A Piece of the Action story
A gambler ends up putting his life at stake when he wins $30,000 from an ex- hood. Directed by: Bernard Girard. Story by: Alfred Hayes.
16 total · 10 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| brother and brother | major | The story follows Duke as he tries to teach his younger brother, and fellow problem gambler, Chuck, a lesson about the dangers in following in his footsteps. |
| cheating | major | In the end, Duke was revealed to have been using marked cards at the poker table. The gangsters killed him because they thought he'd been cheating them all along. Earlier, another gambler, Alley, had also been shot for dealing from the bottom of the deck. |
| coping with a failing marriage | major | Alice was on the verge of divorcing Duke because of his excessive gambling, but their tried to patch things up after he agreed to her ultimatum to quit. |
| divorce | major | Alice threatened to divorce Duke. |
| husband and wife | major | After consenting to Alice's ultimatum to stop his gambling, Duke and Alice patched up their marriage, and resolved to go on vacation in Hawaii. Things went awry, however, when Duke decided there was one last poker night he needed to attend. |
| lesson in humility | major | Chuck was riding his high horse when he was winning at the poker table, but Duke dramatically crushed him to drive home his point: gambling is bad. |
| obsession | major | Duke's obsession with gambling, which he sort of referred to, was nearly the end of his marriage. He also pointed out that every gambler died broke, and he sought to save his younger brother from that fate. |
| problem gambling | major | Duke Marsden resolved to give up gambling to save his marriage. He also went to elaborate lengths to prevent his younger brother, Chuck, to follow in his gambling footsteps. |
| sacrifice for a loved one | major | Duke understood the risk he was taking, both to his person and his marriage, by trying to save his little brother. |
| you have to take chances to get ahead | major | The argument between Duke and Chuck essentially boiled down to this: Duke did not think it was worth taking the risks of gambling to get ahead, but Chuck saw that he could never achieve the affluence Duke had otherwise, and begged to differ. |