Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

classicsoncall So much talent, so little accomplishment. George Segal, Karen Black, Hector Elizondo, Paula Prentiss, Robert DeNiro and Burt Young - can you come up with a better lineup for the early Seventies? I'm definitely in the minority here after reading the many stellar reviews for "Born to Win", but this was just a complete bore for me. That generally happens when one of the defining scenes involves a spaced out junkie (Segal) attempting to steal a car on the street, and the owner (Black) comes off accepting it as kind of cute. I don't get it. Nor did I get the rest of the film. It didn't help that the print I viewed had muffled audio and much of the dialog was difficult to hear, but I don't know if a better quality transfer would have helped. Besides that, don't blink, or you'll miss the second half of the cast I mentioned earlier. 'Born to Lose' would have been a better title.

peapulation From the seventies comes another seventies flick that has a lot to do with drugs and junkies. The main character played by George Segal, JJ, is a junkie whose main goal in life is to get fixed everyday. As a result, everything else is secondly important. His relationship with his girlfriend, and in a surreal way, even the fact that he has children, which is only mentioned in the film two times, and briefly.From the way it starts, we are almost tricked into believing this will be a comedy. Then, from then on, it becomes the tragic portrayal of life on the streets. The footage we see on the screen seem dirty, and the gritty look of the film is meant to add to the brutality of the film. It's too bad that the part of George Segal is not so believable as a junkie, because it's not written well. There's too much emphasis on interaction and not enough emphasis on the characters themselves. The only times when we really see JJ break down is when we don't know what is going to happen to him. Drugs have driven him to a selfishness that is hard to side with. We don't pity him, but we literally hate what he has become.The editing is horrible, hard to believe that it came from the same guy that did the editing for Annie Hall. The direction is careless and throws whatever good there was in the screenplay as of secondary importance, focusing the film around a plot that doesn't exist, and oversthetching the bit in the middle, in making us think that there is a plain plot. The actors are also scattered around loose. Robert DeNiro's presence does nothing for the standards of the cast, he too in fact doesn't know what he is doing. While Segal cannot get away with playing a junkie, possibly because he isn't bony enough, Karen Black as his girlfriend is adorable, but her part is not well written. We know nothing of her.There is no good guy in this movie, and all in all there is little reason to watch it. There are parts that might have an impact, but all in all, there are better movies that deal with the same issues. It was certainly rushed.WATCH FOR THE MOMENT - A charming scene that shows the film had ideas. Karen Black and George Segal meeting the first time as he tries to steal her car.

TorommE I would have to say this fine piece of drug-oriented cinema is the reason we have film festivals. Simply amazing. I am surprised Vincent Gallo has not stumbled across the idea of remaking "Born To Win", it would be his third film, furthermore third film in which the title begins with the letter "B". This is a classic picture. An ex-hairdresser gone junkie, walking the streets, doing petty jobs for just one more fix, a man who truly knows the blues, a man who has lost everything, and pulls it off with such style and grace. If Vincent Gallo doesn't do something, then there is a glitch in the system. This film is the reason I started taking movies seriously.. it is the reason I dropped out of school and wanted to be a drug-dealer when I grew up.

saicalum George Segal's career encompasses a large body of work, spanning decades. I've seen only a few of his movies. "The Hot Rock" was a great ensemble comedy. "Terminal Man", timely and dark, pegs the other end of the spectrum. It's safe to say the 1970s were about challenging the Old Guard. In Hollywood, this meant reinvention and the search for Truth begun anew. From industry insiders all the way down to you and me it's understood "truth in film" is synonymous with or defined as risky and unprofitable, something other than standard fare. And though overused, the phrase 'they don't make 'em like that anymore' is applicable here, because "Born to Win" was produced for reasons other than profit. Its story is roughly drawn and its characters hunger for a pure, painless resolution that you know will never come by the end of the first scene. George Segal is at the center as J, a heroin addict who spends his time visualizing new plans for his next fix. All other characters within his orbit advance his desparation. There's a very palpable truth in the uncertainty the characters feel. They live, but have no lives. Segal's character has never called a shot in his life, yet he knows from years of experience how it will turn out, with him behind the 8-ball. Karen Black plays the love interest who extends to him the hope of salvation, only to be swept under. Hector Elizondo, Robert De Niro, Paula Prentiss and JJ's main junkie pal Billy (Jay Fletcher) exist to keep the downward spiral swirling. A refreshing and enjoyable film for people who feel a nostalgia for challenging, resonant stories that strike a chord as pure as a tuning fork.