "[11] Pauline Kael of The New Yorker stated, "At 'The Gambler,' we're trapped at a maniacal lecture on gambling as existential expression. rev2023.3.3.43278. [22], On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 44% based on 144 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. Contact and follow Kofi on Twitter @kofioutlaw. . Success usually grows out of failure, if it happens at all. 'The Gambler' is a personality study, and like 'California Split,' its story does not hang on its ending. Let's define that the game ends upon either event. Your Ticket Confirmation # is located under the header in your email that reads "Your . Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? How to match a specific column position till the end of line? We become so absolutely contained by Axels problems and dangers that they seem like our own. He doesnt derive from other gambling movies or even from other roles hes played. So from calculations I would assume either the remaining 64 000$ (800 000$ - 736 000$) was interest or "little extra" for Mister Lee. [8] In September 2013, actor Mark Wahlberg and director Rupert Wyatt expressed interest in making the film. Inside a tent, a man tells another that a group of Apache Indians are being stirred up by Geronimo, a tribal . Watching the game from the stands with three of the mob's bookmakers, . We see a caravan of horses and stagecoaches moving down a dirt road in the middle of the plains. James Toback, "A Hollywood Mis-Education", "Screen: Professor Bucks Odds in 'The Gambler':Caan, in the Title Role, Fights Compulsion", "Leonardo DiCaprio Attached To 'Gambler' Remake At Paramount With Martin Scorsese", "James Toback On 'The Gambler' Remake: "Not Possible Rudeness And Disrespect", "Todd Phillips in Talks to Direct First Drama 'The Gambler' (Exclusive) | Hollywood Reporter", "Mark Wahlberg And Rupert Wyatt Eyeing 'The Gambler' Remake For Paramount", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Gambler_(1974_film)&oldid=1140914613, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 11:47. The moral of the song as a parable is that we are responsible for our own choices . Over the summer, Morant invited a talented local high school basketball player to a pickup game at his house . In fact, the only character that actually resonates in the film is Goodmans Frank. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The supporting cast falls into two camps: the gangsters in the film (played byThe Wire's Michael K. Williams, John Goodman and Alvin Ing) are all given a lot of room to develop, and the three actors in the roles do a pretty good job adding dimension to each gangster (black, Jewish and Asian, respectively) to make each man interesting and three-dimensional. Jim expresses his extremist view on achieving excellence in one's field or vocation: if you can't be exemplary, he reasons, then you might as well not try. In the finale, we saw him take his family hostage. And Caan is so self-destructive we wonder if there's any chance whatsoever at salvation. Being at home allows players to bet in whatever situation they want. The boss asks Axel if he has family who might help him pay. But we can see from the picture the amount of money, bills and currency straps placed on Roulette table. The show follows the work of defence attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), dealing with the case of a man accused of killing his wife and her boyfriend. Thats not an ethic of duties or rules. We become so absolutely contained by Axel's problems and dangers that they seem like our own. We then see a group of American Indians on horseback as the credits roll. Frantic, the prostitute picks up the fallen blade and slashes Axel across the face. are away, Mary invites Jack Barber into Downton. Follow us and talk movies @screenrant & @ppnkof. Online gambling comes with no dress code, so no worries about this either. As for who committed. Sometimes retreat is the right decision. When Jim is. Old Medication, New Use: Can Prazosin Curb Drinking? SPOILERS INCOMING. We got a little stagnant on the offensive end, turned the ball over," Mazzulla explained. [32][33][34] James Berardinelli from ReelViews described her as "heartbreaking as the cold, rich widow who blames herself on some level for her son's failure. Thats success. The first tale about an addicted gambler in the 1970s was a tale of a man addicted to gambling. The main differences between the Karel Reisz (Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The French Lieutenants Woman) version apart from the obvious name difference and the fact that the first was written by James Toback and the 2014 film was penned by William Monahan, are the main protagonists personality, the financial status of both mens mothers and the romantic situation as well as the monetary amounts being much greater in this newest version of the story. Worse than that, the people close to him (his mother, a potential lover, a prominent student athlete) are soon targeted as "collateral" for Jim's debts. Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. "Film Reviews: The Gambler". If I only bet on the games I know, I could at least break even. But he doesnt want that. The film was launched in 1974 and it started as a biography novel. Because as we look into Axel Freeds caged eyes we see a person who is scared to death and yet stubbornly ready for this moment he has brought down upon himself. This is not one that should occupy your theater ticket time or money during the holiday moviegoing rush; it will be small Christmas miracle if - even in home viewing - you happen to fall into the narrow range of folks who will find this movie's odd-duck approach to your liking. The screenplay by William Monahan is based on the 1974 film The Gambler, written by James Toback, which, in turn, is loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky 's novel of the same name. Mutually exclusive execution using std::atomic? Toback completed it in 1972 and showed it to his friend Lucy Saroyan, who introduced Toback to Robert De Niro. For everything, we enjoy doing or we find worth splashing our Over the years, many movies have had a strong gambling theme and some of the best films produced were based on gambling or have taken place in casinos. And the best that you can hope for, is to die in your sleep. Gambling is a game of probability. The Phantom of the Opera's 25-anniversary version was live-streamed by a new YouTube channel named The Shows Must Go On!, which was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall. You were born in a certain place, to certain parents, with certain privileges and drawbacks. The professor starts an affair with one of his students, Amy Phillips, played by Brie Larson, whom he zeroes in on by telling his class that her work contains genius that the rest of them will never attain or match. A remake of the 1974Gamblerfilm starring James Caan, the 2014Gambleris a philosophical stage play disguised as a Mark Wahlberg crime drama vehicle. Theres a scene in The Gambler that has James Caan on screen all by himself for two minutes, locked in a basement room, waiting to meet a Mafia boss who will arguably instruct that his legs be broken. A mysterious entity, presumably the one we saw earlier, appears and shines a bright red light on Selene, waking her up. He brings with him famous movie stars Guy Dexter (who takes a liking to . Always one step ahead, Bennett pits his creditor against the operator of a gambling ring and leaves his dysfunctional relationship with his wealthy mother in his wake. The website's critics consensus reads: "Well-paced and reasonably entertaining in its own right, The Gambler still suffers from comparisons to the James Caan classic that inspired it. Ed asks Jim what he'll be worth in this world when he's leaving him with nothing. He borrows money from his mother, girlfriend and even some shady individuals. The idea here isnt to take the middle path between extremes, but rather to tailor behavior to circumstances. [28] Jeff Baker from The Oregonian stated that her acting is "fierce". You're bored. Granted, a tough guy like James Caan was picked forthe original (where he was also still a professor with a gambling problem). Flashback to Whitlam deciding how to deal with Karen and Luke. You deserve no credit for your family's achievements and no blame for its faults. New York City English professor Axel Freed (James Caan) outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. Arnold, Gary (October 17, 1974). Heres still another demonstration of the inability of contemporary movies to give us three-dimensional women under thirty. The Meaning Behind The Lyrics "The Gambler" song is about strangers on a train that carries out a conversation about poker. The world of the filmmight be interesting for theater or literary buffs who dig the the movie'sstyle of heightened language and philosophical pontificating - but for the average viewer, it's going to be a crude realization of misleading advertising and self-involved cerebral linguistics that are a hard and obtuse code to crack. Do I need a thermal expansion tank if I already have a pressure tank? As Mister Lee, Ing delivers his lines in a smooth, ice cold fashion thats fun to watch. Wait, until the right decision becomes clear to you. Also the back of brownish strap bill seems to be more of 50$ than 5$ bill, so the stack represents 5000$. The film was the first produced screenplay by James Toback. Jim not only accepts but desires his fate;for him, existenceboilsdown to one biggame of chance, and it's best to be all-in. Copyright 2023 | We Support Phalanx Family Services & St Agatha Catholic Church, Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Powered by Frackle Media, The Gambler: Mark Wahlberg Leaves Audience Dumbfounded and Depressed, Roman Polanski Continues to Leap Through Legal Loopholes, The Imitation Game Benedict Cumberbatch is Quirky British Hero (Review), An Important Message, and a Warning to My Christian Friends, Walmarts in Portland Oregon to Close Permanently. Surly Straggler vs. other types of steel frames. Written by David Schlitz in 1976 and made famous by Kenny Rogers in 1978, "The Gambler" is a classic country song about a train, a stranger, and a conversation about poker. [38] Indiewire suggested Lange as a contender for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[39]. It only takes a minute to sign up. Look, I get it. Why is there a voltage on my HDMI and coaxial cables? Siskel, Gene (October 18, 1974). How can I check before my flight that the cloud separation requirements in VFR flight rules are met? Or you just want to sit in pjs all day? "[23] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on reviews from 40 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Written By. Successful, he leaves the money at the club for Lee and Frank. For a taste of your whiskey, Ill give you some advice. Overall acting is fine. Once, maybe twice