Atlantic City
original movie poster
Directed by	Louis Malle
Produced by	Denis Héroux, John Kemeny
Written by	John Guare
Starring	Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Michel Piccoli
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	September 2, 1980
Running time	104 minutes
Language	English
Budget	~ US$7,200,000
IMDb profile

For other uses, see Atlantic City (disambiguation).

Atlantic City is a film directed by Louis Malle. Filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in 1980 and in the United States in 1981. The script was written by John Guare. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (500x755, 63 KB)original movie poster source: www. ... Louis Malle (October 30, 1932 – November 23, 1995) was a French film director. ... Denis Héroux (born July 15, 1941, Montreal, Quebec) is a Quebec film director and producer. ... John George Kemeny (Kemény János) (May 31, 1926–December 26, 1992), U.S. computer scientist and educator best known for co-developing the BASIC programming language in 1964 with Thomas Eugene Kurtz. ... John Guare (pronounced gwâr, born 5 February 1938) is an American playwright. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Michel Piccoli (born December 27, 1925) is a French actor. ... Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, Wyoming Atlantic City (movie), released in 1981 This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Louis Malle (October 30, 1932 – November 23, 1995) was a French film director. ... John Guare (pronounced gwâr, born 5 February 1938) is an American playwright. ...

Plot summary

The opening of film takes place in the immediate aftermath of legalized gambling in Atlantic City in 1978. In the opening of the film there's a shot of the old Traymore Hotel being demolished to make wat for the new resorts and casinos that are to be opened.

The film tells the story of a Canadian woman, Sally Matthews (Sarandon), whose has come to Atlantic City to pursue a better life in the gambling business. She is weeks away from becoming a blackjack dealer at the newly opened Resorts Casino, and working in the hotel's Oyster Bar. Her ex-husband Dave has followed her to Atlantic City, along with Sally's flower child sister Chrissie who Dave has run off with and impregnated, in order to sell drugs that he stole from a couple of Philidelphia gangsters. Horrified to see them or to even be associated with them due to Dave's criminal past, which cost her a chance to obtain employment in Las Vegas, Sally reluctantaly puts them up for the evening.

Living next door to Sally is Lou Pasco (Lancaster), an aging numbers runner who is left with the responsibility of caring for his old boss, gangster Cookie Pinzo, wife Grace. Lou is a romantic who lives in the past of Atlantic City's glory days as a premiere ocean resort. He likes to think that he was a tough gangster, yet for the most part Lou was an errand boy, mainly taking bets for bookies. He never really mattered in the world of organized crime that infiltrated Atlantic City, although he likes to think he was. Nowadays, however, Lou is reduced to taking care of Pinzo's widow Grace, a miserable woman who breaks Lou down every chance she gets. Lou is dependent on Grace for his liviliehood, especially since legalized gambling in Atlantic City, which is slowly killing off the last of the illegal Atlantic City bookies. His mundane life is basically consists of taking care of Grace's needs and wondering through the poorest black Atlantic City neigborhoods trying to get whatever bets he could for a local bookie, Fred, that he works for. However, Lou's romantic side is refired when he takes notice of his new neighbor Sally who lives in the old building with him and Grace on the boardwalk which is set for demolition. Everynight he watches from the shadows of his apartment as she gives herself a bath in lemon juice so that she could wash of the smell of fish that she gets from the Oyster Bar.

Sally and Lou's paths cross when Dave tries to sell the cocaine he has obtained. Dave and Lou meet unexpectedly in the city's aging Club Harlem. Going there to find a way to unload the drugs he stole, he comes across Fred, the bookie that Lou works for. Fred tells him that the city, drug wise, has hit a dry spell and that the cocaine is a welcomed sight. Dave tells him where he got the drugs and Fred reluctanly gives him the name of a man who runs a local card game. Dave enlists Lou's help in selling the drugs when Fred tells him that Lou used to work for the mob. Dave convinces Lou to help him and Lou allows him to use his apartment to mix the cocaine. Lou, meanwhile, enlists wholelistic services of Chrissie in taking care of Grace while the two men unload the drugs. Due to Lou's respectable apperance (Dave is disheveled an unshaven from weeks of being out on the road) Dave asks Lou to make the first deal for him. Lou relucntaly helps Dave and makes the drug deal, however, Dave is unexpectdly murdered while waiting for Lou when Fred tips off the Philidelphia gangsters that Dave has stolen their drugs.

Lou and Sally meet in the hosptal where she has come to indentify Dave's body. Taking the initiative now that he has not only the money from the drug deal, but the remaning drugs that have yet to be sold, Lou takes Sally under his wing. He arranges for Daves body to be sent back to Canada, wines and dines Sally, buys himself knew suites and jackets, and tells her stories of his criminal past, including a friendship with famed Las Vegas gangster Bugsy Siegel. Sally is puzzled by Lou's genorisity towards her yet she accepts his kindness for she belives Lou can teach the ropes of life and help her succeed as a blackjack dealer, and eventually help her get to Monaco where she dreams of being a dealer. Lou makes several drug deals with the remaining drugs with the man who runs the card game. He makes several thousand dollars off the deals. His renewed sense of pride entices him to make a play on first Grace who he makes love to and then Sally. He admits to Sally that he watches her take her "lemon baths". Sally is suprised by his candidness yet she also is aroused by his actions and she makes love to Lou.

Nonetheless there minute of bliss is interupted when the gangsters Dave has stolen the cocaine from, come after Sally for the money and the remaing drugs. Sally is beaten up by one of the gangster's while the other one holds a knife on Lou. Beaten and disheveled Sally goes to see what has happened to Chrissie, finding her beaten by the gangsters in Sally's trashed apartment where they looked for the drugs. Grace who is upset by Lou's erratic behavior rips in to him in front of Sally. Grace tells Sally the truth about Lou's past and thats he nothing but a want to be. Embarassed he goes to his apartment to pack a bag flee, yet decides to take the last of the drugs and a gun goes off while Grace and Sally go to attend to Chrissie. Chrissie tells Sally about the cocaine and how Lou and Dave went to go sell it. Sally is enraged that Lou took the money that she has been so inconvinced for. Meanwhile, Lou goes to sell the last of drugs and tells the man who runs the card game to call Fred and let him pass the word to the gansters that he has their money and not Sally. The man does not have all the money avaliable to buy the drugs so Lou gives him most of it keeping a small pouch of it to sell to him later. He then heads to Resorts where he goes to meet the gangsters.

Sally heads to her blackjack class where she is informed by the hotel that due to her connection with Dave, which has become big news due to the suspicion of underword ties, she will not be allowed to become a blackjack dealer due to New Jersey's strict gaming laws which prohibit anyone with crimnal connections to the underworld from working in a casino. Enraged that she has been fired after all her hard work Sally storms out and tells her girlfriend at the Oyster Bar about her firing. Her girlfriend tells her that she has seen Lou in the casino and that she should ask him for money. Sally storms in to the casino to confront Lou who is playing blackjack. Lou is being harssed by the two gangsters who want the money when Sally comes in. Her scene has her put out out by the hotel's security but not before she slaps the gangster who has beaten her up in the face. As she is being escorted out Lou quietly leaves and and gets in to a cab. Sally follows him to the Atlantic City Bus Terminal where Lou tries to board a bus to New York. However, Sally convinces the driver that Lou is her senile father trying to run away and the driver puts Lou off the bus. Sally and Lou fight with each other on thier way back to town but are intercepted by the two gangsters who are angry and now really want their money. As the two make for Sally and Lou, Lou pulls out his gun and kills the two them. Sally and him then take their car and flee the scene. Lou is excited for he has finally proved himself as a gangster, yet Sally is shaken by the event. The two flee to the small motel in Abescon just outside Atlantic City. Lou tries to pay the toll out of town with a thousand dollar bill and later a hundred. The shocked toll booth opertor lends them the quarter toll.

In the saftey of the motel, where Lou is celebrating with champagne and watching the news to see developements of the shooting, Sally asks him to really tell her about his association with Bugsy Siegel. Lou finally admits to her that he only meet Siegel once while the two of them where in jail for a drunk and disordely. He admits that he was not honest about his past but that now with all the money he and Sally could start a knew life in Miami. Sally unsure mumbles that she would still like to go to France yet Lou does not hear her as a sketch of him is released on the news as the possible killer making him estatic.

The next morning Lou gets up early and phones Grace to tell her what happened. Grace is still upset with Lou abandoning her (Grace has been taken care of Chrissie who she agrees to send back to Canada), yet she is impressed with Lou's action. While he is on the phone with Grace, Sally gets up and seeing Lou is not there goes in to his pocket and takes most of the drug money and the car keys looking to flee. Lou seeing her intercepts her and tells her that he wants some pizza and that he is gonna take the car and get some for them. A shaken Sally tells him that she will do it and Lou allows her after the flip a coin to decide. Just before she leaves Lou reveals he knows her plan by telling her to ditch the car so that the police don't catch up with her. She thanks him for saving her life and taking care of her and then takes the car and drives off.

Lou returns to Atlantic City yet he has one more trick up his sleeve. He has the remaining drugs that he agreed to sell the man at a later date. Enlisitng Grace's help she takes the drugs and makes the deal for a thousand dollars. The two of them hand in hand stroll down the boardwalk, Grace being proud to be on Lou's arm.

It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli, Hollis McLaren and Moses Znaimer. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Kate Daphne Reid (4 November 1930 – 27 March 1993) was a Canadian actress. ... Michel Piccoli (born December 27, 1925) is a French actor. ... Moses Znaimer (born 1942) is the founder and was the driving creative force behind Torontos first independent television station, Citytv. ...

Awards

The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1980 in a tie with John Cassavetes' Gloria. The Golden Lion (it: Leone dOro) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Biennale Venice Film Festival. ... The Venice Film Festival (it: Mostra Internazionale dArte Cinematografica) is the oldest Film Festival in the World (began in the 1932) and takes place every year in late August/early September on the Lido di Venezia in the historic Palazzo del Cinema on the Lungomare Marconi, in Venice, Italy. ... John Nicholas Cassavetes (Greek: Ιωάννης Νικολάου Κασσαβέττης) (December 9, 1929–February 3, 1989) was an American actor, screenwriter, and director. ... Gloria is a 1980 film which tells the story of a gangsters girlfriend who goes on the run with a young boy who is being hunted by the mob for information he may or may not have. ...

Atlantic City was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Burt Lancaster), Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. In 2003 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... The Academy Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Award for Directing is an accolade given to the person that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences feels was best director of the past year. ... // The Academy Award for Best Motion Picture is one of the Academy Awards, awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which are voted on by others within the industry. ... The Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. ... The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

External links

• Atlantic City at the Internet Movie Database