The Gambler (1974)

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. ~ Michael Costello, All Movie Guide