The Music of Chance (1993)
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100% of critics liked it
(11 reviews) -
84% of users liked it
(724 ratings)
Documentary filmmaker Philip Haas made his dramatic feature film debut with The Music of Chance, adapted from Paul Auster's terse, existential novel. The film follows the plight of two hapless drifters -- Jim Nashe (Mandy Patinkin), who is escaping family and responsibility with an inheritance… More Documentary filmmaker Philip Haas made his dramatic feature film debut with The Music of Chance, adapted from Paul Auster's terse, existential novel. The film follows the plight of two hapless drifters -- Jim Nashe (Mandy Patinkin), who is escaping family and responsibility with an inheritance and a red BMW, and Jack Pozzi (James Spader), a down-on-his-luck gambler and world class manipulator. Pozzi convinces Nashe to shoot the works and put his remaining $10,000 into a high stakes poker game against two rich suckers -- reclusive lottery winners Willie Stone (Joel Grey) and Bill Flower (Charles Durning), who share a lavish but isolated country estate, using the remains of their lottery fortune to construct a self-contained world on the grounds of their mansion. Instead of bilking the two millionaires, however, Pozzi and Nashe lose their windfall and find themselves indebted to Stone and Flowers, who compel them to work off their losses by constructing a stone monument on their estate, a chore that results in deception, flight, and possibly murder. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Philip Haas
- Genres
- Mystery & Suspense, Drama
- In Theaters
- Jun 4, 1993 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Adam Lippe, Examiner.com
Haas' literal-minded adaptation, something he also did effectively with the more visually opulent Angels and Insects, is helpful in directly laying out our own moral debate, where our sense of social obligation bumps up against our moralistic outrage.
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Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily
A true original. Fascinatingly off-beat. One of the most underrated, overlooked films of the 1990s.
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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice
Spellbing film about the capriciousnes of human nature and the soullessness of lives enslaved to wealt
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Cast
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James Spader
as Jack Pozzi
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Mandy Patinkin
as James Nashe
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M. Emmet Walsh
as Calvin Murks
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Charles Durning
as Bill Flowers
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Joel Grey
as Willy Stone
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Samantha Mathis
as Tiffany
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Chris Penn
as Floyd Murks
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Pearl Jones
as Louise
- Bonnie Timmermann
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Paul Auster
as Driver
- Christopher Penn
