The Gambler

THE GAMBLER, directed by Karel Reisz, stars James Caan in a difficult role as Alex Freed, a compulsive gambler with many inner demons, who is completely out of control. He can't resist a bad bet because that's where the "juice" is. While his irrational rationalizations--largely influenced by Dostoyevsky, whose novel, THE GAMBLER, he teaches to his students at City College--might seem like a lot of existential hot air, they are well dramatized, making his descent downward believable even as his actions become increasingly frenetic. (official distributor synopsis)