Themes: Big Break, Fired or Laid-Off, All Washed Up
Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli, Kate Reid, Robert Joy
Release Year: 1980
Country: FR/CA
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Burt Lancaster stars as Lou, an aging mob flunkey, barely making a living in Atlantic City. Susan Sarandon plays Sally, a casino croupier whose husband Dave (Robert Joy) steals a large supply of drugs from the mob. When he is killed, the narcotics pass to the unwilling Sally. Lou, in the midst of longtime affair with middle-aged gangster's widow Grace (Kate Reid), falls for the much younger Sally, becoming her savior by killing the mob thugs sent to shut her up. The killings serve a therapeutic value for Lou, proving that he hasn't lost his old panache. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Louis Malle's moody, gossamer story about an aging gangster (Burt Lancaster) and his young casino-worker lover (Susan Sarandon) is one of the French filmmaker's most successful atmospheric pieces. Released in 1980, it followed Malle's controversial Pretty Baby (1978), and it proved to some critics that Malle was more than a director who aimed to shock with sex scenes. Like Pretty Baby, this is an outsider's incisive portrait of a slice of American culture, with gamblers and drug dealers carrying on their tired routines in a city that seems, like Lancaster's character Lou, to be fading fast. It's ultimately a deep character study about clinging to old habits and surviving change. Atlantic City garnered five top Oscar nominations, though it won none of them. It did win several British and American film critics' awards. It contains one of Lancaster's most harrowing and memorable performances. Screenwriter John Guare went on to pen Six Degrees of Separation. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Hollis McLaren - Chrissie; Al Waxman - Alfie; Tony Angelo - Poker Player; Harvey Atkin - Bus Driver; Ann Burns - Singers in Casino; Louis del Grande - Mr. Shapiro; Norma dell'Agnese - Jeanne; Robert Goulet - Singer; Cec Linder - President of Hospital; Angus MacInnes - Vinnie; Sean McCann - Detective; John McCurry - Fred; Wallace Shawn - Waiter; Sean Sullivan - Buddy; Moses Znaimer - Felix; Eleanor Beecroft - Mrs. Reese; Adele Chatfield-Taylor - Florist
Credit
Francois Barbeau - Costume Designer, John Board - First Assistant Director, Louis Malle - Director, Suzanne Baron - Editor, Michel Legrand - Composer (Music Score), Paul Anka - Songwriter, Rita Ogden - Makeup, Anne Pritchard - Production Designer, Richard Ciupka - Cinematographer, Denis Heroux - Producer, John Kemeny - Producer, Gabriel Boustiani - Producer, John Guare - Screenwriter
