The Gambler (1980)

Kenny Rogers is Brady Hawkes, a gambler who just discovered he has a son named Jeremiah.

The son and his mom, Eliza (Christine Bedford), need rescuing from an abusive saloon owner (Clu Galager as Rufe Bennett).

On the train ride there, he becomes friends with Billy Montana (Bruce Boxleitner), a young man with aspirations of being as good a gambler as Hawkes.

And he defends the honor of pretty young Jennie Reed, a former whore fresh back in the West from the boarding school her rich husband sent her to so she could learn to be a lady.

Brady bails Billy out of a couple of jams, dispensing a bit of frontier / gambling wisdom all the while.

That means he’ll have a sidekick when he reaches his destination and comes face to face with Rufe.

He might need help. Rufe runs the town and has already dispatched killers intent on making sure Hawkes never arrives.

Kenny Rogers as Brady Hawkes, checking out the gambling competition in The Gambler (1980)

Bruce Boxleitner as Billy Montana, a young gambler thinking he has a winning hand in The Gambler (1980)

Review:

Decent TV Western featuring a fine performance from Boxleitner.

Unfortunately, few of the other cast members — certainly not Rogers — can match his on-screen charisma.

There’s lot of card playing, a touch of gunplay and this CBS film was successful enough to spawn four sequels.

Just don’t think too hard about the resolution. It’ll make you wonder about the point of the entire enterprise.

Christine Belford as Eliza, looking forward to the return of an old lover in The Gambler (1980)

Ronnie Scribner as Jeremiah, the son Brady Hawkes never knew he had in The Gambler (1980)

Directed by:
Dick Lowry

Cast:
Kenny Rogers … Brady Hawkes
Christine Belford … Eliza
Bruce Boxleitner … Billy Montana
Harold Gould … Arthur Stobridge
Clu Galager … Rufe Bennett
Lance LeGault … Doc Palmer
Lee Purcell … Jennie Reed
Ronnie Scribner … Jeremiah
Noble Willingham … Conductor
Bruce M. Fischer … Tabor
Borah Silver … Botkin
Lew Brown … Johnson
Lee Paul … George
Robert Lussier … Crown
Edward Walsh … Charlie Rose

Runtime: 94 min.

Clu Galager as Rufe Bennett as Eliza’s abusive lover in The Gambler (1980)

Lee Purcell as Jennie Reed, the former whore returning West after attending a finishing school in The Gambler (1980)

Memorable lines:

Brady Hawkes to Billy Montana: “Poker’s a trade, son, and an honest one. It’s fellas like you that give gamblin’ a bad name. Like drunks give drinkin’. Oh, yea, never leave a man busted.”

Billy Montana: “I hope we play again sometime. I’d lik to take you down a few notches.”
Brady Hawkes: “Many men have tried.”

Brady Hawkes of Billy Montana: “He’s not strong on brains. But he’s not short on guts either. He’ll learn.”

Brady Hawkes to Billy Montana: “Kid, if you don’t make it as a gambler, you’ll do real good spreading fertilizer.”

Eliza: “It’s not so much that you love me, it’s that you hate him.”
Rufe Benet: “I guess it’s a little of both.”

Harold Gould as Arthur Stobridge, rich owner of the railroad Brady, Jennie and Billy ride in The Gambler (1980)

Lance LeGault as Doc Palmer, one of the high-stakes poker players in The Gambler (1980)

Christine Belford as Eliza, showing the marks of an abusive lover in The Gambler (1980)

Kenny Rogers as Brady Hawkes with an adversary under his gun in The Gambler (1980)