HIGH STAKES

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Director: - Amos Kollek
Screenplay: - Amos Kolleck
Gellar's role: - Karen Rose
Co-starring: - Sally Kirkland, Kathy Bates
US Release Date: - October 1989
Length: - 102 minutes
Genre: - Thriller
Printed film format: - 35mm
Sound mix: - mono
Original Music: - Mira J. Spektor

A New York hooker (Kirlkand) tries to keep her daughter (Gellar) away from the clutches of The Mob. They are befriended by a yuppie stockbroker, who then discovers that he is much more committed to helping them than he originally thought.

Vincent Canby wrote in the New York Times: "Amos Kollek's 'High Stakes' is a romantic comedy about Bambi (Sally Kirkland), whose real name is Melanie Rose, a stripper and whore, and John (Robert LuPone), an Upper East Side-type who makes his fortunes as a Wall Street speculator. They meet cute. Bambi, half-dressed, has just been tossed out of a car by a client, who says she's too old. On the steps outside her bohemian walk-up apartment on West 42d Street, she meets John. He has just been mugged."

Lisa Marie Bowman, writing for The Shattered Lens, said: "LuPone and Kirkland have a lot of a chemistry and some of the best moments in the film are the ones where the characters simply talk about their different lives. Kirkland, in particular, does a good job and she manages to bring some unexpected shadings to a stock role. She’s especially good in her scenes with Sarah Michelle Gellar, radiating a very natural maternal instinct. By the end of the film, you truly like Bambi and root for her. Despite all of my natural expectations, High Stakes turned out to be a rather sweet and touching film."

The film also went by the title of Melanie Rose. In Germany and Hungary, it was called Death Strip.

Director Amos Kollek is the son of former Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek. His 1995 film "Teddy Kollek" chronicles his father's rescue of 3,000 Jews from Nazi Germany and his twenty-nine years as Mayor.

High Stakes is Sarah Michelle Gellar's film debut, disregarding her uncredited appearance in OVER THE BROOKLY BRIDGE (1984).

On the soundtrack:

• NEW PONY - Bob Dylan
• NO TIME TO THINK - Bob Dylan
• TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT - written by Mira Spektor - sung by Mary Gordon Murray
• LITTLE FILLY NAMED "HEARTS DESIRE" - written by Mira Spektor - sung by Mary Gordon Murray
• MEAN STREAK - written by John Clifton - sung by Gail Wynters
• I CAN'T STAND IT - written by Barry Ryan - sung by Lucky Seven

CAST

• Sarah Michelle Gellar - Karen Rose
  
• Sally Kirkland - Melanie Rose
  
• Kathy Bates - Jill
  
• Robert LuPone - John Stratton
  
• Larry Block - Harvey
  
• Eddie Earl Hatch - Earl
  
• Maia Danziger - Veronica
  
• Betty Miller - Mother
  
• June Stein - Betty
  
• Rose Parra - Tina
  
• W.T. Martin - Bob
  
• Richard Lynch - Slim
  
• Joe Cirillo - Waiter
  
• Jesse Corti - Super
  
• Edward Black - Bouncer
  
• William Kennedy - Man in back room
  
• Samantha Louca - Receptionist
  
• Owen Lund - Customer
  
• Michael Steinhardt - Good Time Man
  
• Maggie Wagner - Woman in Bar

HIGH STAKES is available on DVD NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 - Denmark.