How many?

A character, a cop, in the film, says that the only thing he can figure out is that Mahowny can be reconfigured to How Many. Mahowny is a bank officer who has devised the perfect technique to bankroll his gambling addiction: syphon money from accounts he has signatory power over, both a big-money daughter of a big-money client, and a fictitious customer. It is a curious psychological story, but the action is slow. Hoffman does a wonderful job, and Driver wears a funky wig.

Gilda

Friday night movie.

"Johnny Farrell goes to work for Ballin Mundson, the proprietor of an illegal gambling casino in a South American city and quickly rises to become Mundson's 'main man.' All is well until Mundson returns from a trip with his new bride, Gilda-- a woman from Johnny's past. Mundson, unaware of their previous love affair, assigns Farrell the job of keeping Gilda a faithful wife. Fraught with hatred, Gilda does her best to antagonize, intimidate, and instill jealousy in Farrell-- until circumstances allow him to get even."

For 1946, a good film. Script weak; then again, it was 1946. The acting is excellent.






An interested aside: Gilda Radner was named after this Gilda, according to Make 'em laugh: the funny business of America. (2008). Kantor, Michael& Laurence Maslon. Hachette: New York. pp. 238-239. [Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Delanceyplace.com 6/17/09 - Gilda Radner]

21

Fairly good. Smart kids are recruited by MIT Mathematics instructor to count cards and make bundles of money at Las Vegas. Protagonist, a quasi-nerd who is working on a robotic car with his two nerd buddies, is so smart the instructor recruits him to be the lead card player in the scheme.

Las Vegas, MIT and Harvard are featured, glamorized, and used as props in this quest for an easy way out. In the way of the team stands an anachronism, a human being who monitors card players and their wonts, habits and patterns to detect cheating and card counting.

Decent-enough Friday night fare.