The Music of Chance

The Music of Chance is a 1993 American drama film directed by Philip Haas. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. It is based on the 1990 book of the same name. Plot Jim Nashe worked as a fireman, but a large inheritance and a divorce from his wife has left him free to buy a new car and see the country at his leisure. He picks up a hitchhiker, Jack Pozzi, who turns out to be a professional gambler. Pozzi tells how he just lost his net worth when the poker game he was playing at was robbed and he was beaten after the others suspected him of orchestrating the robbery. Now he cannot afford the minimum $10,000 buy-in to play a poker game with a pair of eccentric old millionaires whom he had previously beaten handily. With money and time to spare, the intrigued Nashe offers to back Pozzi with $10,000 for a rematch. The wealthy men, Flower and Stone, live together on a huge estate. They willingly agree to another game, but are not the suckers Pozzi takes them for. After losing at first, they repeatedly win, exhausting the $10,000. Nashe puts up his car for more chips, though he has to agree to $5,000, much less than he says the car is worth. Pozzi loses again. Now Nashe, who needs the car to get home proposes a new bet: a single cut of the cards. If he wins, he gets the car back; if he loses, he owes $10,000. Nashe loses.