The Luckiest Man in America
Technically it wasn’t cheating; it was a game, and he was invited to play by the producer himself, Bill Carruthers, his appearance unkempt and his entry to the auditions as unorthodox as his transport to the CBS studios in Hollywood, having travelled from Ohio to California in an ice cream van, but the only condition imposed upon Michael Larson when he was placed on the panel of contestants for Press Your Luck was that he fix his hair and beard and get a new jacket.
Initially hesitant in his responses in the trivia round, host Peter Tomarken offering reassurance as he would with any contestant, in the second part of the game when the big bucks were to be made, playing against the computer to win cash and prizes, Larson excelled; at first it seemed a lucky streak, attracting attention upstairs in the gallery, but continuing with frenzied determination and defying the odds it became apparent that all was not what it seemed with the luckiest man in America.
Based on the true events of Saturday 19th May 1984 when Michael Larson played the television game show Press Your Luck which had been running since late the previous year and won a record-breaking total of $110,237, The Luckiest Man in America is directed by Samir Oliveros with I, Tonya‘s Paul Walter Hauser as Larson, Them That Follow‘s Walton Goggins as Tomarken and The Expanse‘s David Strathairn as Carruthers, all of them doppelgängers for their real-life counterparts, as confirmed by the archive footage shown in the end credits.
The panic rising as the total winnings go higher and higher, it is floor manager Chuck (Wynonna Earp’s Shamier Anderson) who realises they are being played and the simplicity of the hack which has exploited a flaw in their own systems, the computer only programmed with five sequences of prize offerings which Larson has memorised, allowing him to optimise his fortune and avoiding the penalty squares, while The Owners’ Maisie Williams tries to keep order as anxious production assistant Sylvia.
The bulk of the film unfolding across a single day as the recording session stretches into a longer than planned stressful evening and only moving beyond the studio walls as far as the adjoining parking lot, The Luckiest Man in America has no great latitude to develop the story, Larson perhaps disingenuous in his approach but ultimately only well prepared with information freely available, a contrast to the accusations backstage as it becomes apparent someone must take the blame for the costly oversight.
Aiming for emotional catharsis in the confrontations and confessions, with the game show format and the wider entertainment industry ultimately a cynical environment of bread and circuses to distract the unwashed masses from the real concerns of the day, it feels artificial and myopic, the film never addressing the other “get rich quick” schemes Larson participated in during his life, a man who might have gotten away it had he settled for enough rather than milking his plan for all it was worth on camera, betrayed by the scrutiny he invited.
Glasgow Film Festival continues until Sunday 9th March
