A grim, uncompromising and thoroughly dislikeable account of a man who can't stop gambling even when he has won back what he lost and brought it home. James Caan brings a tightly-compressed fervour to the title role, but Karel Reisz' static direction unexpectedly fails to recognise the cinematic possibilities offered by the subject and the story lacks the incident to sustain its length. TRIVIA: Morris Carnovsky, best remembered as the bad guy in Bogart's Dead Reckoning, makes one of his rare film appearances (as Caan's grandfather) since his Hollywood blacklisting in 1950.

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