House of Games - 1987

Director: David Mamet
Actors: Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum, Lilia Skala, J.T. Walsh
Studio: MGM (Video DVD)
Category: DVD

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Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 4.9 x 0.6
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House of Games - 1987

Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Theatrical Release Date: October 11, 1987
Release Date: December 19, 2000

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House of Games - 1987

Amazon.com
David Mamet's 1987 directorial debut was this mesmerizing study of control and seduction between two kinds of detached observers: a gambler who is also a con artist, and a psychotherapist who is also an emerging pop-psych guru in the book market.

The latter (played by Lindsay Crouse) meets the former (Joe Mantegna) when one of her clients is driven to despair from his debts to the card shark. Mantegna's character agrees to drop the IOUs in exchange for Crouse's attention at the seedy House of Games in Seattle, a mecca for con men to talk shop and hustle unsuspecting customers.

The shrink gets so caught up in the arcane rules and world view of her guide over subsequent days that she observes--with no false rapture--various stings in progress inside and outside the club.

Mamet's story finally becomes a fascinating study of two people protecting and extending their respective cosmologies the way rival predators fight for the same piece of turf.

The psychological challenge is compelling; so is the stylized dialogue, with its pattern of pauses and hiccups and humming meter. Mostly shooting at night, Mamet also gave Seattle a different look from previous filmmakers, turning its familiar puddles into concentrations of liquid neon and poisonous noir.

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