Gambling City
Gambling City | |
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Directed by | Sergio Martino |
Screenplay by |
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Story by | Ernesto Gastaldi[1] |
Produced by | Luciano Martino |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Luciano Michelini[1] |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Medusa |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes[1] |
Country | Italy[1] |
Box office | ₤777.334 million |
Gambling City (Italian: La città gioca d'azzardo) is a 1975 Italian poliziotteschi film by Sergio Martino. It stars Luc Merenda, Enrico Maria Salerno, Dayle Haddon and Corrado Pani.[1]
Gambling City is one of several European
Plot
Gambling City's story centers on the exploits of master poker player and
Opening Scenes
Gambling City opens with Altieri entering an illegal gambling parlor in Milan and taking a seat beside several tuxedoed patrons at its high-roller table. In contrast to his slickly attired opponents Altieri is dressed in a threadbare cardigan and slacks and has a carnation in his lapel. Noticing the newcomer's obvious lack of means at a table where a single chip is worth 10,000 lira, one player asks Altieri if he has enough money to back his bets. To this Altieri responds, "Win or bust."
Altieri then proceeds to execute his scam by initially pretending to be a poker novice. He fumbles his cards and requests a re-deal despite his having
Production
According to Roberto Curti, Martino's contributions to the scrip were "just nominal".[1] Ernesto Gastaldi stated that he "wrote the script with Enrico Maria Salerno in mind as the boss of a sharp - and not just violent - criminal organization which has succession problem when the son shows he's not cut from the same cloth as his father."[5]
Gastaldi considers the script he wrote to be one of his best efforts, but stated that "I believe the actors were very good on this film, improving upon a story that, although not very original, was rather different from crime films of that era."[5] Gambling City was shot at Dear Studios in Rome and on location in Milan and Nice.[1]
Release
Gambling City was released on January 23, 1975 in Italy where it was distributed by Medusa.[1] The film grossed a total of 777,334,540 Italian lire on its theatrical run.[1]
The film released on Region 0 NTSC DVD by NoShame films in 2005 as part of the "Sergio Martino Collection." The DVD is currently out-of-print.[6]
Reception
Gambling City received little attention in the European or American press at its release, but experienced a revival in interest when now-defunct Italian cult-film company
Since the film's release on DVD, however, no other mainstream critics have commented on it, and what attention it has received from the blogosphere has been mostly negative. TwitchFilm.net reviewer "logboy" called it "a fairly odd experience," but qualified his disparagement with, "It has its saving graces in amount substantial enough to make it an interesting experience in many isolated regards."
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Curti 2013, p. 131.
- ^ Hwang, Matt (2010-10-17). "Little-known Gambling Movie is Worth Watching". Gambling City. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
- ^ Hwang, Matt (2010-10-17). "Little-known Gambling Movie is Worth Watching". Gambling City. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
- ^ Hwang, Matt (2010-10-17). "Little-known Gambling Movie is Worth Watching". Gambling City. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
- ^ a b Curti 2013, p. 132.
- ^ NoShame Films DVD Case, 2005. Last accessed: September 2008.
- ^ Kehr, Dave (2005-07-26). "Critic's Choice: New DVD's". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
- ^ logboy (2005-09-06). "'GAMBLING CITY (LA CITTA GIOCA D'AZZARDO).' BY SERGIO MARTINO (1975)". TwitchFilm.net. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
- ^ Hwang, Matt (2010-10-17). "Little-known Gambling Movie is Worth Watching". Gambling City. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
References
- Curti, Roberto (2013). Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786469765.
External links
- Gambling City at IMDb