Atlantic City (1980) - film review

Some years after her husband, Dave, ran off with her sister, Sally Matthews finds herself working in a casino in Atlantic City.  One day, Dave and her sister turn up on her doorstep, looking for a place to stay.  Unbeknown to Sally, Dave has intercepted a stash of drugs which he intends to push in Atlantic City, with the help of Sally’s neighbour, an ageing one-time gangster named Lou.  When Dave is killed by the crooks from whom he stole the drugs, Lou decides to take Sally under his wing, abandoning Kate, an old widow he has been looking after for the past few decades.  Lou and Sally seem to have it made – until the gangsters catch up with them...

For his second English language film, Louis Malle returned to somewhat safer territory than his first.  Compared with the controversial Pretty Baby (1978), Atlantic City would appear to be a pretty unremarkable film, a fairly conventional mix of American crime thriller and romance.  Certainly, the film is one of Malle’s most restrained works, showing little of the atmosphere or inspiration of his previous French language films.

What begins as a somewhat run-of-the-mill crime drama gradually evolves into an engaging romantic drama, spiced up with the occasional brilliant comic touch.  What sets Atlantic City part, and has made it something of a cult classic, is the way it gently turns the traditional gangster movie on its head, presenting its crooked central character as a vulnerable, tragically flawed human being rather than a glamorous hero or villain.   The crumbling, run-down location of Atlantic City serves as the perfect backdrop, providing a very powerful visual symbol of the decline of the film’s central character Lou, a fading crook played brilliantly by Burt Lancaster (in one of his most memorable film roles).

As the old gambling halls are being pulled down to make way for new, legalised casinos, the city is experiencing a kind of rebirth.  In a similar way, the arrival of Sally and her drugs-pushing ex-husband into his life represents a kind of rebirth for Lou.  But, try as he might, Lou’s new lease of life is illusory, and the experience only serves to remind him of his failed past and to, ultimately, put him back in his place.

Film enthusiasts will easily spot the references to class film noir – after all, Louis Malle was, like his French New Wave contemporaries François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, greatly influenced by the American B movies of the 1940s.  Whilst admittedly not as stylish as Louis Malle’s first, and most celebrated, crime thriller, L’Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958), Atlantic City is stronger in its characterisation and cruel sense of irony.

Atlantic City received critical acclaim and was nominated for five Oscars (best actor, best actress, best director, best film and best original screenplay), although it won none.   It was to be Louis Malle’s most successful film (grossing around 10 million dollars) and was a huge success in the United States.

© James Travers 2002

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