a review of 赌徒鲍伯

Bob the gambler was a low-level criminal in his youth, but was spared a prison sentence after taking a bullet for a cop. This turn of events seems to have shaped the rest of his life - the cop whose life he saved is his good friend, and he left the crime world making a slightly more respectable life for himself as a gambler (a good one, at that!). We catch him as his winnings are taking a bit of a nosedive, but the downturn in his luck doesn't stop him from still being a generally genuine good guy. His young friend is the son of a guy he used to pull jobs with, and he does well by the guy by trying to keep his kid out of trouble. When the kid learns how much a local casino keeps in their vault, this gets down-on-his-luck Bob to start planning one last job. When the movie first started, I felt like I could see glimpses of Melville's earliest short, 24 Hours in the Life of a Clown coming to full maturation. (Also, at first glimpse of the skyline, I thought to myself "Montmartre!" and was pleased with myself moments later when the narrator says it's Montmartre. Good job, me!) The movie's pretty good! Fun moments interspersed between slower ones, and really cool how it kinda flips the script of what a heist movie can be. My good friend Jesse says it would make a good double-feature with PTA's Hard Eight, and I thought it would make a good double-feature with Altman's California Split so for all y'all, I propose a triple-feature.