Malle's best American film is also one of his finest ever (though I've yet to watch his masterpiece LACOMBE LUCIEN [1974]) and an ageing Burt Lancaster, too - charming, self-assured and elegant - is somewhere near his best. Susan Sarandon offers solid support with a typically excellent performance, while Michel Piccoli and Kate Reid make the most of their respective roles (both eccentrics in their own way).
The film provides a surprising milieu for Malle but he manages to bring a European sensibility or, if you like a Continental style, to a fundamentally American setting. While there are a couple of exciting action sequences (most memorable is Lancaster's killing of two hoods/drug dealers, his first 'hit' which makes him giddy with delight and finally proud of himself, after having spent his life spinning tall tales of his stature in the underworld!), it's clearly a character-driven piece - courtesy of John Guare's incisive script - and its tone introspective and bittersweet over a vanished way of life ("the good old days" as they're typically referred to); and, yet, everything is not bleak but actually quite funny on occasion!
Atlantic CITY deservedly won several accolades at the time - including the Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival and quite a few plums to Lancaster himself - but, then, it was criminally neglected at the Oscars (even if the film was up for the 5 top awards and was, in my opinion, better than most of the eventual winners)!
The film provides a surprising milieu for Malle but he manages to bring a European sensibility or, if you like a Continental style, to a fundamentally American setting. While there are a couple of exciting action sequences (most memorable is Lancaster's killing of two hoods/drug dealers, his first 'hit' which makes him giddy with delight and finally proud of himself, after having spent his life spinning tall tales of his stature in the underworld!), it's clearly a character-driven piece - courtesy of John Guare's incisive script - and its tone introspective and bittersweet over a vanished way of life ("the good old days" as they're typically referred to); and, yet, everything is not bleak but actually quite funny on occasion!
Atlantic CITY deservedly won several accolades at the time - including the Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival and quite a few plums to Lancaster himself - but, then, it was criminally neglected at the Oscars (even if the film was up for the 5 top awards and was, in my opinion, better than most of the eventual winners)!