La partita

The Gamble, aka 'La Partita' , shot straight to VHS after it was released in 1988. Matthew Modine, Jennifer Beals and Faye Dunaway would star in this period piece directed by Carlo Vanzina. Plot: When Francesco (Modine) returns home with the assumption that his father's wealth will be there to keep him content, he discovers that his father has lost everything to a German countess (Dunaway) while gambling. The countess is captivated by Francesco's good looks and physique and lets him gamble his life for the return of everything she has won from his father. He looses and becomes her slave. Francesco realizes that the countess never loses for some strange reason and fleas. The rest of this film is him on the run from the countesses' men until a dramatic confrontation with the countess at the end of the picture. One defining thing about this film is the locations. There are so many amazing Italian and European locations to awe at, whether it be the 15th century castles or the lush forests and mazes; The Gamble offers gorgeous locations by the pound. One thing to note however, this is another film which suffered some loss of quality in the picture due to its conversion to VHS. If you can get over the graininess, you can enjoy the film a lot more. Costumes are always a big thing in any sort of period piece. The Gamble features a plethora of wonderful costume's that seem like they were made for this movie alone. Whether you look at some of the old world dresses that the actresses wear to Modine's classic tux, it's all there! The acting in The Gamble is far from memorable. Modine seems one sided most of the time and a lot of the women actresses are portrayed as sex objects throughout the film with loads of unneeded nudity. Ian Bannen, who is usually a top notch actor, also seems to be suffering from poor direction I believe. This is another movie that does have good choreography. Just watch how some of those stunt doubles weave their horses throughout frames with ease. Even the swordplay is excellent; it's probably the most Modine does acting wise. The one big flaw in The Gamble is the ridiculous ending! I couldn't believe how the movie went from a classical renaissance kind of picture to a flat-out supernatural film! I'm not going to spoil the ending, but it did leave a sour taste in my mouth! So along with this and a few other flaws, watching The Gamble could very well be a gamble in itself! If you find it cheap enough (like I did) I would suggest purchasing it for three reasons: 1. How not to act. 2. To look at the scenery without actually spending money on traveling. 3. How not to anger your audience with the most non-believable ending I've ever seen

My review was written in January 1991 after watching the film on Prism video cassette.

Matthew Modines' enthusiasm is the distinguishing feature of "The Gamble" a/k/a "The Match", a lush-looking but campy Italian film aimed at the world market.

It probably would take a filmmaker of Stanley Kubrick's caliber, in a "Barry Lyndon" mood, to put across this stale material of a young rake in period dress gamboling across the Italian countryside with mean Faye Dunaway in pursuit. Casting Yank talent is not enough to crack the American maket, where pic recently bowed in video store.

Modine's tragic error is gambling with noblewoman Dunaway after she's cleaned out his dad (Ian Bannen). To make the wager interesting (they're gambling with spinning tops instead of dice), he has to bet himself and she wins.

Modine violently escapes the villainess' clutches, and "Gamble" turns into a medieval road movie. In Verona, he teams up with Jennifer Beal and the duo is pursued by Dunaway's evil henchmen.

Along the way, Modine has sexual dalliances with many beautiful women, including French "Story of O" star Corinne Clery. When Dunaway finally catches up with him, the payoff is a throwback to her campy "The Wicked Lady" image as she bests him in a swordfight. Finale is very disappointing.

Modine is dashing but like the other American lead players, he is not convincing in the role as they use no accents. Supporting cast is dubbed acceptably into English, but some conventions should have been followed to develop convincing Italian roles. Dunaway and Beals are glamorous, and the locations an eyeful.

Certainly no one would watch this film for its quality acting. Faye Dunaway and Jennifer Beals are the major exceptions. These two ladies deliver prime performances as do a few of the other actors (Karina Huff as an estate serving woman and Claudia Lawrence as Olivia's nurse).

Unfortunately the film centers around Matthew Modine who continually demonstrates he should have sought out another profession than acting. He is supposed to be quite the lady's man here and various actresses do their part to try to make him look that way. But Modine just doesn't have what it takes to carry it off to the audience. Perhaps he will stick to stunts and sword play as he would probably do well at that. But if there is a god, he won't speak another line of dialogue in film.

Ian Bannen plays Modine's father and his part suffers I believe from poor directing. Bannen is an accomplished actor and should have done better, but it appears to me that he was simply directed to make himself appear pure victim rather than take his losses like a man of sterner stuff.

The thing I liked about the film is it's unique story line and the intensity that Faye Dunaway introduces into the story. It's a story of one Francesco Sacredo (Modine) who wagers and loses his rights to his life and livingness to Countess Matilda (Dunaway). On losing the wager Sacredo refuses to abide by the terms of the wager and flees. In his flight he hops in and out of bed with most of the women he meets along the way. The Countess hires men to pursue him and the pursuit of Sacredo becomes a game for the Countess like a cat playing with a mouse. It's this last aspect of the film that makes the film for me, in spite of Modine's and Bannen's acting.

I also liked the sets and costuming. They seemed well done. I give it a 7/10 for Dunaway's and Beal's parts and the story line minus the Modine factor.

It would be hard to conjure up a more lame, poorly acted and directed and pitiful excuse for a swashbuckler film. Naturally, whenever a low-budget film is made by foreign hands and B-list actors, the result is not going to be a classic, but this is even more dreadful than expected! The plot concerns a young man (Modine) who gambles his life away in an attempt to regain the estate that his father has already lost. He loses to a woman (Dunaway) who will stop at nothing to reclaim him when he reneges on the deal. Modine is all wrong for this type of role with his contemporary gait and looks, along with his flat, monotone line delivery. Beals is also hopelessly wrong. The one saving grace is Dunaway who is her usual ultra-glamorous self, but even she can't do much with this garbage. She is flawlessly lit, coiffed and dressed, but gives a very stilted performance. The ending to this turkey must be seen to be believed as ultimately the tale takes on supernatural qualities! How anyone could cast Modine in "Cutthroat Island" after this mess is one of life's great mysteries. There are ample doses of blood and topless women to keep the unlucky viewer from turning the thing off.

Probably the most accurate one word description for "La Partia" ("The Gamble") is "witless".

It was certainly "witless" to cast Mathew Modine in a 18th century Italian period piece. Modine and his monotone voice are unsuited to anything but playing a contemporary American. Modine was the guy in high school who got the lead in "Camelot", he sang the songs and he said the lines well enough, but not for a second did anyone suspend belief that it was anything more than a high school play. In "The Gamble" he plays an Italian Tom Jones who looks and talks more like a guy at the mall in Parma, Ohio than in 18th century Italy (even Parma).

It was certainly "witless" to try to turn this script into a feature-length movie. While not unintentionally funny enough for MST3000 to parody, it does contain the immortal line: "We are the "Pesto Brothers", in the service of the countess, and we have come to collect you". These guys should have been teamed with the "Pasta Sisters".

It was "witless" of Jennifer Beals to accept her role. But I guess you have to eat and she had not done anything since her pretty decent performance in "The Bride" three years earlier. "The Gamble" was not really a career killer for her, at least when compared to Modine her performance is satisfactory.

It was "witless" to cast Faye Dunaway as the countess. Dunaway basically reprises her roles in "The Four Musketeers" and "The Wicked Lady"; apparently she has a thing for this period of history. In all three films her character comes across bored and tired. "The Gamble" needs a lot of things to be watchable, but an over-the-top performance from Dunaway would at least have given this thing the periodic energy transfusions it needs to stay alive.

You are unlikely to accidentally stumble across this movie. If you are seeking it out to assemble a collected works of Jennifer Beals, just buy the thing and put it away without viewing.