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Born to Win

Director: Ivan Passer Run Time: 89 min. Format: 35mm Rating: R Release Year: 1971

Starring: George Segal, Karen Black, Paula Prentiss, Hector Elizondo, Jay Fletcher, Robert De Niro

J. (George Segal) was a hairdresser until his escalating heroin addiction broke up his family and overtook his life. In filmmaker Ivan Passer’s Fun City-set Born to Win, J. and his friend and fellow junkie Billy Dynamite (Jay Fletcher), are reduced to running scams all over town together, desperately angling for their next fix. When a free-spirited young woman (Karen Black) falls for J., it seems they might have a chance to escape this bleak world together, but J.’s addiction means they are never too far from the reach of a merciless drug dealer and pimp (Hector Elizondo) and a relentless narcotics cop (Robert De Niro).

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