Desertman84 Born To Win is a black comedy that was released more than forty years ago about a life of a drug addict.It stars a talented cast in George Segal,Karen Black,Paula Prentiss, Hector Elizondo and Robert De Niro. The story revolves around Jay Jay,an ex-hairdresser who finds it difficult to support his drug addiction.He later reaches rock bottom as his lifestyle only leads him to more harm like self-hate and lack of self-confidence. The movie obviously is pretty much dated as it belonged to the 70's when people are discovering the "pleasure" that drugs can bring and thus forming the habit.While it may serve as a warning to the viewer as it makes fun of the disaster that Jay Jay is headed to,it fails to provide genuine warning and does not manage to entertain the viewer at all.

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.

sol1218 ***SPOILERS*** Brutal gritty as well as funny, in its more light hearted scenes, "Born to Win" is about a loser Mr. J, George Seagal, who's addiction to drugs finally catches up with him. That's when Mr. J outlives his usefulness to his big time drug supplier known as "The Geek", Hector Elizondo, and the two narcotic cops Ed Medsen and his partner Danny, played by a 27 year old Robert De Niro, who are using Mr.J. to set "The Geek" up.Trying to kick the habit Mr. J knows his addiction will eventually kill him but him kicking it is easier said then done. With him hanging around junkies like himself he only makes things worse in the company that he keeps. There's also the free spirited Parm, Karen Black, who for some strange reason gets the hots for the shaggy dog looking Mr.J after she caught him trying to steal her car in midtown Manhattan. We later see in Pram's duplex West Side Manhattan apartment, where does she get the cash to pay the rent, that she has a couple of cats, a back and orange one, as pets! Can it be that she want's to give Mr.J, who's as cuddly and cute like a puppy dog, a roof over his head and three meals a day as well? With all this good luck Mr.J is still craving for the good stuff, heroin, and that leads him as well as his junkie friend Billy Dynamite, Jay Fletcher, to rob drug smuggler Stanley,Irving Selbst, of his monthly heroin shipment supplied to him by "The Geek". In doing that both of them, Mr.J & Billy Dynamite, are targeted by "The Geek's" boys for immediate termination. What's even worse for Mr. J the cops, Danny & Madsen, now got something else on him beside his drug using and trafficking. In that they now arrested Parm on trumped up charges threatening to send her up the river, prison, on a both phony drug and prostitution rap.***SPOILERS*** With Pram now in the clink and him facing as much as 40 years behind bars for not cooperating with the police, in fact he did but couldn't get him to bite at the bait,in setting up "The Geek" Mr.J now has another big and shocking surprise coming to him. That's in the drugs he was to get from "The Geek" as a reward for his services that was hidden under the sink in a public mens washroom. Giving his good friend and fellow junkie Billy Dynamite the first taste or shot he suddenly goes into convulsions and dropped dead on the spot! As it turned out "The Geek" handed him a hot load in payment for trying to set him up! But it was the luckless Billy Dynamite who ended up getting it! P.S One of actor George Seagal's personal favorites which he put his heart & soul as well as money into. Nowhere as good and as "Panic in Needle Park" which was released the same year but still hits the spot in what hard drug addiction, that seemed to have become hip at the time, can do to a person who thinks he can handle it. Not only does it destroy him but everyone he comes in contact with even those, like Pram, who aren't addicted to it!

bbarnes1 If you want to learn why George Segal movies are no longer watched, this is a great opportunity. It is a fine example of amateur and extremely hammy characterizations, foolish jargon, awful editing, bad dialog, and complete lack of continuity. The only slightly redeeming feature is the jazz music which lurches from moment to moment without regard for the action, or lack of it, on screen. One moment George is hopping around in a pink peignoir, then he's shooting up in the bathroom, or trying to. If a film student submitted this turkey for review, he would be laughed out of class. Watch it only to see why the 70's antihero movie went out of style.