Born to Win

George Segal Director: Ivan Passer Ivan Passer

Overview

Born to Win is the grimly ironic title of this jet-black comedy about heroin addicts. George Segal plays Jay Jay, an ex-hairdresser who struggles to support his expensive drug habit. To avoid arrest, Jay Jay turns "narc," informing on his fellow junkies. Eventually Jay Jay's sense of self-hatred threatens to overwhelm him. Also released as Born to Lose and Addict, Born to Win was the first American film for Czech director Ivan Passer.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/31/2022
UPC:	0814456025124
Original Release:	1971
Rating:	NR
Source:	Fun City Editions
Time:	1:29:00
Sales rank:	23,790

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

George Segal	J.
Karen Black	Parm
Paula Prentiss	Veronica
Jay Fletcher	Billy Dynamite
Hector Elizondo	The Geek
Robert De Niro	Danny
Ed Madsen	Detective
Marcia Jean Kurtz	Marlene
Irving Selbst	Stanley
Sylvia Syms	Cashier
Jane Elder	Girl's Mother
Burt Young	Actor
Max Brandt	Actor

Technical Credits

Ivan Passer

David Scott Milton

Ivan Passer	Director,Screenwriter
William S. Fisher	Score Composer
Robert Greenhut	Production Manager
Richard C. Kratina	Cinematographer
Philip Langner	Producer
Dennis L. Maitland	Sound/Sound Designer
David Scott Milton	Screenwriter
Jack Priestley	Cinematographer
Ralph Rosenblum	Editor
Murray P. Stern	Art Director
Jerry Tokofsky	Producer
Albert Wolsky	Costumes/Costume Designer

Editorial Reviews

No matter what one may think of the films of the early 1970s in terms of their quality, it's hard to argue with the fact that the era produced a staggering number of films that were quite daring in subject matter or style, and such is the case with Born to Win. Like many other of its brethren at the time, Win doesn't totally succeed as a film, but it's an incredible microcosmic look at a particular place in a particular time. Rarely has the city of New York -- or rather, a segment of the city of New York -- been captured so completely, a fact that is all the more surprising given that the director who captured it, Ivan Passer, was newly arrived from Czechoslovakia. Passer can't get the film as a whole to work the way he wants it, but he brings an outsider's eye to the film and thus is able to catch the details and the nuances that those used to living in and observing the City would miss. Had Passer been able to pull off the very difficult tone of the piece -- a black comedy about serious drug addiction -- Win might have been an incredible cinematic experience. As it is, it meanders too much and it too often doesn't make the punches it wants to, and it definitely doesn't combine the comedy and the drama seamlessly. But there are extraordinary moments, such as Karen Black's exhortation to George Segal as she returns him to New York to get a fix, that burn themselves into the memory. And Segal's desperation when he's naked and awaiting word of his fate provides a marvelously funny sequence. Segal and Black are excellent throughout, and there's also a small bit by a young Robert De Niro, which is interesting mostly for historic reasons.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler