La partita

The Gamble is an Italian released (English speaking) film about a young boy(Matthew Modine) who finds out that his gambling-addict father lost all of his fortunes to a clever woman (Faye Dunaway). In his own bet, he ends up "belonging" to her, and he tries to win his freedom against her, especially when he falls in love with another woman.

I watched this movie because my Grandma wanted to watch a movie and I said if we are watching one, then we are going to watch one of mine. After rejecting a bunch of choices, she looked at a set of 9 Romance Movies, which I got recently. She said I could pick any of the last 3 movies. This was one of them, and this one sounded the most interesting.

The best thing about The Gamble is the leading actress, Faye Dunaway. She is a delight in every scene she is in.

There's really no surprise there, considering some of the other movies I have seen her in, such as Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and my favorite of her most famous roles- Mommie Dearest. Faye's character is a scheming witch, which is what is so delightful to watch from her.

The other actors are fine too, but most are not noteworthy, other than Matthew Modine, most famous for Full Metal Jacket.

The plot is also compelling, but the story itself is fine. Nothing "amazing" but fine. That alone would merit a 9 from me.

However, there were some things I did not like about The Gamble. The cinematography was fuzzy and clearly dated (clearly due to not being preserved as the film is not popular). However, it is better looking than some movies I have seen with that issue (EG: Scrooge from 1935), so there's that to give credit where it's due.

The Gamble is also slow in some parts. In fact, the slow parts were the biggest problem for me, so keep that in mind IF you choose to watch this.

Lastly, there were a couple of pointless sex scenes that, while they were inoffensive, they didn't do much to further the plot.

The Gamble is not a terrible movie, but it was not one I would be the most ecstatic about seeing again. Unless you love romance movies or you want to see Faye Dunaway's performance I don't really recommend it.

For most audience members, The Gamble is a loss for both the main character and the viewer.

Reverse Recommendation: See a different Faye Dunaway movie instead for a better experience, in particular the ones named above.

Note: My Grandma, who picked this movie out, gave the movie a 2/10.

Probably the most accurate one word description for "La Partia" ("The Gamble") is "witless".

It was certainly "witless" to cast Mathew Modine in a 18th century Italian period piece. Modine and his monotone voice are unsuited to anything but playing a contemporary American. Modine was the guy in high school who got the lead in "Camelot", he sang the songs and he said the lines well enough, but not for a second did anyone suspend belief that it was anything more than a high school play. In "The Gamble" he plays an Italian Tom Jones who looks and talks more like a guy at the mall in Parma, Ohio than in 18th century Italy (even Parma).

It was certainly "witless" to try to turn this script into a feature-length movie. While not unintentionally funny enough for MST3000 to parody, it does contain the immortal line: "We are the "Pesto Brothers", in the service of the countess, and we have come to collect you". These guys should have been teamed with the "Pasta Sisters".

It was "witless" of Jennifer Beals to accept her role. But I guess you have to eat and she had not done anything since her pretty decent performance in "The Bride" three years earlier. "The Gamble" was not really a career killer for her, at least when compared to Modine her performance is satisfactory.

It was "witless" to cast Faye Dunaway as the countess. Dunaway basically reprises her roles in "The Four Musketeers" and "The Wicked Lady"; apparently she has a thing for this period of history. In all three films her character comes across bored and tired. "The Gamble" needs a lot of things to be watchable, but an over-the-top performance from Dunaway would at least have given this thing the periodic energy transfusions it needs to stay alive.

You are unlikely to accidentally stumble across this movie. If you are seeking it out to assemble a collected works of Jennifer Beals, just buy the thing and put it away without viewing.

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

Matthew Modines' enthusiasm is the distinguishing feature of "The Gamble" a/k/a "The Match", a lush-looking but campy Italian film aimed at the world market.

It probably would take a filmmaker of Stanley Kubrick's caliber, in a "Barry Lyndon" mood, to put across this stale material of a young rake in period dress gamboling across the Italian countryside with mean Faye Dunaway in pursuit. Casting Yank talent is not enough to crack the American maket, where pic recently bowed in video store.

Modine's tragic error is gambling with noblewoman Dunaway after she's cleaned out his dad (Ian Bannen). To make the wager interesting (they're gambling with spinning tops instead of dice), he has to bet himself and she wins.

Modine violently escapes the villainess' clutches, and "Gamble" turns into a medieval road movie. In Verona, he teams up with Jennifer Beal and the duo is pursued by Dunaway's evil henchmen.

Along the way, Modine has sexual dalliances with many beautiful women, including French "Story of O" star Corinne Clery. When Dunaway finally catches up with him, the payoff is a throwback to her campy "The Wicked Lady" image as she bests him in a swordfight. Finale is very disappointing.

Modine is dashing but like the other American lead players, he is not convincing in the role as they use no accents. Supporting cast is dubbed acceptably into English, but some conventions should have been followed to develop convincing Italian roles. Dunaway and Beals are glamorous, and the locations an eyeful.

It would be hard to conjure up a more lame, poorly acted and directed and pitiful excuse for a swashbuckler film. Naturally, whenever a low-budget film is made by foreign hands and B-list actors, the result is not going to be a classic, but this is even more dreadful than expected! The plot concerns a young man (Modine) who gambles his life away in an attempt to regain the estate that his father has already lost. He loses to a woman (Dunaway) who will stop at nothing to reclaim him when he reneges on the deal. Modine is all wrong for this type of role with his contemporary gait and looks, along with his flat, monotone line delivery. Beals is also hopelessly wrong. The one saving grace is Dunaway who is her usual ultra-glamorous self, but even she can't do much with this garbage. She is flawlessly lit, coiffed and dressed, but gives a very stilted performance. The ending to this turkey must be seen to be believed as ultimately the tale takes on supernatural qualities! How anyone could cast Modine in "Cutthroat Island" after this mess is one of life's great mysteries. There are ample doses of blood and topless women to keep the unlucky viewer from turning the thing off.

Certainly no one would watch this film for its quality acting. Faye Dunaway and Jennifer Beals are the major exceptions. These two ladies deliver prime performances as do a few of the other actors (Karina Huff as an estate serving woman and Claudia Lawrence as Olivia's nurse).

Unfortunately the film centers around Matthew Modine who continually demonstrates he should have sought out another profession than acting. He is supposed to be quite the lady's man here and various actresses do their part to try to make him look that way. But Modine just doesn't have what it takes to carry it off to the audience. Perhaps he will stick to stunts and sword play as he would probably do well at that. But if there is a god, he won't speak another line of dialogue in film.

Ian Bannen plays Modine's father and his part suffers I believe from poor directing. Bannen is an accomplished actor and should have done better, but it appears to me that he was simply directed to make himself appear pure victim rather than take his losses like a man of sterner stuff.

The thing I liked about the film is it's unique story line and the intensity that Faye Dunaway introduces into the story. It's a story of one Francesco Sacredo (Modine) who wagers and loses his rights to his life and livingness to Countess Matilda (Dunaway). On losing the wager Sacredo refuses to abide by the terms of the wager and flees. In his flight he hops in and out of bed with most of the women he meets along the way. The Countess hires men to pursue him and the pursuit of Sacredo becomes a game for the Countess like a cat playing with a mouse. It's this last aspect of the film that makes the film for me, in spite of Modine's and Bannen's acting.

I also liked the sets and costuming. They seemed well done. I give it a 7/10 for Dunaway's and Beal's parts and the story line minus the Modine factor.