Atlantic City

Just outstanding

A crime thriller/romantic drama, a little lackluster but redeemed by its heartfelt, bittersweet ending. Burt Lancaster is terrific as the delusional, wannabe big-shot... Susan Sarandon is merely passable, but she's saddled with an inconsistent, poorly-defined character. It's rather amusing that Wallace Shawn plays a waiter here, and a diner in Malle's next film (My Dinner With Andre).

Out of this elegiac comedy on Old Age and the Changing Times, Lancaster's fans ought to get the same sort of sentimental tingles that John Wayne's got from _True Grit_. The sentimentality of Guare's script is alleviated not so much by the occasional touches of absurdism, which occasionally become touches of just plain silliness, but by the solid, old-fashioned craftsmanship. And Malle brings an always tasteful eye to an environment that entices and encourages a vulgar one.

Coenesque feel in the simultaneous affection and irreverence with which the characters are treated, and the minutely-detailed yet anti-realistic presentation. I think my favourite moment is when Grace, after all the references to her dead husband, responds to the prospect of his reincarnation with "You mean Cookie's coming BACK?", not with excitement but perfectly delivered comic dread. Also v cute how Springsteen lifted the chorus of you-know-what right from her scenes with Chrissie.

Wonderful drama, with a sublime Lancaster as ageing gangster looking for final redemption; Sarandon matches him as local woman yearning to break free. Malle assembles the film using Altman-esque overlapping dialogue and scenes in the first half which gives a marvellous sense of the community, while gradually dragging all threads together for a quietly moving second half and finale. Love Goulet's cameo, and supporting cast (especially Reid) breathe life into a colourful array of characters.

The film captures that sense of inner decay in the characters reflected in the crumbling city surrounding them. And that sense of things turning around for the better despite the fact that they most often never do.

An interesting film for various reasons. Burt is phenomenal.

Lancaster gives what may be his best performance as an aging gangster gofer who romanticizes the old mob days and inflates his own part in their history. The low-key direction and taut, pointed screenplay played out against the backdrop of a dying city combine to make this a genuinely moving, elegaic film.

Elegiac character drama which often achieves the mood it seeks but on the whole remains too understated for its own good.

A peculiar dramedy hybrid. The stabs at humor often seemed pretty lame (especially at the beginning). The two leads very good throughout. Poor Burt is living upstairs from Ernestine Borgnine in this one. Joy is miscast (and rather inept). Not sure I got the point of the finale...was it some sort of spoof of a Hollywood ending? On the whole, the film seemed rather slight. Much ado about...something.

One usually expects movies of this ilk to be darker and hard-edged. This is Louis Malle however, so it's accordingly soft and reserved, and Lancaster plays his withered old man role nicely. Despite these admirable qualities, this came off as terribly unremarkable. Many of the characters are generalizations who lack necessary, sympathetic details. Their connections to each other are tenuous, and consequently I found myself struggling to care.

I like Lancaster's character and his performance, and Sarandon matches him beat for beat. It's a good movie, so I honestly don't know why I'm feeling a bit lukewarm about it.

So boring. Looks terrible, the actors feel miscast, one dimensional characters, etc. It's called Atlantic City but really it could've been set anywhere and the story would be exactly the same. Has a lot of subplots that don't really ever go anywhere too. Enjoyed Sarandon's titties though.

83.250

Not bad. As a drama it's presented in a way that's rather easily digestible - it's not the subtlest or most nuanced film around, there aren't a lot of dimensions to the protagonists emotionally... but it's not as ham-handed as to be unenjoyable, like most American dramas are. The story itself is fairly interesting, and in the bottom line, I recommend it as a somewhat light drama if you're up for that.

Malle's film is about the ways in the which the glimmers of remaining light at the end of the day can lure the most desperate into believing it's actually the unexpected emergence of a new dawn. Malle keeps it all grounded as the people onscreen go through the motions against the backdrop of a city marked by crumbling vestiges of brighter, bolder times. The seediness of the film is overpowering and genuine, the perfect visual manifestation of the crumbling existence of the main character.

I remember this being almost aggressively meh. I should probably watch it again--now knowing who Malle is--and observe as my opinion of the film wildly transforms into one of an intense appreciation of social subtlety and film-making finesse. *self sigh*

Everything dies baby that's a fact, maybe everything that dies someday comes back...

