There is something beautiful about the old part of town with its vintage buildings, faded artwork, shored up facades and its longevity. It’s what makes much of Europe such a beautiful place to visit seeing all that history in the buildings and landmarks. There is a bit of nobility in those old structures that cannot be replicated with modern installations. The old buildings in Atlantic City are like that, old and rustic but with charm and character. But the city in 1980 is rapidly being torn down in the name of urban renewal, looking to bring in an influx of capital by tearing down all the old buildings and replacing them with flashy, but soulless casinos. This washing away of history is one of the central tragedies of the film, Atlantic City, one of many.
The movie involves Sally Matthews (Susan Sarandon), a young waitress from Canada working at an oyster bar in a casino while attending classes to become a blackjack dealer. Her estranged husband, Dave (Robert Joy), and her sister, pregnant with his child, show up one day with the intention of selling some ill gotten cocaine for a quick payday. The drugs were part of a mob dead drop in Philadelphia that Dave intercepted and he wants to sell it quickly before anyone can catch up with him. He runs into Lou (Burt Lancaster), an aged former gangster that live in the same apartment building as Sally, and convinces him to help sell the drugs. While Lou is selling the first half the mob catches up with Dave and he is killed.
Lou takes the money he has already made from the sale and dresses himself up nicer, reliving some of his former glory days although they couldn’t have been that glorious otherwise he would either be rich or dead by now. Instead he takes care of the widow of one of his gangster bosses, Grace (Kate Reid), a woman who is seemingly bedridden and totally dependent on him. Lou spends his time running a small time numbers game in the poorer parts of town and gambling small amounts of money in the casinos. He also happens to be infatuated with Sally, whose room is opposite his so that he can spy on her through the blinds at her as she cleans off the stench of seafood after work each night. He uses the tragedy of her husband’s death to get closer to her and the money from the drugs to impress her, selling even more of it when the money runs low. Eventually the mob starts closing in on the two, forcing them to defend themselves and go on the run.
There is nothing really special about the plot of this film. Watching it in 2024 it’s hard to see why this was considered one of the five best films of the year. It took home nominations in each of the big five categories yet failed to win a single one. At the time it was assumed that Burt Lancaster should have won at least but some aggressive campaigning by Jane Fonda for her father’s final role in On Golden Pond succeeded in securing him the win instead. Henry Fonda is fine in that film but it was hardly his best performance. The same can be said for Lancaster who, after a lifetime of playing many award winning roles, is seemingly effortlessly embodying a man as broken and worn down as the buildings around him. Like the actor himself he is a relic of a different era, still around when much of the world was looking for the next shiny new thing.
Susan Sarandon is the main reason we even have this film. She was dating director Louis Malle at a time when he was having difficulty finding the right script for his next project. She was friends with writer John Guare and suggested Malle work with one of Guare’s stories. Guare’s idea was to focus a story on Atlantic City, a place suffering from urban deterioration that had only recently legalized gambling in a desperate bid to revitalize itself. Atlantic City was not yet the east coast Las Vegas it would become but there were signs of it already in 1979 as the film was being developed. The movie, a joint production between France and Canada, was filmed entirely on location, taking full advantage of the changing landscape of the city as it rapidly transitioned from slums into gambling houses. Prominently featured throughout is the famous Boardwalk that runs along the east shore and provides a clear view of the old buildings as they are being razed and replaced.
Like the city going through a renewal, so too is Lou who sees the sudden influx of money as a chance to renew himself and feel important. He has some street smarts and knows some people willing to fork out money for illegal substances. He also sells himself as bigger than he actually is, bragging about serving time alongside Bugsy Siegel, something he is forced later to admit was just for a few minutes as the infamous gangster was in the middle of being transferred. His humbling comes at the hands of a couple of gangsters who accost him and Sally, beating her up and searching the two for the drugs. In the face of these hoodlums he finds himself unable to defend either of them. Later, when confronted by them again, he shoots them both. This act reinvigorates him once again, convincing himself that he is bigger than he really is. It also convinces him that he may have a chance at making a life with Sally away from Atlantic City despite their significant age difference.
But that is not meant to be. Sally takes half of the money with the intention of slipping away to France with it, unnoticed. Lou sees her do it but says nothing, realizing finally that there is no real future for the two of them together. The police have a rough sketch of the man who killed the gangsters and it doesn’t look anything like Lou so he is safe to return to Atlantic City. It’s a bittersweet ending to a film that has been put together beautifully with well developed characters that unfortunately occupy a somewhat generic crime drama. Louis Malle has an eye for visuals and symbolism but beyond that there isn’t much to recommend revisiting this film after forty-five years unless you have an interest in seeing the city during such a turbulent time of transition.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Denis Héroux and John Kemeny
Best Director: Louis Malle
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster
Best Actress: Susan Sarandon
Best Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen: John Guare
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Release Date: September 3, 1980
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren, Michel Piccoli and Al Waxman
Directed By: Louis Malle
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