Atlantic City

source: Atlantic City

Trailer—Atlantic City

Atlantic City

"Atlantic City" has a lot of good acting but I sure found it to be a thoroughly unpleasant film. You've got an aging petty crook (Burt Lancaster), a drug dealing user, a doormat of a woman (Susan Sarandon), her bizarre and spacey sister and a nasty old lady with an equally nasty dog--all of which are hard to care in the least about and one who is just thoroughly despicable. Throw them into a thoroughly seedy and run-down environment and you've got a film that I found oppressively awful and hard to watch or care about in any way. Obviously I am not the voice of everyone, as the film received five Oscar nominations--though I really cannot see why. For me to enjoy a film, in most cases I need to have SOMEONE that I can relate to or care about, but in this film there wasn't even one. By the time it was all over, I just felt I needed a bath and never wanted to see this film again.

Louis Malle's "Atlantic City" is as much a look at the changes that the east coast's gambling mecca was undergoing as it is a story of an aging gangster and a waitress. The elderly Lou (Burt Lancaster) talks about how the city used to be. Of course, part of what the movie shows is that even the renovation can't truly hide the gritty side of things, as the thugs are looking for the cocaine. The most famous scene is Sally's (Susan Sarandon) rubbing the lemon juice on herself to get the fish smell off, but the demolition of the old buildings, the crime bosses, and the whole end sequence tell plenty of stories as well. A very good movie. PS: Watch for an appearance by Wallace Shawn as a waiter. Malle soon afterwards cast him in "My Dinner with Andre".

"Atlantic City" is the movie wherein my crush on Susan Sarandon (and her figure) reached full flower. She is klutzy, strong-willed, and hopeful as an aspiring casino dealer at the dawn of Las Vegas East. Burt Lancaster gives a heart-rending performance as a two-bit crook who has simply outlived all the real thugs. It was like watching a mighty oak refuse to shed its last few tender leaves before succumbing to the frigid indifference of Winter. Louis Malle keeps the movie moving along amiably, and the few weak points (the ex-husband, occasional overacting by SS, some viewers may also find BL a bit hammy for their tastes) are not particularly dire. The film evokes the spirit of the great film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s. Think Coen Bros. served with a thick glaze of sentimentality. Comic yet poignant, "Atlantic City" is one of the Best Films of the Eighties (says I). "Tutti-frutti ice cream and craps don't mix."

"Atlantic City" is a great film where the setting is just as rich and complex a character as the people traversing its streets (and boardwalk). Louis Malle delivers one of the most understated directorial turns working with a delightfully witty script (that has many great lines, like the one above) and a great cast (Lancaster perfect in a comeback role, Sarandon stunning in one of her early great performances). Things are so subtle here that you don't even realize you just watched a work of art until it is over. Atlantic City is shown truthfully (in despair, in shadowed glory, and in the glitz and glamor that was to return thanks to the casinos circa the late 70's) and the people inhabiting it gloriously reflect all of those varying degrees. This is the human condition (searching for that first break or that last chance) in all its quiet charms.

ATLANTIC CITY is one of those perfect little movies in which writing, direction, acting, and setting all come together seamlessly. The story is a subtle and wistful blending of comedy and drama that is both true to life and touching. There is great resonance between the characters' situations and the mood of Atlantic City, beautifully captured at a pivotal time in its history. Burt Lancaster gives one of the great performances of all time and really should have won the Oscar. Susan Sarandon is also superb, and their scenes together are unforgettable. Kate Reid as a faded gangster's moll is a standout in the fine supporting cast. This is perhaps Louis Malle's finest movie, and, in my opinion, one of the 10 best movies of the 80s.

In the mid-'70s, Malle embarked upon a decade-long visit to America where, after 'Pretty Baby,' a sensitive but finally tedious look at child prostitution in 1971 New Orleans, he makes 'Atlantic City', in which an aging small-time mobster sees his romanticized memories of villainy become reality when he acts as father confessor, protector and, finally, lover to a lonely young croupier... Part romantic comedy, part thriller, part fairy-tale, the film is simultaneously mythic and rooted in reality and charms through its wry acknowledgment of human delusions and its tender portrait of passion and dignity regained... "Atlantic City" received critical acclaim and was nominated for five Oscars (best actor, best actress, best director, best film and best original screenplay), although it won none... It was to be Louis Malle's most successful film...

Burt Lancaster gives an astonishing performance aching with melancholy in this lovely, quiet little film by Louis Malle. He plays a one-time gangster (in his own mind at least quite a big shot) who, like the city that gives the film its title, isn't what he used to be. Susan Sarandon, in an early-career performance, plays a woman who works in one of the casinos and whose life intersects with Lancaster's because of a drug deal her no-good husband was involved in. The two don't ever become friends exactly, but they each get something from the other until the sad ending, when Lancaster realizes that there isn't a place in his life for Sarandon, and that there may not be a place in the world for him. The film is a low-key character study that completely satisfies, and gives Lancaster perhaps his last great role. Grade: A.