The Gambler
word type: media
- A 1978 song by Kenny Rogers that includes some basic truths about poker.
- A 1974 movie starring James Caan as Axel Freed, an English professor in New York City who is a degenerate gambler.
- An 1867 novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky that was inspired by the author's addiction to roulette.
The Film
The film is said to be loosely based on the Dostoevsky novel, but it also represents a lifelong fixation with degenerate gambling that was explored in many of screenwriter James Toback's scripts, but nowhere so thoroughly as this one.
In this clip, Axel Freed starts on a heater in Las Vegas:
The Kenny Rogers Song
Related Terms:
- Axel Freed
- Degenerate
- Maverick
- Cool Hand Luke
- Dime
- Owning Mahowny
- The Flamingo Kid
- James Woods
- Rounders
- James Obst
