The idea of taking from the rich to give to the poor may be synonymous with the story of Robin Hood, but that same message is one repeatedly found within folklore all over the world. After all, that's why they are called folk tales, these are stories for the people. What better setting could there be for a modern telling of this tale, then, than a game show?
That's exactly where Samir Oliveros places us in his latest feature, The Luckiest Man in America, which revolves around the 1984 Press Your Luck scandal where contestant Michael Larson took home a record-breaking $110,237 (worth roughly $333,642 today). Rather cleverly, Oliveros and co-writer Maggie Briggs have structured the film like a game show itself, with three specific rounds: 1. Who is Michael Larson? 2. How is he doing it? 3. Will he pull it off? Each offers the audience a chance to figure out the answer.
When we first meet Larson, portrayed here by one of our finest actors working today, Paul Walter Hauser, something immediately seems off. An unease comes with the character, one that's hard to place. A strange, bumbling intensity that holds something beneath the surface, secrets just waiting to blow. Yet, there is an unusual magnetism to Larson. Hauser plays the real-life trickster not as some conniving genius but as an opportunist all too aware of the stakes of his latest scheme.
Despite being the subject of two documentaries, a failed early 2000s feature film starring Bill Murray, and a Spanish language graphic novel, the film treats the so-called ‘Luckiest Man in America' as a total mystery, and the way in which the movie slowly reveals aspects of Larson's personal life, as well as the way he's beating the system, is testament to Oliveros's direction. As one of the contestants begins to figure out something isn't quite right, Oliveros shoots him from a low angle, with the audience in the background, and slowly zooms in. It's a powerful image that evokes the contestant's isolation, one of the few to question Michael's motives and assures us we're in safe hands with Oliveros sitting in the director's chair.
Just as the mystery that is Michael Larson begins to unravel before our very eyes we also begin to understand more about the game show and everybody that is involved. Starting out as nice, kind people who encourage Larson with talks about how they want him to succeed, those in charge of the show quickly show their true colours, trying anything to ensure his downfall. David Strathairn and Shamier Anderson are great in their roles as the show's producer and director, with a wonderful chemistry and terrific balance in their dynamic. It's in their schemings to uncover the truth that the pair get to shine – using the make-up girls to search him for wires, bribing other members of staff to find dirt on Larson, or even throwing each other under the bus.
Although the outcome of the story has been etched into pop culture history for the previous forty years, The Luckiest Man in America is a fascinating watch, with the filmmakers focusing less on the what and more on the how. Larson's tale clearly resonates with people, even decades later. Those finding themselves living in modern-day Britain's cost-of-living crisis will be familiar with a tale of those at the top squeezing the little man to ensure his place at the bottom. It's a tale as old as time.
With a terrific central performance from Paul Walter Hauser as the contemporary folk hero Michael Larson, The Luckiest Man in America is a smoothly paced, enjoyable tale of modern-day greed, wonderfully crafted by director Samir Oliveros. With a lot of laughs, plenty of tension and a hell of a lot of heart, this is a joyful film that reminds us that sometimes even David can beat Goliath.
The Luckiest Man in America screened at Glasgow Film Festival
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