You never count your money
When you’re sittin’ at the table
There’ll be time enough for countin’
When the dealin’s done
– “The Gambler,” made famous by singer Kenny Rogers.
When it comes to gambling, there aren’t many songs as influential or immediate as Kenny Rogers’s 1978 cover of Don Schlitz’s song “The Gambler.” For one who’s sat at a table, playing any sort of game of chance, the words of that song play on repeat, a warning as much as a siren’s call. The best advice, the kind that applies to things even beyond the table, relates to counting one’s money. The notion that you shouldn’t presume you’ve won when the game is still on-going is a lesson that too few understand and fewer put into practice. Though it was released roughly eight years before Rogers, Ron Winston’s The Gamblers is a tale for whom those lyrics speak directly as it features cons, double-crosses, triple-crosses, and all manner of misdirection in the quest for cash. Now, thanks to VCI Entertainment, Winston’s The Gamblers is releasing on home video with a 4K scan and feature-length commentary track, enabling confidence fans a chance to catch up with a tale they may have missed.
Con-artist Rooney (Don Gordon) and his apprentice Goldy (Stuart Margolin) get a line on new marks identified as Cozzier and Broadfoot (Pierre Olaf and Kenneth Griffith, respectively) and immediately make their way to board the same cruise liner. While working to get themselves noticed, Rooney starts becoming inexplicably distracted by fellow cruiser Candace (Suzy Kendall). Can Rooney manage the con with Candace in tow or is she part of a larger scheme? With the game Rooney’s playing, he’s going to have to buy-in if he’s going to find out.
The Gamblers is adapted from an 1866 Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel with the screenplay by Winston changing out quite a few details like time/place to make the film more modern. In this case, Russia is replaced with the area around the Adriatic Sea, allowing for a more festive, fun, and Mediterranean feel. This aids in the lightness of the piece, the surf and sunshine making all the plots of Rooney and Goldy feel like a game wherein the rules are rigged in their favor and it’s nothing but the spoils at the end. It certainly helps that both Gordon (Lethal Weapon) and Margolin (Days of Heaven) appear to be having a great time, infusing their scenes with grounded silliness whether through physical comedy or vocal delivery. Admittedly, due to the general synopsis and art, I presumed that The Gamblers would be a Rounders (1998) type film, but it’s actually more like Confidence (2003) where one should expect the con to be done until the con is done. It’s because of this that Winston’s story, perhaps due to the dreamy setting and inclusion of Kendall’s Candace, almost always seems to present as the stakes being low and Rooney and Goldy being shoo-ins to win, but that’s the trick with con games: the moment you get complacent, the tide turns.
Regarding the restoration, I can only offer my opinion on how it looks and no information on how it was created. MVD Entertainment Group kindly sent a retail review copy, but neither the retail edition nor the press notes provide any details other than that the release created from a 4K scan, created by Blair and Associates Ltd.. We have no information regarding the source material, the status of said materials, or the process used to create the scan. What can be said is that the majority of the feature is lovely to behold with the colors vibrant and skin tones natural. There is visible heavy grain in a few of the distance shots, but establishing landscape shots and mid-range to intimate shots are crystal clear, free of grain and debris. Granted, this review is based on using a Panasonic 4K player that up-converted the Blu-ray while being displayed on a Sony Bravia 4K television, so it’s possible that the additional conversion added in some of the grain creation. Comparatively, the audio track is clear and the dialogue crisp with a lovely balance.
One of the treats with restorations is often the bonus materials that accompany them. In this case, there’s only one and it’s from film critic Rob Kelly. There’s no other behind the scenes extras, no still gallery, and no trailer, making little extra reason to entice purchase beyond the curio that is this film’s first-time physical release. For physical media fans, this is going to be enough; especially when one considers that this is a light and airy film from the con genre, which is having a bit of a resurgence. However, for those interested in learning about Winston’s film more in-depth, there’s the commentary track.
Light and airy, The Gamblers is a simple and straight-forward entertainment that delivers on what it promises. It does feel a little rushed at times, it’s execution such that it may feel right at home with Winston’s other made-for-tv works rather than a feature, but this does tend to work in its favor as it never dawdles when it could be doing something instead. For my money, what makes it really work is the way it calls its shot early in the film, should audiences be paying attention enough to notice. In this way, the ending may not be what audiences expect, but it’s going to work out exactly as intended. That’s going to be enough for some and not enough for others, so keep this in mind if you decide to go all-in on The Gamblers as a blind buy.
The Gamblers Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by writer/podcaster Rob Kelly
Available on Blu-ray and DVD November 7th, 2023.
For more information, head to the official VCI Entertainment The Gamblers webpage.
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Categories: Home Release, Home Video, Recommendation, Reviews
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