Character Type: Gambler
Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am…
“Gamblers, a specific character type whose career, life, and personality is infused with a need, proclivity or instinct to take big risks. Often for money. Sometimes for fame. And other times, primarily for the rush it brings… despite or perhaps because of the danger involved.”
Those of you who have followed my blog for some time or taken courses with me through Screenwriting Master Class know how fascinated I am with character archetypes, specifically how there are five — Protagonist, Nemesis, Attractor, Mentor, Trickster — which recur in movies over and over and over.
Some might see archetypes as a sort of reductionist approach to writing when in my experience, it is precisely the opposite.
By working with these five Primary Character Archetypes, we can identify the core narrative function of every key character, then use that knowledge as a guide as we build them out in a limitless number of ways.
One approach is to use an extensive array of Character Types available to us. So this month, I am running a series in which we will explore 20 Character Types, and consider how writers can use them to create unique, compelling figures in our stories.
Today: Gambler.
In a sense, every Protagonist is a ‘gambler’ in that they choose their standing in the Old World for what may or may not lie ahead in the New World. Even Nemesis figures will play the odds through the machinations of their plan to achieve their goal, generally in opposition with the Protagonist. In that match-up, there are winners… and there are losers. So a certain amount of gambling is implied in the characters’ decision-making process.
But then there are actual Gamblers, a specific character type whose career, life, and personality is infused with a need, proclivity or instinct to take big risks. Often for money. Sometimes for fame. And other times, primarily for the rush it brings… despite or perhaps because of the danger involved.
Let’s start with card players. Hollywood has featured Gamblers in high-stakes games in movies like The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Owning Mahowny (2003), and Rounders (1998) starring Matt Damon as a reformed gambler who is forced to return to the game to help a friend (Edward Norton Jr.) pay off loan sharks.
Card games require certain skills: math, probability, psychology and the ability to wear ‘masks’ when confronting a rival across the table. There are other forms of gambling that necessitate different, more physical talents such pool as in movies like The Color of Money (1986), Poolhall Junkies (2002), and the 1961 classic The Hustler starring Paul Newman as an upstart talent who takes on the legendary Minnesota Fats played by Jackie Gleason.

Then there are Gambler types who bet on sporting events — horse races, basketball, baseball. Here there is no direct skill involved and no way, at least legally, to influence the outcome. The smarts required are an immersive knowledge on the sport in question… or just gut instinct. Movies featuring this Gambler character type include the 1989 comedy Let It Ride, the 1984 drama The Pope of Greenwich Village, and the 1974 film The Gambler starring James Caan as an NYU professor with a gambling habit that eventually gets him in over his head.

Generally Gambler types are lone wolves, the individual in an existential exercise to beat the odds. However there is an entire subset of movies that feature groups of Gamblers, most often with a plan to make a big score. Movies in the sub-genre include The Sting (1973), Ocean’s Eleven (1960, 2001), and The Italian Job (1969, 2003).

The appeal of Gambler character types is apparent. Who among us doesn’t imagine having loads of money? Who doesn’t have a bit of larceny in their soul? We can live vicariously through these characters, their ups and downs, the danger and the scores. And sometimes we may need to watch a straightforward morality tale to remind us of the substantial risks involved with a gambling lifestyle.
What brainstorming can you do with a Gambler character type?
Gamblers can get in over their heads financially, forced to seek out funds from loan sharks. While that’s an obvious path to work up a Protagonist character, what about a Trickster? We see this dynamic in the movie Rounders.
Sometimes the Protagonist plays life too safe, they live too much inside their head. Then along comes a Mentor figure who goes by his gut and is willing to gamble everything on a fantastical scheme… with the Protagonist’s life-savings. That’s the plot of Zorba the Greek.
And what about a Gambler as Nemesis? They could be out for a big score like Hans Gruber in Die Hard, but what if their thefts and games are all in service of something bigger, a plan to create chaos in order to flush out the real identity of a superhero? That describes this memorable character:

What brainstorming can you do with a Gambler?
Tomorrow: Another character type.
For more Character Type articles, go here