Shirley Jones does a great job of portraying a compulsive gambler in this movie. I am a compulsive gambler myself and I could truly relate to the pain and guilt and shame that overwhelms a person who has any addiction. As I watched this movie with over a year of sobriety, I still felt the desperation of her situation like it was mine all over again. Shirley Jones role is believable. I only wish it would've gone even deeper into the emotional despair that it can cause. This disease has killed many people literally and figuratively. I was only 9 yrs old when this movie came out and yet I'm so glad I watched this movie 35 years after it was made. Very well done.
9 Reviews
Damn right I'm an expert! And I know a loser when I see one!
sol-kay23 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Right on target made for TV movie, one of the best, about compulsive gambling and how it destroys those who are effected by it.
Having already ruined her first marriage Eleanor "Elie" Anderson, Shirley Jones, has kept her addiction to gambling from her second husband Bill,Laureance Luckinbill, a widower with a 12 year old daughter Stacy, Lorie Busk. It's when Elie got involved in a card game at a local gambling den and lost $750.00 that her trying to keep her gambling habit in check fell completely apart.
Desperately wanting to win back her money Elie went back to her previous life of a compulsive gambler and in no time at all destroyed not only her life but that of Bill's, who's $30,000.00 in saving she squandered away, as well as her step-daughter Stacy future of having a two parent family.
We first get to see Elie at the beginning of the movie addressing a group of people like herself at an G.A, Gamblers Anonymous, meeting spilling her heart out about how gambling, and her inability to control it, put her in the fix that she finds herself in now. We soon get to see how Elie slowly got herself wasted, financially and emotionally, by going back to the evils that she, after getting married to Bill, tried to put behind her and had now ruined her, and her family's, life.
Shirley Jones' performance as the helpless Elie Anderson is about as good a performance of a compulsive gambler that I've see in any major Hollywood production on the subject. We see Elie's life spiral down in flames as she goes through her husbands savings going into enormous dept to the bookies and loan-sharks and eventually ending up trying to pay her debt off by hocking the family jewels. As a final insult Elie ends up putting out, after paying him back the money that she owes him, to the sleazy loan-shark Rick Santo, Sam Groom, who built up her confidence by giving her worthless tips at he racetrack that he knew were fake. It was Satno who by egging her on got Elie to write out a number of worthless and fraudulent checks that if cashed, by Santo, could put her behind bars.
Bill who had no idea of his wife's Elie's addiction found out the hard way, by the bank telling him that his account was zeroed out, what she was doing behind his back. This as he was about to start up a business with the cash, $30,000.00, that he entrusted her with! Like all gamblers Elie did have her share of luck at both the racetrack and gambling, both legal and illegal,joints but as expected she blew her hard won money that would have paid back all her debts and restored her husbands Bill's saving account. Elie did that by her gambling it away in her wanting more and instead ending up losing it all.
Hard to find made for TV movie that's more then worth the effort of spending a hours time at a local DVD bargain bin that shows how compulsive gambling has ruined many a person, like Elie Anderson, who falls prey to it.
Having already ruined her first marriage Eleanor "Elie" Anderson, Shirley Jones, has kept her addiction to gambling from her second husband Bill,Laureance Luckinbill, a widower with a 12 year old daughter Stacy, Lorie Busk. It's when Elie got involved in a card game at a local gambling den and lost $750.00 that her trying to keep her gambling habit in check fell completely apart.
Desperately wanting to win back her money Elie went back to her previous life of a compulsive gambler and in no time at all destroyed not only her life but that of Bill's, who's $30,000.00 in saving she squandered away, as well as her step-daughter Stacy future of having a two parent family.
We first get to see Elie at the beginning of the movie addressing a group of people like herself at an G.A, Gamblers Anonymous, meeting spilling her heart out about how gambling, and her inability to control it, put her in the fix that she finds herself in now. We soon get to see how Elie slowly got herself wasted, financially and emotionally, by going back to the evils that she, after getting married to Bill, tried to put behind her and had now ruined her, and her family's, life.
Shirley Jones' performance as the helpless Elie Anderson is about as good a performance of a compulsive gambler that I've see in any major Hollywood production on the subject. We see Elie's life spiral down in flames as she goes through her husbands savings going into enormous dept to the bookies and loan-sharks and eventually ending up trying to pay her debt off by hocking the family jewels. As a final insult Elie ends up putting out, after paying him back the money that she owes him, to the sleazy loan-shark Rick Santo, Sam Groom, who built up her confidence by giving her worthless tips at he racetrack that he knew were fake. It was Satno who by egging her on got Elie to write out a number of worthless and fraudulent checks that if cashed, by Santo, could put her behind bars.
