Atlantic City (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Atlantic City


caption= original movie poster
writer = John Guare
starring = Burt Lancaster,
Susan Sarandon,
Michel Piccoli
director = Louis Malle
producer = Denis Héroux,
John Kemeny
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = flagicon|Italy 2 September, 1980 (premiere at VFF)
flagicon|France 3 September, 1980
flagicon|Canada 19 December, 1980
flagicon|USA 3 April, 1981
flagicon|Australia 1 October, 1981
country = Canada / France
runtime = 104 minutes
language = English
budget = ~ US$7,200,000
imdb_id = 0080388

"Atlantic City" is a film directed by Louis Malle. Filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in 1980 and in the United States in 1981. The script was written by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McClaren, Michel Piccoli, and Al Waxman.

Plot

The film tells the story of a young Canadian woman (Susan Sarandon) whose dream for a better life in the gambling business is interrupted by the return of the drug-dealing husband she had left behind, and an older man (Burt Lancaster) long a resident of Atlantic City, and how their lives interact and change both for the better.

Production

"Atlantic City" was filmed in the United States, but was a co-production between companies based in Canada and France. Aside from Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon and local extras, most of the cast originated from Canada or France.

The production companies alloted Louis Malle the money to make a film with the stipulation that it be made within a certain period of time. Malle had a difficult time finding the right script to direct and with time running out his then girlfriend Susan Sarandon suggested using a story written by her friend John Guare, a playwright most notable for his plays "House of Blue Leaves" and "Six Degrees of Separation". Guare suggested that the story take place in Atlantic City, which was still for the most part suffering from the urban deterioration that prompted the legalization of gambling as a solution to save the city. The three met over dinner in early 1979 to work out quirks in the script and began shooting within a few months.

The film began principal photography on October 31, 1979 and wrapped by the fifth day of the new year. Malle filmed at an opportune time in that he was able to capture old Atlantic City: gambling was still in its early stages there, with only two casino hotels open (Resorts and Caesars; Bally's Park Place would open on December 30, toward the end of the principal photography). Most of the city's old resorts and entertainment piers were still standing, albeit in a severe state of disrepair. Within a couple of years of the filming, most of the these old hotels would fall victim to the wrecking ball as they were replaced with new casinos.

Louis Malle hired composer Michel Legrand to write a score for the film, which he did. In the end, however, Malle decided against using a score for the film, and opted for all the music in the film to be ambient: the only music used is that which exists in the world of the characters (i.e. radios, musical instruments, etc).

Filming locations

The opening shot of the old Traymore Hotel being demolished is shown to convey the notion that the city's old hotels were being demolished to make way for the new casinos. However, the Traymore was in fact demolished in 1972, years before the gambling referendum passed in New Jersey. The referendum passed in 1976 and the first hotel to open up was Resorts, formly the Chafonte-Haddon Hall, in 1978.

When Dave and Chrissie are seen hitchhiking into Atlantic City from Philadelphia, they pass a large model elephant on their way into town. The elephant, named Lucy, was a tourist attraction built in 1881 to lure potential land buyers to South Atlantic City (now called Margate), a small town south of Atlantic City. Left to deteriorate over the years, and on the brink of demolition in 1971, the residents of Margate raised the money to have it restored. Today, Lucy still stands in Margate and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The club where Dave and Lou meet was the famed Club Harlem which opened in 1935 on Kentucky Avenue, and was the premier nightclub for black tourists visiting Atlantic City. The club would open and close frequently from 1968 on, and eventually closed for good by the end of the eighties. It was torn down in 1992.

Awards

The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1980 in a tie with John Cassavetes' "Gloria".

"Atlantic City" was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Burt Lancaster), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Susan Sarandon), Best Director, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. In 2003, "Atlantic City" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0080388|title=Atlantic City
* http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/REVIEWS08/512040301/1023

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title = Golden Lion winner
years = 1980 (tied with "Gloria")
before= No awards 1969–1979
"" (1968)
after = "Marianne and Julianne"