. The Gambler

The Gambler.

Kenny Rogers played a gambler in the western The Gambler I from 1980, This movie aired on television in the states on April 8 1980 starring the following, Kenny Rogers as Brady Hawkes he's the star of the movie and is known as the Gambler.

Christine Bradford as Eliza is Brady Hawkes first wife and together they had a child name Jeremiah. Bruce Boxleitner as Billy Montana is a young gambler looking to make a name for himself. Harold Gould as Arthur Stobridge who's the owner of the train and the railroad Lee Purcell as Jennie Reed is a young woman on the train, and Clu Gulager as Rufe Bennett is the owner of the town where Eliza and Jeremiah live.

Brady is riding hard in order to catch a train in El Paso Texas where he's headed for Yuma. Meanwhile inside the train station Billy Montana tries to make time with a young woman named Jennie Reed. However, Jennie is married so Billy gets involved in a poker game. The game has already started when Brady walks through the door. While Brady sits and watches the game, Billy is accused of cheating when Brady discovers that Billy wasn't the only one cheating.

Brady tells Billy that he saw him cheating and Billy thinks that he can beat Brady honestly. However, since neither trusts the other the have Jennie deal the cards. Brady teaches Billy a very valuable lesson on gambling and when they start walking towards the train Billy finds out the name of the man that just beat him in cards. While on the train, Brady starts to read a letter that he received while playing poker in Kansas from a boy name Jeremiah. Jeremiah is Brady son, a son that he never knew he had and he and his mother are in trouble. Jeremiah is running around town when he caught by two of Rufe Bennett cronies.

Bennett has the kid in his bar and wants to know what was in the letter that he sent to his dad. Just as Bennett goes to beat the boy, his mother Eliza walks into the saloon. Eliza tells Jeremiah to run and instead of hitting the boy, Bennett hits Eliza instead. Later that night Eliza tells Jeremiah to go to the next town on the stage and keep on the look out for his dad. If Brady is coming to help them, he has to go through this town.

The question is will Brady come to help his son? Is Brady even on the train? Will Jeremiah be able to identify his father even though he doesn't know what he looks like? Here are some of my own personal thoughts about this movie. I thought this movie was excellent from beginning to end. Kenny Rogers was a world famous singer and now after this movie he will be known as a famous actor. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat right from the start. Even thought this movie had no real leading actress I'm giving this movie 10 weasel stars because of Kenny Rogers, his supporting cast, and the action, adventure and drama this movie put out.

The Gamber II: The Adventure Continues

The Gamber III: The Legend Continues

The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw - The Gambler IV (1991). Reba's role as "Burgundy Jones " the owner of a brothel and admirer of Mr. Hawke's poker skills, steals the movie with the sexiest leather cowboy duds ever. It is very highly improbable that this leather outfit could have been made in this time era, never mind that a cross-dressing female would be allowed to wear these masculine leather garments during this time . Reba does save the life of Kenny Rogers(Hawke) from the Mexican gallows when wrongly accused of cheating at cards.

Reba gives Kenny the chance to represent a girl group with their financial backing to enter a big poker game with the world's best players in San Francisco. Kenny comes through; surprise ! Reba as Burgundy , didn't get to strut her stuff enough in her cowboy leathers as she should have don, she was shot and never wore her sexy leathers again. Linda Evans re-appears in this "Gambler" sequel dressed in another cowboy outfit.This black cloth outfit is unlike her first cowboy outfit she wore in her first "Gambler" episode. Linda as " Kate " the bounty hunter is now a locale sheriff dressed like Gene Autry in his movie fancy duds. Kate has tight rodeo riding pants tucked into her cowboy boots with matching jacket and Stetson hat. Kate looks great with her cowboy gun belt slung around curving hips.

Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994) This movie, 'The Gambler' is the story of Brady Hawkes trying to find his son, who has become tangled with Butch and the Sundance Kid's Wild Bunch. It follows their adventures through bank robberies, train explo-sions, and being chased by the Pinkertons. This movie is very historically accurate and very informative. The characters were genuinely portrayed, and it was interesting to see how the plot unfolded. It was also very interesting for me to see Ms. Hargitay in a western! Very entertaining and fun from start to finish!

For 25 years, Kenny Rogers has been closely associated with the song "The Gambler" and a recurring network television movie role based on the song. The first movie entry was The Gambler (1980) in which Rogers portrayed a gambler known as Brady Hawkes. Featured in the film was Bruce Boxleitner playing Hawkes's friend Billy Montana. Together, the two of them helped Hawkes's son Jeremiah out of some difficulties. The Hawkes character was a likable one, amiably played by Rogers, and the film was a substantial success. It prompted the inevitable sequel The Gambler: The Adventure Continues (1983) plus three subsequent ones at three-to-four-year intervals.

The two most recent entries were The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991) and The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994). Beginning with the third Gambler movie (The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues [1987]), the plots featured a number of real historic personages whose paths would cross that of Brady Hawkes. In The Gambler Returns, Brady has to make his way from Mexico to San Francisco guarding $100,000 which is his entry fee in what is being billed as the last poker game in America, as there is the threat of a law being passed to outlaw gambling across the country. During the course of his journey, Brady encounters the likes of Wyatt Earp, Judge Roy Bean, Bat Masterton, and Teddy Roosevelt. In The Gambler V, Brady goes to the aid of his son Jeremiah who has gotten himself mixed up with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He also runs into Lily Langtry and Etta Place.

The success of the Gambler franchise resulted in the later editions being shown as miniseries spread over two nights with movie running times of three hours each. As a result, both of the movies in question here are somewhat flabby and episodic due to drawn-out plots and the obvious dramatic breaks to allow commercial placements. The episodic nature is most pronounced in The Gambler Returns due to an interesting plot/casting approach—the use of familiar television western players. Thus we get short segments where Chuck Connors appears as The Rifleman, Clint Walker as Cheyenne Bodie, James Drury and Doug McClure as their characters from The Virginian, Hugh O'Brien as Wyatt Earp, Gene Barry as Bat Masterson, and so on. There's no doubt that if you're interested in seeing how these players all look 30 or 35 years after their original shows were on TV, The Gambler Returns will hold interest for you. The film also benefits from the appearance of Reba McIntire as Burgundy Jones, Brady Hawkes's backer for the big poker game.

The Gambler V actually has a better-constructed plot than its predecessor. It ties together Brady's search for his son, the movements of the Cassidy gang, the actions of Pinkerton detectives who are on Cassidy's trail, and a number of various locations from Fort Worth, Texas to Bolivia in a consistently interesting way. It still seems long, but a lot more of significance occurs to justify the length than in The Gambler Returns.

Despite the length issue with these films, there's no doubt that a fair bit of effort has gone into the making of them. The casts are large and generally are composed of players who seem to have a feel for the western. The films look as though they've had money spent on them with extensive if not exotic location work and good attention to prop and costume detail. Kenny Rogers manages to look interested for most of the time and generally holds the films together through the force of his character.

Artisan's release typically has no supplementary content, but you are getting two films for the price of one. The full frame transfers (as originally shot) feature natural-looking colours and good black levels, but suffer from noticeable edge effects from time to time. Unfortunately, Artisan has chosen to spread the first feature over two discs, placing the last hour of it on the second disc with the entire second feature. The stereo sound tracks are adequate.

Thanks to the Internet,

H.V. Anderz.

Februari 2013.

Laatst bijgewekt op 17 februari 2013.