Born to Win

Several movies from the 70’s are so well known, and so discussed, especially those of Scorsese and Coppola, that many fine movies are overlooked – Hi Mom!, Scarecrow, The Panic In Needle Park, Tracks, Fingers,etc.etc. Add Born To Win to that list. Director and co-writer Ivan Passer was a recent Czech immigrant, but he manages to conjure up a very realistic and believable look at the seedy underbelly of NYC. Only Midnight Cowboy and The Panic In Needle Park come close. This isn’t the New York of Woody Allen, it’s the New York of Lou Reed. Passer displays a lot of talent in this movie. George Segal will surprise a lot of people with his performance in Born To Win, especially those who only have a one dimensional idea of him from his comedy work. Segal plays JJ, a hairdresser turned junkie hipster, who is, well one has to say it, a born loser. Segal is both funny and cool and sad, and he’s just as good in this as Pacino, De Niro or Keitel were in more celebrated roles from this period. De Niro in fact pops up in a small supporting role as a cop, something which is exploited on the DVD cover. He’s okay but has a very small role, so fans beware. Hector Elizondo has a much more important part as a drug pusher, and Karen Black, hot off Five Easy Pieces_, plays JJ’s girlfriend, who he meets in a funny scene where he steals her car. Both Elizondo and Black give excellent performances. Also in the supporting cast are Paula Prentiss (_The Parallax View) who plays JJ’s junkie wife, and one of the first jobs for character actor Burt Young, who plays a hood. If you like gritty and realistic 1970s movies you’ll love Born To Win, a film which doesn’t deserve to languish in such obscurity. —Worldscinema.com