Product Details

• Actors: James Spader, Mandy Patinkin, M. Emmet Walsh, Charles Durning, Joel Grey
• Directors: Philip Haas
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 17, 1995
• Run Time: 98 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630297352X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,290 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Jim Nashe (Mandy Patinkin) is a mixture of tough guy and wandering spirit. On a country road he picks up Pozzi (James Spader), a gambler down on his luck. In one of the random, risky moves in which the film specializes, Nashe decides to help him out. They go to a lonely country house, inhabited by a pair of wealthy oddballs called Flower (Charles Durning) and Stone (Joel Grey), who trounce Pozzi at poker and then demand an unusual repayment: he and Nashe must build a stone wall in the grounds. From here on the movie becomes an unlikely fable about power and freedom, as Nashe and Pozzi are put through their paces like creatures of an author's cruel fancy. Haas does well to curb the threat of whimsy in all this; he cuts Paul Auster's original novel back to the bone and toughens the progress of the plot. There's nothing he can do about Spader's silly, unconvincing Pozzi, but Patinkin is a great help; he looks so grave and laid back that you almost end up believing in the whole thing. Almost. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional film., August 13, 2002

By	John S. Harris "The Voice of Reason" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

James Spader and his "True Colors" co-star Mandy Patinkin play a pair of newly-acquainted men who hope to out-play an eccentric pair of millionaires in a high-stakes poker game. Not only do they lose, but they must work of their debt in a rather unorthodox indentured-servitude kind of way. Both men had their own financial troubles and reasons for getting into the poker game in the first place, but neither of them realized exactly how costly their repayment would be.
In an interesting casting twist, Spader plays the oily, hustling loser of the two.
The final scene poses an interesting possibility - that the end result of their misadventure is part of the cyclic karma that put them there in the first place. Or something like that.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cool and intelligent..., April 17, 2002

By	C. Middleton (Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Making a film from a brilliant novel is a risky venture any way you look at it. The list of failures would run into the thousands. Granted, there have been some good ones: 'The Godfather' series comes to mind. So when I came across ~ The Music of Chance~ in the video store, I thought, "Will I take the chance?" How could anyone make or even think about making a film from this exceptional novel? It would be too difficult. Well, without question, director and co-screenwriter, Phillip Haas, pulled it off with such flair and elegance that it drove to return to the novel and experience once again.

James Nashe (Mandy Patinkin) has taken to the road without any particular destination in mind, and has been travelling for over two years. One day he picks up Jack Pozzi (James Spader), a poker player of apparent talent. An instant friendship follows, and they go in for a bizzare game of poker with two millionare, highly eccentric recluses in a far off manor in Pennsylvania. A strange twist of chance occurs during the game and our two protagonists lose everything. The two recluses make a deal to even up the debt, which James and Jack will regret for the rest of their lives.

The movie and novel's genius is the surface-mundane plot and the profound themes simmering underneath the day to day. What does it really mean to take responsibility for one's actions? How far do we take responsibility with others? Is there such a thing as luck? Are we fated to suffer as human beings? Is there growth in suffering? Can we control our destinies and how do we react when hard times befall us? The novel and surprisingly the film ask these weighty questions directly and through metaphor, pushing us to think about our lives.

One of the disappointing aspects about watching a film adaptation is the characters and environment never match-up to what one mentally generated while reading the book. Directors, too, will use creative licence and insert their own interpretation, at times ruining the original plot. Haas remained on task, however, and the film ran very close to the novel. Mandy Patinkin is James Nashe and James Spader as Jack Pozzi was as close to an accurate interpretation of a literary charcter as one could possibly attain: first class acting.

~The Music of Chance~ has been described by some as being a parable on the human condition. If one watches closeley, this film, without being entirely conscious of it, guides you through the big questions, and gently leaves you pondering.

This film is very cool, intelligent with an incredible amount of panache.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This could change your outlook on life forever, December 19, 1999

By	"beckenbauer" (Bristol, England) - See all my reviews

This was a very enchanting and absorbing story, with wonderful acting and some memorable lines of dialogue. What particularly stuck with me was the character Nash(played by Mandy Patinkin)and his attitude about misfortune in life. No one is totally in control of what happens to him, and misfortune befalls everyone. The point is that it serves no purpose to feel sorry for yourself when something goes wrong for you, you should just work work towards getting out of the predicament you are in(and accept whatever you can't change). Everyone has things they want in life, and everyone has to undergo some kind of hardship to get them. It made me feel that there is a kind of inspiration even in what you have you have to suffer when overcoming your setbacks, because it is all part of the same process of setting yourself free to realise your dreams. This idea was symbolised in the story when the two main characters are held in a seemingly inescapable situation on the grounds of a mansion, working off their debt to two millionares by building a wall for them. It's the kind of film that could lead you to great things-it could inspire you to accept austerity unflinchingly to get what you want. What a blessing this film!