It's set in the 1970s and portrays a college professor with a compulsive gambling problem who runs back to the edge whenever he seemingly has a way out of his situation.
Axel Freed (James Caan) is an English professor in a small New York City college. He comes from a wealthy family. His mother, Naomi (Jacqueline Brookes), is a successful medical doctor. His maternal grandfather, A. R. Lowenthal (Morris Carnovsky), owns the largest chain of furniture stores in the United States.
Axel has a beautiful girlfriend, Billie (Lauren Hutton), of an indeterminate background and profession. His bookie, known only as Hips (Paul Sorvino), is part of a larger Mafia structure.
The movie starts with a bad gambling night in which Axel ends up in the hole $44,000. Then, we see Axel lecturing in class about the desire to believe in something that isn't true. Among his students is the basketball team's star player, Spencer (Carl U. Crudup).
The movie follows Axel's on-again-off-again attempts to raise money to pay his debt to increasingly threatening gangsters. He borrows money from his mother, but before paying his debt, he takes off to Las Vegas with Billie, where he appears to double his money. But things start downhill as we see Axel's obsession with greater and greater chances, his unending efforts to manipulate other people in his life, his inability to tell the truth, and his sometimes-no-so-latent violence. Finally, Axel gets his wish in the end.
Axel Freed is an unattractive character in James Caan's smooth-talking sociopath's body. However, Caan does play the character very well. Lauren Hutton doesn't have much of a personality. Jacqueline Brookes and Morris Carnovsky are good in their roles. The small-college basketball game fix makes no logical sense in the storyline. The film's ending is an obvious attempt to clarify the film's point.
Axel Freed (James Caan) is an English professor in a small New York City college. He comes from a wealthy family. His mother, Naomi (Jacqueline Brookes), is a successful medical doctor. His maternal grandfather, A. R. Lowenthal (Morris Carnovsky), owns the largest chain of furniture stores in the United States.
Axel has a beautiful girlfriend, Billie (Lauren Hutton), of an indeterminate background and profession. His bookie, known only as Hips (Paul Sorvino), is part of a larger Mafia structure.
The movie starts with a bad gambling night in which Axel ends up in the hole $44,000. Then, we see Axel lecturing in class about the desire to believe in something that isn't true. Among his students is the basketball team's star player, Spencer (Carl U. Crudup).
The movie follows Axel's on-again-off-again attempts to raise money to pay his debt to increasingly threatening gangsters. He borrows money from his mother, but before paying his debt, he takes off to Las Vegas with Billie, where he appears to double his money. But things start downhill as we see Axel's obsession with greater and greater chances, his unending efforts to manipulate other people in his life, his inability to tell the truth, and his sometimes-no-so-latent violence. Finally, Axel gets his wish in the end.
Axel Freed is an unattractive character in James Caan's smooth-talking sociopath's body. However, Caan does play the character very well. Lauren Hutton doesn't have much of a personality. Jacqueline Brookes and Morris Carnovsky are good in their roles. The small-college basketball game fix makes no logical sense in the storyline. The film's ending is an obvious attempt to clarify the film's point.