fUSION Anomaly. House Of Games

TelexExternal LinkInternal LinkInventory Cache

House of Games
This nOde last updated December 1st, 2001 and is permanently morphing...
(9 Ik (Wind) / 0 Mak - 12.19.8.14.2)

Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse) is a psychiatrist who treats people with addictive behavior and she has written a best selling book on this subject called "Driven". It has her picture on the back cover. She lives a very stark and totally controlled life. She speaks with no emotion at all in very clipped sentences. She is a buttoned-down, uptight woman all the way around. This woman seems totally disconnected from life. When she speaks with her mentor, she makes odd Freudian slips.

Billy, one of Dr. Ford's patients, pulls out a gun during one of his sessions with her. He is a compulsive gambler. He tells her that he owes $25,000 to Mike at the House of Games, who will kill him if he doesn't pay up. She talks him into giving her his gun and tells him that she will help save his life. She keeps his gun. Dr. Ford decides to help Billy by going to the House of Games to meet Mike (played by Joe Mantegna). Mike is totally honest with Margaret about what he is and what he does. The necessity of dark places is to transact dark business.

Margaret then discovers the exhilarating excitement in playing on the wild side and the sheer thrill of living on the edge! What is real and what is not? Who is in the game and who is not? Is it all illusion? And, most importantly, who is playing whom? As Mike says..."What is life without adventure?"

This film has all the fat trimmed off. It goes right to the bare bone. There is no unnecessary dialogue or action in this film. You will learn what a "tell" is, how not to use a squirt gun, the importance of not taunting someone pointing a real gun at you.

House of Games (1987)

Directed by
David Mamet

Writing credits
Jonathan Katz

Genre: Crime / Film-Noir / Mystery / Thriller

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lindsay Crouse .... Margaret Ford
Joe Mantegna .... Mike
Mike Nussbaum .... Joey
Lilia Skala .... Dr. Littauer
J.T. Walsh .... The Businessman
Willo Hausman .... Girl with Book
Karen Kohlhaas .... Prison Ward Patient
Steven Goldstein ....   Billy Hahn
Jack Wallace (I) .... Bartender/House of Games
Ricky Jay   ....   George/Vegas Man
G. Roy Levin .... Poker Player
Bob Lumbra   ....   Poker Player
Andy Potok .... Poker Player
Allen Soule .... Poker Player
Ben Blakeman .... Bartender/Charlie's Tavern

Runtime: USA:102
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (DeLuxe)
Sound Mix: Mono
Certification: USA:R / UK:15 / Australia:M / Sweden:15

TelexExternal LinkInternal LinkInventory Cache