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''The Gambler'' is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Creator/JacquelineBrookes lead the cast.

Axel Freed (Caan) is a literature professor, engaging and popular with his students. He is also an out-of-control gambling addict. At the start of the film he has a spectacularly bad night at the craps tables, enough for affable bookie Hips (Sorvino) to be concerned. He goes to his doctor mother (Brookes) for help, and she reluctantly fronts him enough money to get out of trouble. He takes his girlfriend Billie (Hutton) to Las Vegas to build on his fortune. After what initially seems to be a hot night for him, his luck goes bad again and he once more lacks the money to pay off his debt. While he hopes that his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky) will bail him out, the chief loan shark (Vic Tayback) informs him that the old man has already refused. That leaves him with basketball star Spencer (Carl W. Crudup) as his last hope.

Toback’s screenplay is officially original, but bears resemblance to a story of the same name by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, and Dostoevsky’s work is discussed in Axel’s class.

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''The Gambler'' is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Creator/JacquelineBrookes lead the cast.

cast; with Creator/LuiseRainer in the role of a secondary character.

Axel Freed (Caan) is a literature professor, engaging and popular with his students. He is also an out-of-control gambling addict. At the start of the film film, he has a spectacularly bad night at the craps tables, enough for affable bookie Hips (Sorvino) to be concerned. He goes to his doctor doctor's mother (Brookes) for help, and she reluctantly fronts him enough money to get out of trouble. He takes his girlfriend Billie (Hutton) to Las Vegas to build on his fortune. After what initially seems to be a hot night for him, his luck goes bad again and he once more lacks the money to pay off his debt. While he hopes that his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky) will bail him out, the chief loan shark (Vic Tayback) informs him that the old man has already refused. That leaves him with basketball star Spencer (Carl W. Crudup) as his last hope.

Toback’s screenplay is officially original, original but bears resemblance to a story of the same name by Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, and Dostoevsky’s work is discussed in Axel’s class.
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* LoanShark: Who Axel ultimately owes money to. A lot of it.
* ThrowingTheFight: DownplayedTrope. [[spoiler: One lets Axel off the hook in exchange for bribing Spencer to shave enough points in a game so that his team doesn’t beat the spread. It barely works, as the coach takes him out of the game when he starts missing.]]

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* LoanShark: Who Whom Axel ultimately owes money to. A lot of it.
* ThrowingTheFight: DownplayedTrope. [[spoiler: One lets Axel off the hook in exchange for bribing Spencer to shave enough points in a game so that his team doesn’t beat the spread. It barely works, as the coach takes him out of the game when he starts missing.]]]]
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''The Gambler'' is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Jacqueline Brookes lead the cast.

to:

''The Gambler'' is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Jacqueline Brookes Creator/JacquelineBrookes lead the cast.
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* FauxAffablyEvil: While Hips is as nice a guy as you can be when your job is shaking money out of gamblers, enforcer Carmine (Burt Young) acts friendly but clearly enjoys hurting people on behalf of his employer, and he drags Axel along to get a look at what he can expect.

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* FauxAffablyEvil: While Hips is as nice a guy as you can be when your job is shaking money out of gamblers, enforcer Carmine (Burt Young) (Creator/BurtYoung) acts friendly but clearly enjoys hurting people on behalf of his employer, and he drags Axel along to get a look at what he can expect.

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The Gambler is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Jacqueline Brookes lead the cast.

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The Gambler [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_gambler_7.jpg]]

''The Gambler''
is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Jacqueline Brookes lead the cast.
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Toback’s screenplay is officially original, but bears resemblance to a story of the same name by Creator/FyodorDostoyevsky, and Dostoyevsky’s work is discussed in Axel’s class.

to:

Toback’s screenplay is officially original, but bears resemblance to a story of the same name by Creator/FyodorDostoyevsky, Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, and Dostoyevsky’s Dostoevsky’s work is discussed in Axel’s class.
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* LoanShark: Who Axel ultimately owes money to. A lot of it.
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Added DiffLines:

The Gambler is a 1974 American film directed by Czech-British Karel Reisz from a script by James Toback. Creator/JamesCaan, Lauren Hutton, Creator/PaulSorvino, and Jacqueline Brookes lead the cast.

Axel Freed (Caan) is a literature professor, engaging and popular with his students. He is also an out-of-control gambling addict. At the start of the film he has a spectacularly bad night at the craps tables, enough for affable bookie Hips (Sorvino) to be concerned. He goes to his doctor mother (Brookes) for help, and she reluctantly fronts him enough money to get out of trouble. He takes his girlfriend Billie (Hutton) to Las Vegas to build on his fortune. After what initially seems to be a hot night for him, his luck goes bad again and he once more lacks the money to pay off his debt. While he hopes that his grandfather (Morris Carnovsky) will bail him out, the chief loan shark (Vic Tayback) informs him that the old man has already refused. That leaves him with basketball star Spencer (Carl W. Crudup) as his last hope.

Toback’s screenplay is officially original, but bears resemblance to a story of the same name by Creator/FyodorDostoyevsky, and Dostoyevsky’s work is discussed in Axel’s class.

!!Tropes present in ''The Gambler'':
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Billie is clearly attracted to Axel’s spontaneous, dangerous nature. He pushes her past the line, though.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: A speech Axel gives at his grandfather’s birthday party suggests that he’s actually envious of the hardships the older man faced coming up in the world.
* ClosetShuffle: The guy Carmine goes to collect from hides in the closet while his wife tells Carmine that he’s out of town.
* FacialHorror: [[spoiler: Axel picks a fight with a pimp and the hooker he’s with slashes his face to defend said pimp. Axel actually looks happy about this once he escapes.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: While Hips is as nice a guy as you can be when your job is shaking money out of gamblers, enforcer Carmine (Burt Young) acts friendly but clearly enjoys hurting people on behalf of his employer, and he drags Axel along to get a look at what he can expect.
* TheGamblingAddict: Axel is a very self-aware version, even telling Hips that he knows gamblers like him actually want to lose.
* GratuitousItalian: Hips drops Italian into his collection calls because he knows his marks don’t speak it and it make him sound more intimidating.
* HopeSpot: Axel goes to bed in Vegas thinking he’s won big in a [[UsefulNotes/IvyLeague Harvard-Brown]] basketball game. As it turns out Brown totally turned things around after halftime.
* ThrowingTheFight: DownplayedTrope. [[spoiler: One lets Axel off the hook in exchange for bribing Spencer to shave enough points in a game so that his team doesn’t beat the spread. It barely works, as the coach takes him out of the game when he starts missing.]]

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