The Gambler

James Toback made his screenwriting debut with this taut drama, loosely adapted from the story by Dostoevsky. Axel Freed (James Caan) is an intelligent and well-respected professor of literature at a noted New York university, who uses great writing as a springboard for examining moral and ...more

Screenwriter James Toback's adaptation of the classic Dostoevsky novella, directed by Karel Reisz, is excellent on the details of the life of a compulsive gambler, but never gets far beneath the surface and trails off disappointingly. Toback, who has discussed his gambling and substance abuse problems publicly, has an intimate understanding of this subject, and while he uses aspects of Dostoevsky's novella, it's clearly his own life, including the privileged background, from which he's drawn ...more