Atlantic City (film)
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| Atlantic City | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Louis Malle |
| Produced by | Denis Héroux, John Kemeny |
| Written by | John Guare |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  2 September 1980 (premiere at VFF) 3 September 1980 19 December 1980 3 April 1981 1 October 1981 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | Canada/France |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$7,200,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
- For other uses, see Atlantic City (disambiguation).
Atlantic City is a film directed by Louis Malle. Filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in 1980 and in the United States in 1981. The script was written by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McClaren, Michael Piccoli, and Al Waxman.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The film begins in the immediate aftermath of legalized gambling in Atlantic City in 1978. The film opens with a shot of the old Traymore Hotel being demolished to make way for the new resorts and casinos that are to be opened.
The film tells the story of a Canadian woman, Sally Matthews (Sarandon), whose has come to Atlantic City to pursue a better life in the gambling business. She lands a job in the Oyster Bar at the newly-opened Resorts Casino, and studies to be a blackjack dealer. Her ex-husband Dave has followed her to Atlantic City, along with Sally's flower child sister Chrissie (who is pregnant with Dave's child). He is in town to sell drugs that he stole from a couple of Philadelphia gangsters. Horrified to see them or to even be associated with them due to Dave's criminal past, which cost her a chance to obtain employment in Las Vegas, Sally reluctantly puts them up for the evening.
Living next door to Sally is Lou Pasco (Lancaster), an aging numbers runner who is left with the responsibility of caring for Grace (Kate Reid), the widow of his old boss, gangster Cookie Pinza. Lou is a romantic who lives in the past of Atlantic City's glory days as a premiere ocean resort. He likes to think that he was a tough gangster, yet for the most part Lou was an errand boy, a numbers runner for the mob, and never really mattered in the world of organized crime that infiltrated Atlantic City. Grace is a miserable woman who breaks Lou down every chance she gets, but Lou is dependent on her for his livelihood, especially since the recently legalized gambling is pushing the illegal numbers rackets to the margins. His mundane life consists of taking care of Grace's needs and wandering through the poorest Atlantic City neighborhoods, trying to drum up any business for his local bookie, Fred.
Lou's romantic side is refired when he takes notice of his new neighbor Sally. Every night he watches from the shadows of his apartment as she bathes in lemon juice to wash off the smell of fish that she gets from the Oyster Bar.
Sally and Lou's paths cross when Dave tries to sell the cocaine he has obtained. Dave goes into the aging Club Harlem and meets Fred, the bookie that Lou works for. Fred tells him that the city, drugs-wise, has hit a dry spell and that the cocaine is a welcomed sight. Dave tells him where he got the drugs and Fred reluctantly gives him the name of a man who runs a local card game. Lou, who is also in the bar, is enlisted by Dave. They use Lou’s apartment to mix the cocaine; Chrissie occupies herself with taking care of Grace, to Lou’s delight. Due to Lou’s respectable appearance (Dave is disheveled an unshaven from weeks of being out on the road) Dave asks Lou to make the first deal for him. Lou reluctantly agrees, but Fred has tipped off the Philly gangsters from whom Dave stole, and they murder Dave before Lou returns.
Lou and Sally meet at the hospital where she has come to identify Dave's body. Taking the initiative now that he has not only the money from the drug deal, but the remaning drugs that have yet to be sold, Lou takes Sally under his wing. He arranges for Dave's body to be sent back to Canada, wines and dines Sally, buys himself sharp new clothes, and tells her stories of his criminal past, including a friendship with famed Las Vegas gangster Bugsy Siegel. Sally is puzzled by Lou's generosity, but she accepts his kindness for she believes Lou can help her succeed as a blackjack dealer, and eventually help her get to Monaco where she dreams of being a dealer. Lou makes several more deals with the card game man, and clears several thousand dollars. His renewed sense of pride entices him to make a play at first Grace, and then Sally. He admits to Sally that he watches her take her "lemon baths." Sally is surprised by his candidness yet she also is aroused by his actions and she makes love to him.
Their moment of bliss is interrupted when the Philly gangsters come after Sally for the money and the remaining drugs. Sally is beaten up by one of the gangsters while the other holds a knife on Lou. Beaten and disheveled, Sally checks on Chrissie, finding her beaten in Sally's apartment, which has been trashed by the gangsters as they searched for the drugs. Grace, upset by Lou’s erratic behavior, rips in to him in front of Sally. Grace tells Sally the truth about Lou’s past, that he is only a small-time hood. Embarrassed, he goes to his apartment to pack a bag and flee, taking the last of the drugs and a gun.
Grace and Sally attend to Chrissie. Chrissie tells Sally about the cocaine and how Lou and Dave sold it. Sally is enraged that Lou took the money that she has been so inconvinced for. Meanwhile, Lou goes to sell the last of drugs and tells the card game man to call Fred and let him pass the word to the gangsters that he has their money and not Sally. The man does not have enough money to buy the whole batch, so Lou gives him most of it keeping a small amount. Lou then strolls out on to the Boardwalk and is quickly seen by the two gangsters. He ducks in to Resorts for safety.
