Gambling City
Director: Sergio Martino
Year: 1975
Rating: 5.5
Country: Italy
This one doesn't really fall comfortably into the genre of Italian crime
though there are certainly a lot of crimes committed - it is more a
portrait of a gambler who is a part of that world and can't walk away. Not
much of this film resonated with me though - the purported hero of the film
is cocksure and thinks he is the coolest thing on earth. Whatever bad things
come his way are due to his actions, to his pride, to his sense of self-privilege.
I found him more irritating than heroic. There are some good scenes in the
film - often brutal and cruel - but none of it would have happened if he
had just kept his zipper up. Lesson one in life - don't mess with another
man's wife - especially if he is the son of a powerful crime boss. And psychotic.
A scraggly Luca (Luc Merenda) walks into a sleepy tacky red decorated lounge
in Milan and utters the magic words that get him taken down to where the
action is - a resplendent casino. Poker is his game and he sits in and wins
a pile of cash - with the help of sleight of hand. The Big Boss figures this
out but instead of giving him a beating hires him to cheat other customers.
Luca keeps 10% of the winnings. Soon he is riding around Milan on a motorcycle
with two girls on the back. Life is good. He smokes big fat cigars. He now
wears nice suits like we see in mafia movies. Then one night while in the
casino out of the corner of his eye he spots Maria Luisa (Canadian actress
Dayle Haddon with spectacular light hazel eyes). His waiter friend warns
him - no not that one - any girl you want but that one. She is the Boss's
son's wife. An unhappy one but still. Of course that only excites him more
and he goes outside to look for her and ends up bringing her home for a night
of laughs and great sex. You know it is great by the mélange of scenes
of them smiling with satisfaction.
In the morning he takes her to her home and lets her go. Of course, she gets
beaten up and the husband Corrado (Corrado Pani) has his driver-killer-bodyguard
rip her clothes off while he watches. He then orders his men to find and
brutalize Luca. Cool Luca. He gets what he deserves. Director Sergio Martino
gives us two near montage video scenes of the couple in love - the first
night and then later walking on the beach and everywhere else. The sort of
thing I would expect in a Bollywood film. Here it just feels so out of place.
The film never catches fire for me though there is a good chase of a car
and motorcycle on the highway coast of the Côte d'Azur. It all felt
predictable to me right to the dripping with sentimentality ending. Love
is the biggest gamble of all. You usually lose.
