Pleasure Palace (1980)

Pleasure Palace (1980)


Plot Summary

a womanizing, handsome gambler tangles with the feisty female owner of a large casino and ends up falling in love.

As you can tell from the photo above this isn't a theatrical film but rather a TV movie back in the days when TV movies weren't always just weepy true stories as they sometimes boasted pretty good casts with interesting stories. This teleplay stars Omar Sharif, Jose Ferrer, Hope Lange and Victoria Principal so there was good talent behind this.

The story revolves around  Louie Lefevre (Sharif) and his companion "Pokey" Poquette (Ferrer) as they go from high priced casino to high priced casino as Levfevre is an internationally known gambler. Early on we see Lefevre clean up against the rich Texas oilman Howland (J.D. Canon) and his associates. This would come to play a part in the story later on. Throughout this early part of the movie Madelaine Calvert (Lange) was in the background watching. She makes her presence known when she sits and talks with Lefevre. Louie obviously woos her but she has pressing matters to discuss with him as she asks him to come to Las Vegas to discuss things more fully. Lefevre is intrigued by this and ends up going there. Before I go on I have to remark on this little scene as Sharif and Lange have some pretty good chemistry all things considered as the script is a bit flat dialogue wise. There is a nice moment though (and probably the best in the whole show) when responding to Madelaine about how most men find her over the hill Louie replies "I've always been intrigued by what is over that hill" and follows up with a sly grin. 

Once in Vegas Madelaine explains everything to Lefevre about how her husband owned Caesar's Palace and how she's basically over extended herself with expansion plans. She then offers Lefevre the job of running the hotel and casino with the rationale that he's the biggest gambler in the world and that he'd attract all the big shots and thus make her stockholders think twice about selling the hotel/casino to......Howland. 

There's a secondary plot to the movie that is pretty rote and by the numbers as Howland's wife is fond of wearing a 2 million dollar necklace and Victoria Principal is this mystery woman following them around. All signs point to her to being a thief but in the end it turns out she isn't. it does open up an interesting dynamic as Lefevre for the first time finds himself uncomfortable about wooing and being in love with two women at the same time. Eventually though the plot moves forward to the point that Madelaine has put up her casino in a card game with Howland as he plans to break the house and then assume the debt and take ownership of it. Madelaine announces that Lefevre will play for the house even though she's not sure he will. 

I'll leave it at that but I think you can tell where this is heading. The real interesting thing about all this is that this movie is more or less a western in "gambler movie" clothing. It's made explicit in the first conversation between Lefevre and Madelaine as he compares himself to the fastest gun in the old western days who has to take down all comers who think they can beat him. He compares the big card games to the final gun fight in all those western movies. 

Indeed, there is a LOT to this that follows the western convention. Pokey wants to settle down and set anchor where he and Lefevre will BELONG in a community whereas like the old gunfighter who only knows one way of living, Lefevre fights this notion as he wants to continue being a globe trotting gambler. Lange is the love interest that sees the good in Lefevre and sees him more than the famed gambler he is as she continually tries to impress upon him the importance of helping her and Howland is your classic villain who wants revenge over Lefevre but his cockiness gets the better of him. 

Watching this through the lens of a Western film takes an otherwise serviceable 90+ minutes and makes it something worthwhile. I found that Sharif seemed to be phoning it in a bit but even a half committed Omar Sharif playing a suave, debonair type is worth seeing. Everyone else is quite good with the exception of Howland's wife who is just grating and a caricature of a hick. In fact, Howland is portrayed as an extreme caricature of a Texas Oilman but J.D. Canon knew when to reign in it at times and seem real when circumstances called for it. 

I can't give this more than ** stars but as a TV movie it's pretty good.