Bill who had no idea of his wife's Elie's addiction found out the hard way, by the bank telling him that his account was zeroed out, what she was doing behind his back. This as he was about to start up a business with the cash, $30,000.00, that he entrusted her with! Like all gamblers Elie did have her share of luck at both the racetrack and gambling, both legal and illegal,joints but as expected she blew her hard won money that would have paid back all her debts and restored her husbands Bill's saving account. Elie did that by her gambling it away in her wanting more and instead ending up losing it all.
Hard to find made for TV movie that's more then worth the effort of spending a hours time at a local DVD bargain bin that shows how compulsive gambling has ruined many a person, like Elie Anderson, who falls prey to it.
If Barbara Stanwyck can be believable as a woman addicted to gambling, why not Shirley Jones?
mark.waltz10 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
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.
Mrs. Partridge addicted to gambling?
Hoohawnaynay10 July 2002
Shirley Jones gives one of her best performances in this made-for-tv movie of the week. (I used to wait anxiously for each new movie back in the 70's) These were much more entertaining than today's fare. Anyway, Shirley wrecked one marriage with her addiction to gambling and her new husband is unsuspecting of her problem. We (the audience) cringe each time Shirley makes one stupid bet after another with her bookie and even gets the crap beaten out of her one time when she can't pay up. Shirley has long hair in this flick (another rarity, if you are used to seeing her short shag over and over). I don't know if she was nominated for an emmy for this but she should have been as she really sinks her teeth into this role. Good old fashioned drama without todays blood & guts violence or gratuitous four letter words but still entertaining. Don't know if it's on video or not, many of these forgotten made for tv movies are lost and should be found IMMEDIATELY!!
Good Performance, Needs character development
Snowgo27 April 2014
I recently bought this movie on VHS and viewed it. Shirley Jones does not disappoint, as she plays her character with depth and complexity. The movie begins with her monologue, as she speaks to a group of fellow ex-gamblers. I disapproved of that beginning, though, and thought the movie deserved more definition and formation of the main characters. I would have liked to have known the inner world of Elanor Anderson; her history, what brought her to gambling, her secret aspirations. Maybe just as importantly, I would have liked some illustration of what allowed her to quit gambling.
One of the main, and longest parts of the movie concerns a series of covert bets she makes, over a period of six months, with the $30,000 in her new husband's savings account. There was a 30-40 minute section of the movie when we are on pins and needles, waiting for her husband to find out. I thought this movie was going to end in a bloody scene such as in Finding Mr. Goodbar. I was very relieved and surprised when Elanor's husband reacts with love instead of hate, understanding instead of revenge. The substantial and valuable nature of this direction of the plot re-inforces my belief that this movie deserved more character development, as I was tempted to view the inner directives, values and challenges of the people involved. Shirley's performance and presence saves what is a somewhat, but not wholly disappointing plot.
One of the main, and longest parts of the movie concerns a series of covert bets she makes, over a period of six months, with the $30,000 in her new husband's savings account. There was a 30-40 minute section of the movie when we are on pins and needles, waiting for her husband to find out. I thought this movie was going to end in a bloody scene such as in Finding Mr. Goodbar. I was very relieved and surprised when Elanor's husband reacts with love instead of hate, understanding instead of revenge. The substantial and valuable nature of this direction of the plot re-inforces my belief that this movie deserved more character development, as I was tempted to view the inner directives, values and challenges of the people involved. Shirley's performance and presence saves what is a somewhat, but not wholly disappointing plot.
Strong acting elevates this otherwise B movie
skepticskeptical18 February 2024
Winner Take All features some fine acting and a fairly believable portrayal of gambling addiction and the desperation to which it leads. I watched this movie on Prime recently--fifty years after its release!--and was trying to place the actress. At first, I was thinking Florence Henderson from The Brady Bunch, but then from somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain erupted the answer lodged decades ago: Shirley Jackson from the Partridge Family!
Ordinarily, a made-for-tv movie is not worth even writing about, but the performances were so strong and the story convincing enough that I decided to add to the single-digit number of reviews here at imdb.
Some credit for the theatrical quality should go to the director, Paul Bogart. The cinematography, however, is pretty mediocre, as one would expect of a movie made so long ago. I watched this because I have a fascination with other people's gambling behavior, not being a gambler myself.
Ordinarily, a made-for-tv movie is not worth even writing about, but the performances were so strong and the story convincing enough that I decided to add to the single-digit number of reviews here at imdb.
Some credit for the theatrical quality should go to the director, Paul Bogart. The cinematography, however, is pretty mediocre, as one would expect of a movie made so long ago. I watched this because I have a fascination with other people's gambling behavior, not being a gambler myself.
Shirley Jones' performance lends film distinction.
BrentCarleton18 May 2006
Perhaps even more than her in her Oscar winning performance for "Elmer Gantry," Shirley Jones here achieves distinction with her convincing delineation of a woman teetering on the brink of destroying her life through a gambling addiction.
