David Mamet's directorial debut finds him exploring his abiding interest in deception and inviting his audience to be prepared for endless twists and turns. The film is a character study of Dr. Margaret Ford (Lindsay Crouse), a psychiatrist and best-selling author specializing in addictive behavior. During a therapy session, she discovers that a patient owes a $25,000 gambling debt. When she becomes involved on her patient's behalf, she enters an underworld populated with fascinating characters. Dr. Ford is both strong and vulnerable, and Crouse exploits this ambiguity in a powerful central performance. Joe Mantegna is also a presence as underworld denizen Mike. The strong overall acting and well-crafted plot pleased critics and proved to be at the heart of Mamet's future filmmaking successes.
Filmed in Seattle, Washington.
HOUSE OF GAMES was playwright-screenwriter David Mamet's first film as a director and features many regulars from his stage troupe, including Lindsay Crouse and Joe Mantegna.
Star Lindsay Crouse was director David Mamet's wife at the time the film was made.
The film was screened at the 1987 Venice Film Festival.
Liz Dixon and Ricky Jay were used as consultants on confidence games.
Review 1:
"...Writer David Mamet's first trip behind the camera as director is entertaining good fun, an American film noir with Hitchcockian touches..."
Source: Variety
09/09/1987
Review 2:
"...A real curve ball....Mamet has elevated the dialogue to the foreground....GAMES is smart..."
Source: Film Comment
p.61-4 11/01/1987
Review 3:
"...Coldly absorbing....Mamet gives us the plot in crisp layers....[The] dialogue -- subtly rhythmed, pungent, terrifically well written -- carries the movie..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.C1 10/15/1987
Review 4:
"...Mamet's dialogue starts with the plain red bricks of reality, and mortars them into walls that are slightly askew..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.5 10/31/1999
Review 5:
"...Entertaining, deadpan, seriocomic melodrama....Mamet's screenplay builds much like a whopping good poker game..."
Source: New York Times
p.94 10/11/1987
Review 6:
Included in the New York Times "10 Best Films of 1987"
Source: New York Times
p.II, 23 12/27/1987
Review 7:
"With a parlor-trick plot and neon-lit cinematography right out of Edward Hopper's NIGHTHAWKS, GAMES is a con within a con within a con." -- Grade: A-
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.54 08/31/2007
Shopping Cart:
