The film’s backdrop of Atlantic City is shown as dark and gaudy with the classy hotels condemned for destruction to make way for bigger, louder and now legal casino hotels. Hollis McLaren (Chrissie) and Robert Joy (Dave) play the pregnant younger sister and Sally’s husband who ran off with her.
The two share a brief and sweet love affair amidst the turmoil of the other rich characters of the film. She has a long way to go from working manual labor in a seafood bar by day and learning the tricks and trades of a casino employee at night.
Opposite Lancaster is a young Susan Sarandon who plays Sally, a lovely level-headed young woman whose life goal is to become the first female croupier in Monte Carlo. The film stars Burt Lancaster as Lou, an older washed up mob hit-man who actually never was. In 1980, when The Empire Strikes Back cast a long shadow on most other releases, Louis Malle (Pretty Baby and Lacombe, Lucien) directed one of the most romantic and dark casino movies of the decade, titled Atlantic City.
