In Malle’s best-known English language film, Burt Lancaster gives one of the greatest performance of his career as Lou, an aging small-town mobster whose romanticized reminiscences of his part in Atlantic City’s infamous past become reality when he becomes the guardian angel to troubled waitress and would-be croupier Sally (Susan Sarandon). This subtle and wistful portrait of human folly and redemption won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1980, received five Academy Awards nominations, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.