Hotel Photographer Pt. 34
Part 34 Eric held forth at the party in the wood-paneled room where people were playing a video game projected large on a screen. Someone asked if anyone had seen a good movie later, and Eric talked about one he had both liked and disliked, classic about gambling addiction. A man's life took a wrong turn when he won at a lottery in the office where he worked. Next scene he's at a casino playing the slots. "Once you saw the beginning, you pretty much knew where it was going," Eric said to the audience of his report on the film. Friends tried to save the protagonist from himself, but their best efforts failed. One observed, "Some people, they win a few times they think they'll never lose. It's tragic." He wasn't a close friend, just a concerned acquaintance, all the more reason the addict wouldn't listen. Eric the photographer knew something about film. "A lesser-known classic," he said, "starring a really good actor, Burt L