The Gambler

Name: The Gambler
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 1974-10-02
Duration: 1 h 52 min
Rating: 7.2
Cast: James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes

For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000.

The Gambler (1974)

Timing: 1:52 (112 min)

—
no scores

6.7/10
133

Rate the movie:

Everything about the movie

Video 5

Photo 29

Actors and characters

Video for the film The Gambler — The Gambler (1974) Original Trailer [FHD]

3:35

Photo 29

Release date

1974-10-02

Country

United States

Production

Paramount, Chartoff-Winkler Productions, Winkler Films

Genre

Drama, Crime

Budget

Box office

Website

Director

Karel Reisz

Actors

James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes, Burt Young, Carmine Caridi, Carl W. Crudup, Stuart Margolin, Vic Tayback
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

James Toback

Producer

Robert Chartoff, Irwin Winkler

Camera operator

Victor J. Kemper

Composer

Jerry Fielding

Artist

Philip Rosenberg

Audition

Cis Corman

Editing

Roger Spottiswoode
Whole Team (19)

Short description

New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction that threatens to destroy him.

What's left behind the scenes

A free adaptation of the novel of the same name by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
In reality, if a player owes a bookmaker a large sum of money, other bookmakers will not accept bets from him until the debt is fully repaid or significantly reduced.
According to screenwriter James Toback, Peter Boyle (1935-2006) was considered for the lead role in the film, but Robert De Niro also wanted it. Toback approached director Karel Reisz (1926-2002) with a request to meet with De Niro. Reisz met with the actor and then informed the screenwriter that he would not even consider De Niro for the role, and if Toback persisted, his collaboration with the film crew would immediately end.