Might as well begin at the beginning: the opening shot of Sally Matthews (a gorgeous young Susan Sarandon) sitting in the window rubbing lemon juice on her breasts... that's HOT. It's pleasingly voyeuristic without crossing the line into perversion, and hey, it's just a nice way to start the movie.
At first I found it a little hard to accept Lou Pascal (Burt Lancaster, 67 years-old but still ten times as dapper as you or I will ever be) as the small-time former gangster that he's evidently supposed to have been. How could Burt Lancaster have ever been known to his mob cronies as "Numbnuts," I wondered. By the end of the film he had me convinced that he really was a small-timer who'd lucked out and gotten one last shot at being what he always wanted to be. I still wondered exactly why he'd never made good before, but for me the fact that he convinced me but still left a lot of unexplored depth to the character is what makes his performance so great.
Director Louis Malle strikes exactly the right balance between nostalgia and a bizarre sort of hopeful redemption. You'll know what I mean when you see Lou's exhilaration, towards the end, at a deed which shouldn't really leave one feeling exhilarated (is that a spoiler). He's just so happy that, despite his various criminal undertakings, you can't help but feel good for the old guy.
The cinematography made me feel good too, Atlantic City is really a beautifully shot film. There's a great synthesis of natural and artificial light that makes everything look just *a little* better than realistic. Speaking of nostalgia, this sort of cinematography is a talent that sadly seem to have fallen off these days. If you haven't seen it in the theater or on DVD you should do so, it's a world apart from the grimy cable version I first saw.
At first I found it a little hard to accept Lou Pascal (Burt Lancaster, 67 years-old but still ten times as dapper as you or I will ever be) as the small-time former gangster that he's evidently supposed to have been. How could Burt Lancaster have ever been known to his mob cronies as "Numbnuts," I wondered. By the end of the film he had me convinced that he really was a small-timer who'd lucked out and gotten one last shot at being what he always wanted to be. I still wondered exactly why he'd never made good before, but for me the fact that he convinced me but still left a lot of unexplored depth to the character is what makes his performance so great.
Director Louis Malle strikes exactly the right balance between nostalgia and a bizarre sort of hopeful redemption. You'll know what I mean when you see Lou's exhilaration, towards the end, at a deed which shouldn't really leave one feeling exhilarated (is that a spoiler). He's just so happy that, despite his various criminal undertakings, you can't help but feel good for the old guy.
The cinematography made me feel good too, Atlantic City is really a beautifully shot film. There's a great synthesis of natural and artificial light that makes everything look just *a little* better than realistic. Speaking of nostalgia, this sort of cinematography is a talent that sadly seem to have fallen off these days. If you haven't seen it in the theater or on DVD you should do so, it's a world apart from the grimy cable version I first saw.