The Gambler

“For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000.”

By day Axel (James Caan) teaches English at a New York college, and nothing about him suggests the nights he spends chasing bets. His debts to loan sharks like Hips (Paul Sorvino) are climbing past what a professor's salary can cover, and his mother, Naomi (Jacqueline Brookes), is standing close enough to get hurt. Karel Reisz follows him through the grainy, worn rooms where he keeps betting, with his job, his family and his life as the stakes.