Review of Born to Win by Hugh on 16/01/12

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Okay, let’s get this out of the way first. This is no DeNiro movie. He’s in the movie, but he doesn’t show his face until 30 minutes in and he’s really a supporting character at best. In truth this is really Segal’s film. And he’s great as the charming chancer, ably switching from drama to black comedy (showing the promise that was to come in Fun With Dick and Jane) without breaking a sweat. The story itself is a simple enough one, taking a grim look at the darker side of the drug trade in the early 70s, this makes no attempts to portray it in a glamorous light. If anything this goes out of its way to go against the grain, opting for a very un-Hollywood ending that’s as unrewarding as a crack hit. As for DeNiro, there’s no mistaking his charisma. Only his eighth movie appearance (and two years before his big break in Scorsese’s Mean Streets), Rob shows the kind of talent in just four or five scenes that would benefit him later on in his career. This might not be his film, but his inclusion is a worthy addition to a fine bit of 70s cinema. Having been corralled by a drug dealer he’d tried to rip off, JJ is stuck in a bedroom, naked except for the dealer’s wife’s pink dressing gown. Several stories up and with no way of escaping, JJ resorts to flashing a young girl in an apartment opposite. Cue the cops and an easy escape.