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Pforte zur Hölle, Il mio uomo è una canaglia, Nacido para ganar, Născut pentru a câștiga, Né pour vaincre, Рожденный побеждать, Győzelemre született, Morte Silenciosa, Zrozen k vítězství, 天生大赢家, Nascut per guanyar, Urodzony zwycięzca, Billy Dynamites partner, 天生大贏家
nobody but George Segal could pull off running through the streets of dirty old NYC in a mumu and look like iconic doing it - a lot of DNA here was injected straight into Uncut Gems, from the constant mania (and lack of judgment) of its lead character to its affinity for the city; great stuff
An impressively bedraggled looking George Segal plays J, an addict whose existence has degenerated to a primal scramble from fix to fix. When he meets Parm (Karen Black) while trying to steal her car, the possibility of shaking off the hold the drugs have on him and reclaiming a better life floats back into focus. Will he try for it?
A few minutes into Born to Win, my wife turned to me and said "Oh - this is a movie about the random low level henchman no one cares about in other movies". I think that's probably the most interesting lens to see the film through. If you've ever wondered what the life of that guy Batman…
The everyday trials and tribulations of a recently released from prison New York junkie who spends most of his time hanging out with his best friend at Times Square and looking for his next fix.
Just reading the plot summary you can easily envision "Born to Win" as a 70s version of "Requiem for a Dream". And it's true that they have a lot in common. The biggest difference though it that where Aronofsky's film was grim and uncompromising, Passer's one is a lot more light-hearted and for the first two acts it can pass as a legitimate comedy. That doesn't mean that the Czech writer/director sugarcoats the subject of addiction, he just tries to show that addicts are more…
So this came out the same year as "panic in needle park" and although it may not have the esteem or script it does have a lot going for it. I think George Segal is great here as a strung out heroine user trying to get his as best he can but ultimately always trying to feed his habit. I can see things that make some of "Cutter's Way" in this earlier production by Ivan Plasser but here he captures it in a gritty cold New York. It's a noticeable cast with a young De Niro that are effective here. This film charmed me but I Wish I saw a better version than Tubi but whatcha gonna do.
Robert De Niro's star power is obvious. He's only in a small part of this, but even still, he has a distinct presence on screen. I always love seeing Karen Black as well.
Arriving in the very same year, it's hard not to think of Born to Win as Panic in Needle Park-lite - the presence of Marcia Jean Kurtz certainly reinforcing that idea.
Still, there's plenty going on here, and even if it doesn't quite tap the depths of scuzzy New York junkie life in the way that Jerry Schatzberg's classic does - or, for that matter, films like Midnight Cowboy, Joe or The French Connection - Born to Win still belongs in the conversation with those staples of Big Apple drama.
Segal doesn't deliver a performance to rival the likes of Pacino, Hoffman, Boyle or Hackman, but his JJ is still a captivating demonstration of desperation and addiction.
From the director of the still-criminally-underrated Cutter's Way, this is a bit like Uncut Gems in the Midnight Cowboy era, which makes it a midnight gem. Or Uncutter's Way. Captures a time and place that really makes you feel like you've stepped through a time machine. George Segal phenomenal at oddball pathos.
For Screen Slate I wrote about THE PANIC AND NEEDLE PARK + BORN TO WIN, the ultimate heroin-addicts-in-love-circa-1971 double feature.
“Two pairs of lost lovers. Heroin bags, needles scattered on the streets. Grimy New York in the early 1970s, before the neoliberal cleanup.
Two distinct New Hollywood masterpieces are in the spotlight again: Jerry Schatzberg's The Panic in Needle Park (which screens at Fotografiska tonight for its 50th anniversary, with Schatzberg, DP Adam Holender, and actress Marcia Jean Kurtz present for a Q&A) and the dearly departed Ivan Passer's Born to Win (one of the highlights of the Criterion Channel's "New York Stories" program).
“I write words that translate into pictures,” Schatzberg told me in a profile I wrote on…
I seriously considered not continuing with this film when I was halfway through it, but I somehow finished it. The ending is weird. Women are pretty much blown off and the lead character is given a free ride with no consequences. It would have been annoying, but it was just weird, like, okay, that's really what happened?
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