Very cool late-era Burt Lancaster role. A role so defeated and washed up you barely recognize him until the end. As a film about a city I wish it had more personality though. I get it's supposed to be a bit of a run-down city but you don't feel the frames dripping with atmosphere.

I can appreciate the ending and most of the early bits, but as soon as these characters got fleshed out, my interest sank. A rare disappointment from Malle.

I loved it.

An intriguing blending of genre tropes, from noir to romance to comedy into a drama that is both unique and utterly conventional. The parts have all been done before and the whole is often underwhelming, but there's an undercurrent of a life of hopes and opportunities seized and lost that makes something out of all the pieces.

# 830

Unheralded gem. Burt Lancaster does a perfect parody on Burt Lancaster. Opening scenes set the stage well.

É interessante pois ao contrário da maior parte dos filmes de máfia, este centra nos pequenos trambiqueiros e pessoas bem humildes. Os atores estão ótimos e mostram bem o jogo de ilusões e desilusões.

Lou: "A room. For me and my mother."

749

lemons :)

Many years since I saw this, but at the time I thought it was great.

Wallace Shawn cameo!!!

a fantastic late career role for the legendary burt lancaster. a very realistic mobster drama and then some......

A city much like Lou that thought it used to be something has to reckon with the fact that it probably isn't. It's just decaying and dying. With a faux-shpitz-y glamour. As someone once said Down here, it's just winners and losers and Don't get caught on the wrong side of that line

I appreciate the depth of character here, and the show-don't-tell attitude of the whole film; it's a good story and I tend to like this type of drama. On the other hand, I found Lou to be a totally unappealing if not downright icky person, so following him around for 90 minutes wasn't an all-around terrific deal. Some of the writing is just plain weird, too, and somewhat sexist, with Sarandon and her sensual lemon ritual, the incredibly stupid sister, the bedridden nagging lady...

87.000

Atlantic City is the type of film that Burt Lancaster excels at making, a character study about flawed people. Great performances by all.

The crumbling facade of the American Dream meets up with the seen-better-days Atlantic City. It really had that 70s-movies despair dripping throughout. The characters were strong; the plot a little hit-or-miss. I've watched a few too many down-and-out movies in the last few weeks, so perhaps this needs a rewatch to see what I missed.

The old lady with a poodle and a glorious past, usually a cliché character, is my favorite here. I'll never forget the way she's saying "I'm sorry. You're a wonderful man. Sometimes I forget to tell you how much I love you."

Susan Sarandon is always a pleasure to watch.

Nothing here is excellent, but as a whole very uniquely entertaining.

Kid got my name in Vegas. Harry Gropke sent him to me. When you come to Atlantic City, I'm the man to see.

Okay Movie

A cogently sorrowful drama from Malle, undressing the dark and drab realities of a supposedly glamorous capitalism through a thoughtful portrait of a nostalgic, caring, but ultimately "lost" protagonist, doomed by his own twisted view of fame and manhood. Although too restless, the camerawork manage to establish an effective sense of claustrophobia, focusing on the desperation of the character through some touchy-feely close-ups and curious use of zoom-ins. Beautiful stuff.

Very strong crime character piece that is relatively quiet and restrained with great performances from an aging Lancaster and Sarandon. Lancaster's character is especially interesting and deeply sad. Really good stuff.

Malle portrays Atlantic City as losing its connection to its old ways and becoming something wholly other, while the intertwined stories of Lancaster and Sarandon play off of that backdrop beautifully. The metaphor of an old city being torn down reminds me of other great "rubble" films such as The Pianist or Jia's Still Life.

It was ok. It is just that no Oscars were awarded to this film.

Only master New Wave filmmaker Louis Malle's second stateside effort, this touching, distinctive mood piece is beset with strange, at times unsettling concurrences of sound, tone, and incident, where the dead and the living link temporarily, occasionally even become intimate, then resume on their separate paths.

I don't think it is possible to shoot Atlantic City in a way to make it look good, and certainly that is a benefit in Malle's film. The crumbling heights of yesteryear echo the fading of Burt Lancaster's self importance and power. The question is whether he (or the city) really ever was that special, or was it just fantasy. While the script lacks some nuance toward its conclusion, this really is a great character piece in that late 70s gritty kid of way. Very enjoyable.