Synopsis: Luca Altieri is a gambler. He likes cards and he is a master in playing poker. He is a cardsharper too. He begins working for "The President", who has many gambling houses and everything seems to go well until Luca falls for Maria Luisa. Unfortunately for them, she is the girl of Corrado, the son of "The President"...
The film starts with Luca (Merenda) entering into a high stakes poker game in Milan. He fleeces his fellow players by pretending to be a poker beginner and once they've gone all in beats them all. There is an interesting element of classism here as well as Luca has on some less than prestige clothing and looks like a loser as part of his con. He later has this sleeve contraption where he feeds himself a certain card and I’m not sure if he’s using that here or not. He gets into the elevator and meets the President (Enrico Maria Salerno) and starts working for him. He eventually saves a woman named Maria Luisa (Dayle Haddon) from her "bodyguard" and the two start a relationship. Unfortunately she is the girlfriend of the President's son Corrado, one of those eager to prove himself types in his father's shadow. When Luca leaves Corrado and the bodyguard show up and as a proof of his power he has the bodyguard start to rape her then orders him to relent.
There are some great scenes of Luc Merenda using his athleticism early on. For example one of the men he swindles at the card table comes after him with a few other guys and he beats them all up. As usual something about Merenda's ability to both punch and kick convincingly makes him great on screen. Later there is a moment where he is being held but uses both of his feet to kick two men in the face.
Luca later gets into some trouble because of his relationship with Maria Luisa and gets his hands smashed by Corrado and his goons. This may have influenced Robert Rodriguez for the "Long Night" segment in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. The similarities between the two characters and their fates are there. He later shows up to play cards against Corrado and beats him. The President gives Maria some money and makes her promise to tell Luca never to gamble again and move to Nice to stay out of trouble. There is a real Commodus-Marcus Aurelius situation from Gladiator and Corrado kills his father. He, however doesn't have the mob connections his father had leading to some great shootouts where his men kill other mob members.
Luca struggles to live a normal life and starts gambling again. This shows the power of greed and gambling addiction. Maria wants him to give up gambling and he agrees to, but not until after one final scam where he teams up with one of the guys he scammed at the beginning. This guy is revealed to be working for Corrado. Luca loses the card game on purpose and then gets into a chase with Corrado's men. A great chase as well.
Spoiler Section
Maria is shot and killed during the chase. She had revealed earlier that she was pregnant. In a really sad ending Luca is shown going to the beach and seeing a family and reflecting on what he could have had. There is a moral here as well. Luca got back into gambling when he had enough money to live a modest life but wanted more and wanting to tie up the loose ends. You could argue though he never would have been spotted by Corrado or anyone else he would've scammed if he had stayed out of trouble. I never would gamble again if I had Dayle Haddon and her blue eyes to keep me company but everyone is different and greed is powerful. I like all the different aspects of this story and it has the feel of a Shakespearian tragedy with the star crossed love and the sad ending. The Nice, Italy locations are beautiful in the second half as well. I like Milan and Rome locations but I always like Italian movies that take the audience somewhere they don't see often as Italian architecture is always nice to look at. Unfortunately as well this movie is difficult to find and I hope someone releases it again someday. This has Code Red or an Arrow triple feature set written all over it. The NoShame DVD is out of print. I found it on a free video site that may or may not be legal. It's one of the first results on Google if you type Gambling City in on the video search.
English dubbing cast:
- Frank Von Kuegelen dubs Luc Merenda as Luca, this is one of the best dubbing/actor combo’s in these movies as his voice captures Merenda’ dramatic acting well
- Carolyn De Fonseca dubs Dayle Haddon as Maria
- Robert Spafford dubs Enrico Maria Salerno as the President
- Edward Mannix dubs the security guard as the poker casino
Rating: 9/10
Trivia: Luc Merenda said this was one of his favorite things to be in because the story was lovely and different and his character had more depth. I would agree.
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