VividSimon Simply Perfect

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Jackson Booth-Millard I spotted this film listed in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, it was an easy title to remember when it was available to me, so with the two leads I noticed I was certainly going to watch it. Basically elderly long time Atlantic City, New Jersey resident and small time gangster Lou Pascal (BAFTA winning, and Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Burt Lancaster) used to think he was something big in the city. Trying to pick himself up in whatever way he can he one day meets up with Sally Matthews (Oscar nominated Susan Sarandon) who is trying to become a casino croupier and realise her dream to go to Monte Carlo. Wanting to get a better life in the gambling business, this is sidetracked by the return of her drug dealing husband who has stolen drugs from the Mafia, and he tries to sell the drugs to Lou, this is partly how they get to know each other also. So Lou and Sally are eventually together in the same room, and seemingly on the run from whoever wants the drugs or money, and obviously the do threaten if they don't get them back. Also starring Michel Piccoli as Joseph, Hollis McLaren as Chrissie, Robert Joy as Dave Matthews, Kate Reid as Grace Pinza, Moses Znaimer as Felix, Al Waxman as Alfie, Beetle Juice's Robert Goulet as Singer, Angus MacInnes as Vinnie, Sean Sullivan as Buddy, Toy Story's Wallace Shawn as Waiter and Elias Koteas as Extra. I will confess that I did not fully understand all of the story, but I enjoyed the characters played by Lancaster and Sarandon, and of course their interaction, and the moments of chasing or whatever, so for that it is a most watchable crime drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director for Louis Malle and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, it won the BAFTA for Best Direction, and it was nominated for Best Film and Best Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Director and Best Foreign Film. Very good!

MartinHafer "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.

HelloTexas11 'Atlantic City' draws its two main characters so well, and they are so well acted by Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, that it is only at the end that we feel let down for caring about two people who frankly don't deserve it. There are points in this finely directed and well-written film where we think something wonderful (or tragic) will happen to them, that they've gotten a lucky break which will enable them to break free from their shallow dreams (or perhaps go down in flames), but in the end, they go right on living like they did before, albeit with a little more money. I daresay everyone on the planet has known someone like Sarandon's Sally, a young woman struggling to make it who's already been through a bad marriage and hard times and is trying to start over. She's pretty but not gorgeous, energetic; she's also foolish, a little crazy, and emotionally unstable to a degree. Sally is training to be a casino dealer, a career she almost blindly hopes will solve all her problems and maybe even allow her to live in France. She approaches the training with all the fervor of someone who's been talked into a pyramid scheme. But just below the almost manic surface, one can tell she is bound to burn out on the idea sooner or later. She never gets the chance though. Burt Lancaster is Lou Pascal, a former mobster (so he says) who hasn't been outside of Atlantic City in twenty-seven years, even though there is nothing for him there anymore, if in fact there ever really was. He is reduced to taking fifty-cent bets from people, mostly tenement dwellers in the poor black community. His companion of sorts is Grace, a woman about his age who, like him, lives in a past that frankly doesn't sound like it's much worth reliving. He waits on her, gets her groceries and does other errands for no particularly good reason other than he's been doing it so long, it's become a habit. They argue a lot but seem to feel genuine affection for each other. Atlantic City itself is shown in the early days of the casino boom, where there are two kinds of people: those like Sally who are going to work in the casinos, and those like Lou and Grace who are being pushed aside to make room for the glitzy gambling dens. The old run-down hotels are being torn down. Lou lives in a shabby room in one of them, as does Sally next door, though they don't know each at first. Lou finds himself unexpectedly making big money dealing cocaine (inadvertently courtesy of Sally's ex-husband) and begins playing the high-roller he always wanted to be, and pretends that he once was. But he really does have a heart, and he tries to help and 'protect' Sally. As a quirky slice-of-life, 'Atlantic City' hits almost all the right notes. But as a satisfying drama/character study, it leaves us hanging with an 'is that all there is?' kind of feeling. The thing about the ending isn't that it's such a huge downer, but that it is neither here nor there. We half-expect Lou to die trying to help Sally, or Sally to come to the realization she's been used and that learning French really isn't the answer. Instead, Sally steals most of the drug money from Lou and takes off down the road, none the wiser as far as can be told. And Lou goes back to Grace; the last shot is of them walking down the boardwalk, apparently content to be back where they started. It's more depressing than a genuinely depressing ending.

bkoganbing In his fourth Academy Award nominated role Burt Lancaster essays the role of Lou Pasco, low level numbers runner and guardian and service provider to Kate Reid, a former gangster's moll from the old days. As you might have reasonably guessed from the title role this all takes place in Atlantic City which in 1980 was undergoing a rebirth.The one time resort town was undergoing a face-lift when this film takes place. Legalized gambling was coming in and a lot of the old town was being torn down to make room for spanking new casinos. Burt's story parallels that of Susan Sarandon who is working in one of the hotel buffet lines and also going to school to learn to be a dealer when new casinos do finally open up. They live in adjoining buildings.But like the proverbial bad penny her husband Robert Joy shows up with a pregnant Holly McLaren. Joy has stolen a nice little package of heroin from the mob and he's looking to make a quick sale. He brings Lancaster into the deal, but manages to get himself killed in the process. That forces Lancaster and Sarandon into an alliance of convenience, but who would think at Burt's age and he was 76 when he made Atlantic City, he'd find love as well. Both Lancaster and Sarandon are so good as players they don't look foolish in the romance department.And after over 30 years in the lower levels of the underworld, Burt finally makes his bones. It's a surprise unto himself.Atlantic City was shot in Atlantic City, an Atlantic City we'll not see any more because it's now looking so different than what you're seeing in this film. Some interior stuff was shot in Montreal and the film wrapped on the last day of 1980 and released in 1981.Atlantic City got Oscar nominations for Lancaster and for Susan Sarandon and both ran up against On Golden Pond and lost to Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn. Director Louis Malle and the film itself were up as well, but lost to Warren Beatty for Reds and Chariots of Fire for Best Film. Chariots of Fire writer Colin Welland also beat writer John Guare for Best Original Screenplay. Five nominations, but not a winner for any of the categories.Still Atlantic City has become a minor classic and it did revive the career of Burt Lancaster somewhat. Lancaster was aging and he knew it. He transitioned nicely into character parts in his last productive decade as a result of Atlantic City.Not a bad reason for him to take this film assignment.