The Gambler

source: The Gambler

Moviecut—The Gambler

The Gambler (1980) is a movie that I recently watched on Prime. The storyline follows a young, eager gambler and an aged gambler ready to get out of the game. When the aging gambler is told his son sent a message for help, he hits the road with his young friend and some new ones to save his son. This movie is directed by Dick Lowry (Smokey and the Bandit Part 3) and stars Kenny Rogers (Six Pack), Bruce Boxleitner (Tron), Harold Gould (The Sting), Christine Belford (Christine), Lee Purcell (Kids vs Monsters) and Cathy Worthington (JAG). The characters in this are very entertaining as is the dialogue. The chemistry between the cast keeps your interest throughout the movie. Rogers and Boxleitner play off each other perfectly. The circumstances are always fun and Rogers is cool and an easy character to root for. The writing is pretty good and I enjoyed how the circumstances were unpredictable. The subplots were also pretty worthwhile. Overall, this is a bit of an underrated western. I would score this an 8/10 and strongly recommend it.

This movie was actually quite fun. Plus, Christine Belford is an amazing actress and a striking beauty. As remarkable as it used to get. I can see why this Kenny Rogers character spun off in to decades long sequels.

Young buck Billy Montana (Bruce Boxleitner) is on his way to San Francisco to play a big poker tournament and make his name. He's stuck in El Paso train station and joins a local game. When the game gets rough, a stranger comes to his rescue. He challenges the stranger to a game and promptly gets taken to the cleaners. He doesn't realize that his opponent is legendary gambler Brady Hawkes (Kenny Rogers). Brady had received a letter from a son, he didn't know he had, who is begging for help. This may not be great cinema but it was darn good TV back in the day. Kenny Rogers may not be a great actor but he's functional in limited range. Boxleitner was great TV leading man back in the 80's although Billy is a bit too dumb. All in all, this is a good TV movie.

Kenny Rogers stars as an old-line gambler, and Bruce Boxleitner as a young gambler whom Rogers schools in the ways of getting out alive. It's a TV movie based on Rogers' hit song, and looks to be the sort of show intended to augur in a series. None eventuated; Rogers was more than busy with his music gigs and occasional cameos. Rogers does a good job, and Boxleitner brings a lot of youthful, nervous energy to his role. Joseph Biroc offers his usual excellent camerawork, with the bare, high peaks of Arizona filmed quite beautifully.

Considering that this is a made-for-TV Western starring terminally bland and innocuous middle-of-the-road lounge lizard country crooner Kenny Rogers in the lead, I naturally had low expectations about this one. Well, my dire predictions about this picture turned out to be wrong. This feature ain't half bad. Sure, it's no masterpiece, but it's a most acceptable and enjoyable telepic oater inspired by the marvelously atmospheric hit tune. Rogers acquits himself with reasonable assurance and aptitude as wily, weary, worn-out, but still agile and astute itinerant poker player par excellence Brady Hawkes. Bruce Boxleitner is equally personable as Billy Montana, a flashy, cocky, wet-behind-the-ears aspiring gambler Hawkes befriends. Jim Byrnes' hackneyed, by-the-numbers script offers no unusual or surprising plot developments, but fortunately Dick Lowry's competent direction, Larry Cansler's robust, rousing, flavorsome score, and Joseph Biroc's handsome cinematography compensate for the trite story. The top-rate cast qualifies as another major asset: Harold Gould as a powerful, arrogant railroad baron, Christine Belford as Rogers' neglected, estranged wife, Lee Purcell as a plucky former lowly * turned proud high society lady, Lance LeGault as a cunning, but honorable card sharp, and Clu Gulager as a mean, grasping brute with a secret grudge against Rogers. A subplot involving Rogers bonding with his long ignored son is handled with commendable tact and restraint, while the inevitable big stakes poker game finale delivers the tense thrills something nice. A sizable ratings smash, this film was followed by several sequels of varying quality.

"The Gambler" is a made-for-TV Western-movie, directed by Dick Lowry in 1980. Basic plot: Brady Hawkes (played by Kenny Rogers) is a famous poker player everybody wants to play against. On his trip to New Orleans, he gets to know about his son, who asks him in a letter to help him and his mother. Together with Billy Montana (played by Bruce Boxleitner), an avid poker gamer and a gunman, they are on the way to Hawkes' own problems; including an old enemy of Hawkes sending three assassins against him... I just finished watching this on VHS before writing this review, this because I actually enjoyed this Western-movie. The storytelling was good, and music artist Kenny Rogers does a great performance as the famous gambler who does things with honesty. Bruce Boxleitner also does a great job as a gambler, but also a gunman. The old VHS edition I have was released in Norway by former video distributor VIP Scandinavia AS/MDC Video during the 80s, and was rated 16. According the the video cover, this film was the most popular feature being shown on TV in USA in 1980. For a conclusion, I wish to recommend anybody who enjoys TV-movies or Westerns to watch this movie at least once. My overall rating: 9/10.

There is a part inside everyman, a restless yearning for freedom, for adventure, that is squelched by the confines of this modern world. "The Gambler" is a film that reaches deep within the viewer, pulls out this desire, dusts it off and hands it a six-shooter. This movie is almost primal in its intimacy and unflinching in its portal of a broken man, cracked at the edges, trying to grasp to life before it overcomes him. Kenny Rogers plays Brady Hawkes with an almost effortless, Burt Reynolds-like cool. But behind the charisma lurks demons that threaten to overtake him. I haven't seen Kenny Rogers in any other movie, so I don't know how much is acting and how much is not, but regardless, the performance is brutal. I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, because the experience of this film is not one to be missed. It will stay with you. After the movie was over, I looked at the box and saw it was only a mere 94 minutes long. It felt like a lifetime had passed.

I admit that it's pretty lame when the title of your movie is literally the actor as the title role. I am not going to see the other films in this series simply because they're too long and I didn't like this enough to see the other installments. I do like the environment this movie sets up. Everything is pretty interesting to look at and Kenny Rogers plays a good, well, gambler. It's strange how he is in fact given a name in the movie, Brady. I had to see this movie because according to Poobala's crossover website, the film series connects eight Westerns together! Yes, according to him, the films put together feature characters and elements from "Bat Masterson", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Kung Fu", "The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp", "Maverick", "The Rifleman", and "The Westerner"! This movie only features those from "The Rifleman", "The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp", and "Cheyenne". It really is a pity that there weren't any characters from "Gunsmoke", easily the most famous of all these Westerns. I never grew up watching ANY of these shows. Honestly, I don't even think the Laff A Lympics brought together eight shows! This has more links than anything else on Poobala's website. While I just found this passable, I really do admire this series featuring characters from nearly every popular Western of the 1950's and 1960's. I know I'd get a lot of facts wrong if I went into further detail. While it's too bad I'm not familiar with any of these shows, if you are, then check this out! **1/2