Taglines: For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000.
The Gambler movie storyline. Axel Freed is an English professor at New York College. He is also a gambling addict. Although he likes to win, it is only secondary to the excitement he feels in the possibility of losing. It is within this mentality that he ends up in the hole to the tune of $44,000 in one fell swoop, this amount which he does not have, and those to who he owes would not take too kindly to delayed payment without some sort of retribution.
He gets an up close and personal view of the nasty things that can be done as a consequence as he tries to come up with the money through legitimate and not so legitimate sources, the former including from his wealthy businessman grandfather, A.R. Lowenthal, who has had his fair share of dealings with the wrong side of the law himself, and his physician mother, Naomi Freed, both who may still be affected by Axel’s actions regardless if they can, will, can’t or won’t help him.
Even if he can get the money, the feeling of his addiction may not allow him just to pay back the money as that, in his mind, is not winning, regardless of the consequence of being potentially deeper in with those he owes. The one other person involved is his girlfriend Billie, who may love Axel but who did not sign up for this kind of excitement in becoming his girlfriend.
The Gambler is a 1974 American crime drama film written by James Toback and directed by Karel Reisz. It stars James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Carmine Caridi, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes, Burt Young, Vic Tayback, Steven Keats, London Lee, M. Emmet Walsh and Beatrice Winde. Caan’s performance was widely lauded and was nominated for a Golden Globe.
The film was the first produced screenplay by James Toback. Toback had worked as an English lecturer at the City College of New York and had a gambling problem. He originally wrote The Gambler as a semi-autobiographical novel but halfway through started envisioning it as a film and turned it into a screenplay.
Toback completed it in 1972 and showed it to his friend Lucy Saroyan, who introduced Toback to Robert De Niro. Toback became enthused about the possibility of De Niro playing the lead. He showed the script to his literary agent who gave it to Mike Medavoy who attached director Karel Reisz. Reisz did not want to use De Niro and cast James Caan instead.
“Caan became a great Axel Freed, although obviously different from the character De Niro would have created”, wrote Toback later. It was filmed at a time when leading actor James Caan was battling his own addiction to cocaine. Caan says the film is one of his favorites. “It’s not easy to make people care about a guy who steals from his mother to pay gambling debts.”
The Gambler (1974)
Directed by: Karel Reisz
Starring: James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Carmine Caridi, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes, Burt Young, Vic Tayback, Steven Keats, London Lee, M. Emmet Walsh, Beatrice Winde
Screenplay by: James Toback
Production Design by: Philip Rosenberg
Cinematography by: Victor J. Kemper
Film Editing by: Roger Spottiswoode
Costume Design by: Albert Wolsky
Set Decoration by: Edward Stewart
Music by: Jerry Fielding
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: October 2, 1974
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