What lends great conviction to the production is the absolutely normal personality Miss Jones projects as the protagonist. Gambling addicts are not wild eyed and sinister looking psychopaths, and it is therefore entirely appropriate that Miss Jones' character is an attractive, charming, and thoroughly upstanding seeming character. And therein lies the rub...all of which allows her to so convincingly "take in" so many others, not the least of which is her husband, (Laurence Luckinbill) from whom she has appropriated (and lost) $30,000. Most of all, she has deceived herself.
Even the cut rate conventions of TV movie production work to this movie's benefit. By shooting the movie mainly within the confines of actual suburban split level homes, hotel rooms, pawn shops, and gambling casinos, the production achieves an almost documentary veracity.
Also working much in its favor is a superb performance from Sam Groom as a sleazy back room spiv, as well as welcome cameos from screen greats Sylvia Sidney and Joan Blondell.
What lends great conviction to the production is the absolutely normal personality Miss Jones projects as the protagonist. Gambling addicts are not wild eyed and sinister looking psychopaths, and it is therefore entirely appropriate that Miss Jones' character is an attractive, charming, and thoroughly upstanding seeming character. And therein lies the rub...all of which allows her to so convincingly "take in" so many others, not the least of which is her husband, (Laurence Luckinbill) from whom she has appropriated (and lost) $30,000. Most of all, she has deceived herself.
Even the cut rate conventions of TV movie production work to this movie's benefit. By shooting the movie mainly within the confines of actual suburban split level homes, hotel rooms, pawn shops, and gambling casinos, the production achieves an almost documentary veracity.
Also working much in its favor is a superb performance from Sam Groom as a sleazy back room spiv, as well as welcome cameos from screen greats Sylvia Sidney and Joan Blondell.
Problem-of-the-week TV-movie with unusually strong cast
moonspinner5527 November 2016
Shirley Jones looks effectively wrung-out as a Los Angeles-area housewife, recently remarried to a widower with a small child, who has gambled away her new husband's savings; she's an addict who needs $30,000 to save her marriage. TV melodrama, framed by the lead character telling her story in a Gambler's Anonymous meeting, has a fine supporting cast backing Jones, including Laurence Luckinbill as her unsuspecting spouse, Joan Blondell as the owner of a gambling joint, Joyce Van Patten as a man-chaser who plays the ponies (and tells Jones, "losing is contagious!") and Sylvia Sidney as Shirley's exasperated but sympathetic mother. This teleplay doesn't allow Jones much relief; she's at the end of her rope, she continually makes poor decisions and, instead of sitting down with her husband and explaining her actions, she drives around town begging money from everyone she knows. Unpleasant (and unpleasantly pedantic: folks, don't let this happen to you!), but undeniably absorbing.
A true Desperate Housewife!
Poseidon-331 March 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This TV-movie offers an interesting glimpse into not only the horrors of compulsive gambling, but also the gender and spousal roles of the 1970's. Jones plays a housewife who's already lost one husband to her disease of gambling on virtually anything. Now married to Luckinbill and step-mother to toothy youngster Busk, she again finds herself drowning in the whirlpool of debt and self-destruction. Things reach a head when Luckinbill attempts to use his $30,000 in savings for a business of his own and finds that Jones has blown every cent of it! She frantically tries to win the money back, but can't quite pull it off in time to hide her habit. Sidney plays Jones' crusty, but concerned mother. Blondell runs a poker club. The inimitable and peerless Van Patten pops up as a friend and possible rescuer (wearing a different, but equally atrocious faux flower on each of her three outfits!) Groom is a fellow gambler and an enabler who doesn't appreciate it when she can't pay him back the way he would like. Jones does an admirable job in this film and the viewer shares her increasing despair, even while becoming disgusted at her sometimes outrageously foolish decisions. Luckinbill really only gets one particular scene of note, but he handles it well. The rest of the time, he is basically a kind, but chauvinistic bread-winner. Sidney is compelling as always, adding the right note of judgement mixed with affection. (Check out the scene in which Marlboro-voiced Sidney chides Jones for smoking, though!) Van Patten brings a lot of spark and sass to the film. (Why wasn't this woman ever a guest star on "The Golden Girls"? She'd have been fantastic!) Blondell, in a small part, gives the film some heart. One thing that stands out here is the fact that Jones gambles away $30k (a truly massive amount of money at the time!), but she doesn't even work! She barely does anything, really, except gamble and maybe fix dinner. Luckinbill, in true old-time style, simply announces to his wife and daughter, without consultation, that they are moving to another state. The roles of family members in the home have changed a lot since 1975 (as, thankfully, have the DARK paneled interiors and ugly, faux-antique fixtures popular at the time!) There's an effective and unusual score by David Shire and the cast is dotted with many of those familiar television faces of the era. Even though it is at times pat, it's also effectively bleak enough to serve as a warning to those who may have a gambling problem.
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