Born to Win

Director: Ivan Passer, Ivan Passer

1971 / 88min / 35mm

The first film that Czech director Passer made after fleeing to the United States, slapstick tragicomedy Born to Win is a pungent period document of New York City’s lower depths starring George Segal as an ex-hairdresser whose life has been taken over by his heroin habit, handed a chance to break from his routine of running scams to pay for the next fix when he attracts the attention of a young woman, Parm (Black), whose love might offer him a new lease on life. “[Segal’s] most prodigious and imaginative performance… An unjustly neglected film.”—Pauline Kael, The New Yorker