This is a very powerful TV drama about a seemingly smart woman (Shirley Jones) who has a problem she can't fight. She's addicted to gambling. She has her luck with, then the luck runs out, she ends up in horrendous death, she borrows or steals the money to cover the debt and ends up further in debt and deep in trouble beyond repair. She has a husband (Laurence Luckinbill) who loves her, a tough mother (Sylvia Sidney) who is the softie deep down (even though she refuses to give her any money) and friends who enable her. When she becomes lucky one day and attracts the attention of gambling pro Sam Groom, her problems triple. Even with the sympathy of a gambling establishment manager (Joan Blondell), she can't fight her addiction, and it's going to be a long crawl back from hell before she can be completely recovered.
This is very similar to the 1949 Barbara Stanwyck film Noir "The Lady Gambles", very dark and certainly not the type of role you'd expect the beautiful Shirley Jones to be able to tackle. But I've seen her in darker parts than this both on the big screen and in TV movies, and she proves she is much more than the singing sweetheart of Broadway to Hollywood movie musicals and one of TV's favorite moms. Director Paul Bogart assembles a terrific cast which also includes Joyce Van Patten. John Carter and Alex Nicol who helped show the darkness type of addiction. I'm certain that's LaWanda Page in the gamblers anonymous sequence at the beginning and towards the end as a non-speaking extra. You really don't see any of the steps she takes to lick this problem, but you definitely see the darkness that she goes through in needing to lick the problem. Definitely a riveting drama and one of the best performances of a leading lady in a 70's TV movie of the week.
This is very similar to the 1949 Barbara Stanwyck film Noir "The Lady Gambles", very dark and certainly not the type of role you'd expect the beautiful Shirley Jones to be able to tackle. But I've seen her in darker parts than this both on the big screen and in TV movies, and she proves she is much more than the singing sweetheart of Broadway to Hollywood movie musicals and one of TV's favorite moms. Director Paul Bogart assembles a terrific cast which also includes Joyce Van Patten. John Carter and Alex Nicol who helped show the darkness type of addiction. I'm certain that's LaWanda Page in the gamblers anonymous sequence at the beginning and towards the end as a non-speaking extra. You really don't see any of the steps she takes to lick this problem, but you definitely see the darkness that she goes through in needing to lick the problem. Definitely a riveting drama and one of the best performances of a leading lady in a 70's TV movie of the week.