in a lifetime, when youve reached the peak of a mountain, pause and look around. However, there is always a good idea to be precocious. The films ending will leave the audience depressed as well as dumbfounded. The 100 000$ extra money, that Jim leaves for Mister Lee and Frank on Roulette table may not be intentional, because previous to final bet he offered 50 000$ to Dexter for making a trip to Vegas and placing a bet on Lamar's game, but Dexter declined it. Rogers later related it to life in the Old West, with the risks and rewards of frontier life. How is an ETF fee calculated in a trade that ends in less than a year? From movie perspective we can calculate his final bet by working his debt and bets backwards. Initially, the leading role was supposed to belong to Robert De Niro. 3 Ways to Reclaim Your Hope and Happiness, Why You Should Change Your Life Every Decade, 7 Ticking Time Bombs That Destroy Loving Relationships, The Single Best (and Hardest) Thing to Give Up. He gets ready to leave a tiny Hong Kong apartment and enjoys a smoke. Why are Suriname, Belize, and Guinea-Bissau classified as "Small Island Developing States"? Langes over-the-top chastising scene would shame Joan Crawford, but she goes to the bank to get Bennett the money anyway. The screening is made in a way that makes viewers connect on another level with the main character. It is similar, though, to a style of ethics most associated with Aristotlethe concept of the golden mean. One who callously mistreats his mother after putting her in danger by purposefully losing even more money. Refueling the Clone Conspiracy. They develop a mutual interest in each other. But even the wimpiest fairy tales have some form of credible threat. This isn't your gut technically, but your unconscious mind, talking to you. Bennetts turnaround makes no sense as there is not enough time spent proving that the two are more than a short lustful dalliance. The evolution of the action makes you think that in the end, the screenings conclusion will reveal a long-awaited moral. Yellow currency straps represents stacks of 10 000$ of 100$ bills. In another movie, the scene could have seemed too long, too eventless. Of course, whenever Wahlberg is called on to crack wise or play tough in face of threat, the actor hits the sweet spot of his trademarkpersona. The conversation was an internal monologue before the man died in his sleep . Life is a game we are forced to play. the danger is real and the downward spiral our character is in seems to have no end. [6], In a 2011 interview, screenwriter James Toback gave the autobiographical story of the original film's background and development, and criticized the idea of his film being remade. Lamar succeeds, so Jim uses his winnings to pay his debt to Baraka, denying he knows anything about the large bet made in Vegas. We know that Roulette (red or black) bet ratio is 2:1 and all Jims loans were paid off with at least 100 000$ on top (736 000$), the initial bet must have been at least 368 000$ to achieve it. The image is an example of a ticket confirmation email that AMC sent you when you purchased your ticket. "It was a respect thing," Mr. Caan explained, adding that the conversation didn't end there . It turned out as a good choice. That same issue either trickles down into, or originates from the script, which was written by Oscar-winner William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven,Edge of Darkness). In the classroom, Freed inspires his college students with his interpretations of Fyodor Dostoevsky's work. Thats what gets my juice going. win his college basketball semi-final by a margin of 7 points or less, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, "Leonardo DiCaprio Attached To 'Gambler' Remake At Paramount With Martin Scorsese", "James Toback On 'The Gambler' Remake: "Not Possible Rudeness And Disrespect", "Todd Phillips in Talks to Direct First Drama 'The Gambler' (Exclusive)", "Mark Wahlberg And Rupert Wyatt Eyeing 'The Gambler' Remake For Paramount", "Brie Larson In Talks To Join Mark Wahlberg In Paramount Remake 'The Gambler', "Mark Wahlberg Spotted on The Gambler Set", "Register now to be in 'The Gambler' with Mark Wahlberg! That's what matters, because life never is all about success. Continue with Recommended Cookies, By Theres a scene where he soaks in the bathtub and listens to the last minutes of a basketball game, and another scene where he sits in the stands and watches a basketball game he has tried to fix (while a couple of hit men watch him), and these scenes have a quality of tension almost impossible to sustain. Sometimes you should do one thing (hold 'em), sometimes another (fold 'em). After Ed's funeral, Jim goes to a casino. [7], Scorsese left the project and filmmaker Todd Phillips was in talks to take over as of August 2012. Then they completely forget about teaching lessons and bend to his will. Sometimes you have to adjust. Failure determines who we will become. He teaches Dostoyevski, William Carlos Williams, Thoreau. Very relatable! [11], Shooting began on January 20, 2014. "[27] "Cool, Hard Look at the High Cost of Losing". Mark Wahlbergs gambler seems more addicted to his own philosophy of all or nothing at all which leaves the audience dumbfounded and depressed. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? The movie showed us both the sweet and the bitter side of gambling, allowing viewers to take the story as a lesson or as the cinematic masterpiece that is.