Powerful

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This is a fun movie. The cast is great, the story has a bit of everything: wit, emotion, love, action... and the pace is just right.What makes it all "fit" in a way is the "Atlantic City atmosphere". It just works to glue it all together (helped of course by the great direction). And when all the parts in a film click together, good quality cinema is always made.It's actually really hard to create a movie about an old man who goes back to his "gangster" life and succeed in making it believable. There are funny moments, there are nervous and sad moments, this movie entertains.Why should we ask more of it? Anyone could enjoy this film. I'm surprised it doesn't have many ratings.

"Atlantic City" features some interesting characters whose paths cross at a time in the city's history when it's undergoing radical change and many of the decaying old edifices are being demolished to make way for modern casinos. This movie is both an unconventional love story and a crime drama but it's also a story about past disappointments and dreams of a better future.Sally Matthews (Susan Sarandon) is an ambitious young woman who left her drab life in Canada to look for something better in Atlantic City. She works at a local oyster bar but is also learning French and training to be a blackjack dealer as she dreams of someday working in a casino in Monte Carlo. At the end of her working day, she returns to the run down apartment block where she lives and routinely cuts lemons and rubs the juice into her upper body to eliminate the smell of fish.Lou Pascal (Burt Lancaster) is an elderly numbers runner who lives in a neighbouring apartment and regularly watches Sally's nightly ritual. In the past, he used to work for some notorious gangsters who he greatly admired but these days he takes care of the bedridden Grace Pinza (Kate Reid) who's his old boss' widow. She lives in the same building and habitually insults and humiliates him because she knows he depends on the money she pays him.Sally's past life is brought back into sharp focus when her ex-husband Dave (Robert Joy) unexpectedly turns up with her pregnant sister Chrissie (Hollis McLaren) who's the current woman in his life. Sally is angry that they've followed her to her new home but even more serious problems follow as Dave has stolen a substantial quantity of cocaine from some mobsters in Philadelphia and they're on his tail. Dave gets to know Lou and uses him to help to sell the dope.When the Philadephia mob catch up with Dave and kill him, Lou is left with the cocaine and a significant amount of money. This transforms his life as he suddenly has the means to buy a new suit and hat and be generous to Sally as they begin a relationship. Suddenly this impoverished, lonely old man who's nostalgic for the good old days and tells people exaggerated stories about his exploits and importance in the criminal world, finds himself financially well off. Even better, however, when Sally's threatened by the gangsters who think that she must have their stolen cocaine, he steps in and protects her and this makes him feel incredibly proud and exhilarated.Neither Sally nor Lou genuinely expect their offbeat relationship to be forever but it does, nevertheless, have a very positive effect on both their lives."Atlantic City" is well written and skilfully balances the poignancy of its story with some moments of humour and a very unexpected ending. Its greatest quality, however, is its ability to convey so powerfully, the plight of its two main characters who are both regretful about the disappointments of their pasts and preoccupied by dreams of a better future. Their circumstances are portrayed with great sensitivity and warmth and placing them in an environment that is also undergoing a period of transformation is extremely effective.Burt Lancaster is equally as convincing in portraying Lou's pathetic nostalgia for his fictionalised past as he is at conveying his immense pride and excitement when he successfully protects Sally. His performance and that of Susan Saradon are top class and contribute massively to the success of this wonderful movie.

This film is about a woman working in Atlantic City, whose husband tries to sell the cocaine he found from some gangsters."Atlantic City" has a straight forward story, told linearly in a matter of fact manner. There is little left to the imagination. In addition, the characters are underdeveloped. Take Grace for an example, she could have been a fascinating character, but she is such a dispensable character that could have been deleted from the film. Lou's claims to be a big time gangster years ago is beyond comprehension either. As a result, I did not feel for the characters, I did not get engaged by the events in the film, and I found it rather plain and dull.As "Atlantic City" got five Oscar nominations, I had great hopes for it. I am left disappointed by it after watching it.

There are actors that seem to be born to make great roles like the one played by Burt Lancaster in this film. A likable, charming, quite enigmatic but very friendly man named Lou Pascal, a old resident of Atlantic City who gets with his neighbor (Susan Sarandon) after the murder of her husband, Dave (Robert Joy), whom Lou recently met and started a business that might complicate the lives of everyone involved with him. Louis Malles's "Atlantic City" is a reminder that cities can be reborn and people's lives can do the same too as long as they know how to find each other in this complicated and dangerous world. The author of this is famous play-writer John Guare of the famous play "Six Degrees of Separation" and in this film we are reminded through the whole experience about the connections of life and how they work sometimes for good things, other times for bad things. And the city is constantly presented as a different place than in its older days, everything's being demolished (including the place where the main characters live) where new casinos will be made.Lou is a sad figure in the beginning, his mob days are over and now he's taking care of old lady (Kate Reid), wife of a old friend of his, and she keeps bothering this guy all the time, ringing his bell wherever she needs him. His resurrection will appear when he mets Dave and starts doing some drug dealing business that will give him a lot of money and also show to himself that life can be good again. And there's his close relation with Dave's wife, first watching her at distance while she baths herself with lemons (the beautiful opening scene); and then helping her after Dave's death. Destiny will prepare some surprises to these characters in this magnificent place called Atlantic City.The plot is easy to follow, very simple and very absorbing, very good written (the sequence of Dave's death is one of the most planned moments in film history with a thrilling chase through a car elevator). And the acting? The best possible! Lancaster and Sarandon have a great chemistry on screen, and like I said he was born to perform this role, can't imagine other actor playing. Sadly, it lost out all the five big awards in which was nominated for the Oscar, but at least, it built a enormous reputation within its audience and critics making one of the best films ever made in 1980's, a true cult film. Along with "Adieu Mon Enfants" (1987) this is Malle's best work in that decade and one of his finest. Watch it now if you can. 10/10