Atlantic City
(1981)
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The legalization of gambling in Atlantic City brings about big changes in the life of an aging small time numbers runner when he becomes involved with big money and the mob. Academy Award Nominations: 5, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor--Burt Lancaster, Best Actress--Susan Sarandon, Best (Original) Screenplay. |
In this wonderfully beguiling and bizarre study of small-time losers from director Louis Malle, Burt Lancaster stars as a voyeuristic, over-the-hill hood reduced to running a gambling racket and living off fake memories of days with famous gangsters of yesteryear. Paradoxically, it's one of Lancaster's best roles, and his performance is matched by that of Susan Sarandon as the woman with whom he becomes involved when a stash of drugs is stolen from the Mafia. Hard to define — it's neither a thriller nor a love story — this gangster movie displays a totally unexpected and abundant Gallic charm, while Sarandon is the perfect foil for Lancaster.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Elegiac character drama which often achieves the mood it seeks but on the whole remains too understated for its own good. There are some rich characterizations from Lancaster, as the loser revitalized by murder, Kate Reid as his elderly harridan of a love