The Gambler

Details

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This special limited edition J-card MediaBook slipcase (designed by Vlad Rodriguez) is limited to 5,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them. (Note: this Limited Edition includes a 60 page booklet)

Note: this release is available to be purchased on its own, or bundled with a pair of The Gambler-themed Cinématographe stickers. This Limited Edition Slipcase + Stickers bundle is limited to 275 units. (sticker sizes: 3.5" x 2.5" rectangle / 3" x 3" circle)

Taking its name from the Lumière Brothers invention of the same name, Cinématographe is a new sub-label from Vinegar Syndrome that seeks to fill gaps in the canon of American cinema. Offering a mix of auteur driven studio films produced during the New Hollywood era of the late 1960s and 70s all the way through the indie boom of the 1980s and 90s, Cinématographe will explore the wide breadth of American moviemaking, spanning numerous genres and scales of production. Curated and produced by Vinegar Syndrome's Justin LaLiberty, each limited edition release will be housed in a specially designed, cloth-bound, media book with embossed foil titles and custom molded disc trays accompanied by a slipcase featuring newly commissioned art and an individually numbered J-card.

New York City professor Axel Freed (James Caan, The Godfather) is in crippling debt due to gambling addiction. He owes over forty thousand dollars to his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino, Goodfellas), who has mob connections and threatens violence against Axel if he doesn’t pay his debts. Managing to borrow enough money from his mother to pay what he owes, Axel flees town with his girlfriend Billie (Lauren Hutton, American Gigolo) for Las Vegas, which thrusts him back into the world of gambling, resulting in an anxiety-inducing spiral of unpaid debts, violence and despair. 

The American debut for Czech born, British filmmaker Karel Reisz (Saturday Night, Sunday Morning), The Gambler is a now iconic entry in the pantheon of crime cinema of the 1970s. Featuring a manic, career defining, performance from James Caan accompanied by stunning on location photography from cinematographer Victor J. Kemper (Dog Day Afternoon), production design by Philip Rosenberg (All That Jazz), and palpably tense editing work from future filmmaker Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire), Reisz’s film is one of the great American films of the New Hollywood era. Cinématographe is proud to present The Gambler in a new 4K restoration for its world UHD debut.

directed by: Karel Reisz
starring: James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Burt Young, Antonio Fargas, Morris Carnovsky
1974 / 111 min / 1.85:1 / English DTS-HD MA 1.0

Additional info:

• 2-Disc Set: 4K Ultra HD + Region A Blu-ray
• New audio commentary by film critic Glenn Kenny
• Archival audio commentary by film critic Matthew Asprey Gear, recorded in 2021
• Downward Spiral - a new video interview with film programmer Eric Hynes, founder of The Caan Film Festival at Museum of the Moving Image 
• The Gambler vs. The Gambler - a new video essay from film historian Samm Deighan comparing the 1974 original and 2014 remake of The Gambler
• After the Game - an archival video essay from film historian Chris O'Neill, recorded in 2021
• On The Morning After: Composing The Gambler - an archival interview about Jerry Fielding’s score with film music historian Jon Burlingame
• James Caan on Charlie Rose - a full, 26 minute, interview between actor James Caan and journalist Charlie Rose, recorded in 1996
• Karel Reisz on Karel Reisz - a two hour long audio interview with the filmmaker, recorded in 1991, provided by The British History Project
• Booklet with new text essays by film critics Aisha Harris, Jordan Hoffman, Adam Nayman and Scott Tobias
• English SDH subtitles