Really different setting and characters, all different backgrounds and it all unfolds so well. Great to see that Burt got some good roles near the end of his career, like this and in LOCAL HERO.
Louis Malle's Atlantic City is aptly named. Not only is it the setting of the story, but Burt Lancaster's down-on-his-luck, talking-about-glory-days-that-never-happened, small-time crook Lou is the city's very avatar. Like the place we're presented, he's cheap under his vainglorious veneer. He makes promises that are impermanent, as Lady Luck tosses him and the people around him this way and that. And he's kind of fine with it, despite his ambitions. He's seen better days, but they were never that great, you know? Much more plotty than other Malle films I'm aware of, it's also a pretty good crime fiasco where the leads are ambitious but hapless (the Coen Bros. would soon take this formula and run with it), but the picture doesn't want to judge them for it. It makes the dramatic irony an undercurrent rather than a top filter.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Zeltaebar
"I don't use seatbelts. I don't believe in gravity".aussieflickfan
Really different setting and characters, all different backgrounds and it all unfolds so well. Great to see that Burt got some good roles near the end of his career, like this and in LOCAL HERO.Siskoid
Louis Malle's Atlantic City is aptly named. Not only is it the setting of the story, but Burt Lancaster's down-on-his-luck, talking-about-glory-days-that-never-happened, small-time crook Lou is the city's very avatar. Like the place we're presented, he's cheap under his vainglorious veneer. He makes promises that are impermanent, as Lady Luck tosses him and the people around him this way and that. And he's kind of fine with it, despite his ambitions. He's seen better days, but they were never that great, you know? Much more plotty than other Malle films I'm aware of, it's also a pretty good crime fiasco where the leads are ambitious but hapless (the Coen Bros. would soon take this formula and run with it), but the picture doesn't want to judge them for it. It makes the dramatic irony an undercurrent rather than a top filter.boulderman
Wonderful escapism storylineshitmovies
Dirty, messy, poor. Lancaster is the thin thread keeping this split garbage bag together.