- published: 23 Dec 2009
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Atlantic City is a 1980 French-Canadian romantic crime film directed by Louis Malle. Filmed in late 1979, it was released in France and Germany in 1980 and in the United States in 1981. The script was written by John Guare. It stars Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren, Michel Piccoli, and Al Waxman.
Atlantic City is among the 41 films to be nominated for all "Big Five" Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay, and one of only eight amidst this group to not take home a single award. It lost the Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay to Chariots of Fire, Best Director to Reds, and Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, who were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress, lost to Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond.
Sally (Susan Sarandon) is a young waitress in an Atlantic City casino who has dreams of becoming a blackjack dealer in Monte Carlo. Sally's estranged husband Dave (Robert Joy) returns to her one day with the intention of selling a large amount of cocaine that he had stolen in Philadelphia and meets Lou (Burt Lancaster), an aging former gangster who lives in Sally's apartment building and runs numbers in poor areas of the city; he also acts as a caretaker for Grace (Kate Reid), an elderly invalid. Dave convinces Lou to sell the cocaine for him, but as Lou sells the first batch, Dave is attacked and killed by the mobsters from whom he had stolen the drugs.
(Original by Bruce Springsteen)
Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly
last night now they blew up his house too
Down on the boardwalk
they're gettin' ready for a fight
gonna see what them racket boys can do
Now there's trouble busin'
in from outta state and the D.A.
can't get no relief
Gonna be a rumble out on the promenade
and the gamblin' commission's hangin' on by
the skin of its teeth
(Chorus)
Well now everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty
And meet me tonight in Atlantic City
Well I got a job and tried to put my money away
But I got debts that no honest man can pay
So I drew what I had from the Central Trust
And I bought us two tickets on that Coast City bus
(Chorus)
Now our luck may have died
and our love may be cold
but with you forever I'll stay
We're goin' out
where the sand's turnin' to gold
so put on your stockin's baby `cause
the night's getting cold
And everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Now I been lookin' for a job
but it's hard to find
Down here it's just winners and losers
and don't get caught on the wrong side of that
line
Well I'm tired of comin' out on the losin' end
So honey last night I met this guy and
I'm gonna do a little favor for him
Well I guess everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your hair up nice and set up pretty
and meet me tonight in Atlantic City
Meet me tonight in Atlantic City
Meet me tonight in Atlantic City