The Gambler is still after thirty years the definitive movie about the gambling experience. I remember the first time i saw this movie when i was in my mid-teens. I had just started my own personal gambling journey, attending my local dog track. There was something very special about this movie and i knew it would have a profound effect on my life. From the beginning, The Gambler is a very dark movie. The opening scenes are of James Caan leaving a casino in the early hours of the morning after losing heavily at the tables. He drives his car recalling his losses and curses to himself. The movie soundtrack plays Gustav Mahler's 1st Symphony (this piece sets the whole tone for the movie in my opinion). Mahler is great for tragedy (remember Death in Venice). Caan's character, Axel Freed, then wipes himself out completely, losing his last 20 bucks to some guys playing basketball for small change. This is the first indication as to Axel's self-destructiveness, that he is always looking for a 'result', be it good or bad. We learn that Axel is a an educated man, very educated. He teaches English as a University Professor. In his gambling though he chooses to play the fool, perhaps purposely. He avoids the 'locks' and sure things and instead courts uncertainty in his never ending craving for thrills and experience. Unless his bet is good for 'action', then it is no good at all. Unfortunately for Axel and everyone he loves (mother, girlfriend, grandfather) this cavalier style of play leads to nothing but financial misery and breakdown of valued relationships (particularly that with his mother, which is also key to the whole film). He is a martingale player in the true sense (double or nothing). One day everything seems to go right and he reaches a plateau when doubling on 18 and drawing a 3! He wins enough to break free from his shylocks, but is still not satisfied and he risks all his profits from his good day on a game of basketball. The scene when he loses this bet in the last second of the game listening to the commentary in the bath is incredibly real to anyone who has gambled for 'proper' money and lost will testify. That feeling of being absolutely sick to your stomach, not to mention the feelings of isolation, guilt and plain stupidity. The film could of ended there in a way, but it goes to another level. To finally free himself of the money lenders (local mob), Axel agrees to fix a college basketball game where he teaches by bribing one of his English students who is the star player on the team. In a close game Axel's student comes through and his debts are cleared. As at the start of the film though, Axel is still looking for a result. The only gamble left to him, is that of his own life. He walks into a bar and picks up a prostitute in the Harlem district of New York. Then he purposely does not pay her which provokes her pimp (Antonio Fargas a.k.a Huggy Bear) into drawing a knife on him. Caan pushes himself onto the knife, daring the pimp to kill him. Fargas pushes him away and Caan begins to beat on him relentlessly. As he drops his knife, the hooker picks it up and slashes Caan. Staggering from the building, Axel sees his reflection. Blood pours from the wound. He smiles to himself, he has his result! Mahler plays... Also watch out for the scene in the film when Axel and leg-breaker for one of the loan sharks visit a guy who cant pay. The first time you watch this its terrifying.
Review of The Gambler