Sally goes to her blackjack class where she is informed by hotel personnel that due to her connection with Dave, whose death has become big news, she is not allowed to become a blackjack dealer due to New Jersey's strict gaming laws which prohibit anyone with crimnal connections from working in a casino. Enraged that she has been fired after all her hard work, Sally storms out and tells her girlfriend at the Oyster Bar about her firing. Her girlfriend tells her that she has seen Lou in the casino and that she should ask him for money. Sally storms in to the casino to confront Lou who is playing blackjack. Lou is being harassed by the two gangsters when Sally interrupts. She causes a scene and is put out by hotel security, but not before she slaps the gangster who has beaten her up. As she is being escorted out Lou quietly leaves and and gets into a cab. Sally follows him to the Atlantic City Bus Terminal where Lou tries to board a bus to New York. Sally convinces the driver that Lou is her senile father trying to run away, and the driver puts Lou off the bus.
Sally and Lou fight with each other on their way back to town but are intercepted by the Philly gangsters, who are by now quite angry. As the two make for Sally and Lou, Lou pulls out his gun and kills both. Sally and he then take the gangster's car and flee the scene. Lou is excited about finally proving himself as a gangster, yet Sally is shaken by the event. The two flee to a small motel just outside Atlantic City. Lou tries to pay the toll out of town with a thousand dollar bill and later a hundred. The shocked toll booth operator lends them the quarter toll.
In the safety of the motel, where Lou is celebrating with champagne and watching the TV news about the shooting, Sally asks him to tell her about his association with Bugsy Siegel. Lou admits to her that he only meet Siegel once while the two of them where in jail for drunk and disordely. He admits that he was not honest about his past but that now with all the money he and Sally could start a new life in Miami. Sally is unsure, saying she would still like to go to France, but Lou does not hear her as he is still watching the news; a sketch of him as a suspect is shown, making him ecstatic.
The next morning Lou gets up early and phones Grace to tell her what happened. Grace is still upset with Lou abandoning her (Grace is taking care of Chrissie, whom she agrees to send back to Canada), yet she is impressed with Lou's action. While he is on the phone with Grace, Sally awakes, and seeing Lou is not there goes through his pockets and takes most of the drug money and the car keys. Before she can get away, Lou re-enters and says he wants some pizza. Sally offers to go get it, and Lou replies by telling her to ditch the car so that the police don’t catch up with her. She thanks him for saving her life and taking care of her and then takes the car and drives off.
Lou returns to Atlantic City with one more trick up his sleeve. He has Grace take the remaining drugs to the card game man and makes the deal for a thousand dollars. The two of them stroll down the Boardwalk arm in arm, Grace obviously proud to be with Lou.
[edit] Production
Atlantic City was filmed in the United States, but was a co-production between companies based in Canada and France. Aside from Burt Lancaster, Susan Saranson, Kate Reid, and local extras, most of the cast originated from Canada or France.
The production companies alloted Louis Malle the money to make a film with the stipulation that it be made within a certain period of time. Malle had a difficult time finding the right script to direct and with time running out his then girlfriend Susan Sarandon suggested using a story written by her friend John Guare, a playwright most notable for his plays House of Blue Leaves and Four Baboons. Guare suggested that the story take place in Atlantic City, which was still for the most part suffering from the urban deterioation that prompted the legalization of gambling as a solution to save the city. The three met over dinner in early 1979 to work out the quirks in the script and immediately began shooting within a few months.
The film begain principal photography on October 31, 1979 and wrapped by the fifth day of the new year. Malle filmed at an opportune time in that he was able to capture old Atlantic City: gambling was still in its early stages there, with only two casino hotels - Resorts, and Caesars Atlantic City - being open (Bally's Park Place would open on December 30, toward the end of the principal photography). Most of the city's old resorts and entertainment piers were still standing, albeit in a severe state of disrepair. Within a couple of years of the filming, most of the these old hotels would fall victim to the wrecking ball as they were replaced with new casinos.
Louis Malle hired composer Michael Legrand to write a score for the film, which he did. In the end, however, Malle decided against using a score for the film, and opted for all the music in the film to be diegetic: the only music used is that which exists in the world of the characters (i.e. radios, musical instruments, etc).
[edit] Filming locations
The opening shot of the old Traymore Hotel being demolished is shown to convey the notion that the city's old hotels were being demolished to make way for the new casinos. However, the Traymore was in fact demolished in 1972, years before the gambling referendum passed in New Jersey. The referendum passed in 1976 and the first hotel to open up was Resorts, formly the Chafonte-Haddon Hall, in 1978.
When Dave and Chrissie are seen hitchicking in to Atlantic City from Philadelphia, they pass a large model elephant on their way in to town. The elephant, named Lucy, was a tourist attraction built in 1881 to lure potential land buyers to South Atlantic City (now called Margate), a small town south of Atlantic City. Left to deterioate over the years, and on the brink of demolition in 1971, the residents of Margate raised the money to have her restored. Today Lucy still stands in Margate and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The club where Dave and Lou meet was the famed Club Harlem which opened in 1935 on Kentucky Avenue, and was the premiere nightclub for black tourists visiting Atlantic City. The club would open and close frequently from 1968 on, and eventually closed for good by the end of the eighties. It was torn down in 1992.
[edit] Awards
The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1980 in a tie with John Cassavetes' Gloria.
Atlantic City was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Burt Lancaster), Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. In 2003 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
[edit] External links
- Atlantic City at the Internet Movie Database
- http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/REVIEWS08/512040301/1023
| Preceded by No awards 1969-1979 Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos (1968) |
Golden Lion winner 1980 tied with Gloria |
Succeeded by Marianne and Julianne |
