For $10,000 they break your arms. For $20,000 they break your legs. Axel Freed owes $44,000.
James Toback made his screenwriting debut with this taut drama, loosely adapted from the story by Dostoevsky. Axel Freed (James Caan) is an intelligent and well-respected professor of literature at a noted New York university, who uses great writing as a springboard for examining moral and philosophical issues in his class.
But when he's not in front of the chalkboard, Axel has a serious problem – he's hopelessly addicted to gambling.