Atlantic City [1981]

Louis Malle’s tale of dreamers and low-lifes stars Susan Sarandon as Sally, a croupier whose good-for-nothing ex-husband (Robert Joy) gets into trouble with the mob over the theft of some cocaine. The mob kill the ex-husband but they fail to lay their hand on the drugs, which have been left with Sally’s neighbour Lou (Burt Lancaster), a small-time criminal who has fantasies of being an old-time gangster. Sally and Lou recognise that this is their big chance to make their dreams come true and decide to sell the cocaine themselves.
French New Wave director Louis Malle made two pieces of memorable Americana in mid-career, Atlantic City (1980) and Pretty Baby (1978). Atlantic City stars Burt Lancaster in one of his greatest screen performances: as an ageing crook now working the numbers racket from a seedy apartment in the casino town of Atlantic City. Susan Sarandon is a waitress whose brother is on the run from the mob, having stolen a cache of drugs. She and Lancaster form an odd but engaging couple and hatch a plot to beat the odds stacked against them. Atmospheric, bittersweet, with lots of character and some neat action: it all adds up to a pretty classy offering.
On the DVD: Unfortunately, the picture and sound quality on the DVD are only average. The image is 14:9 ratio and has been taken from a print of variable quality in which some reels are barely adequate. There are no additional features. –Ed Buscombe