‘Let It Ride’ Movie Review – Story, Cast & Background

The movie, ‘Let It Ride’ (1989) shows the funny story of one true gambler that cannot give up his passion for betting. It is not a heavy and dramatic movie, but it still shows in a funny manner the bad side of gambling and how quickly it could go sideways. The production is an action/comedy, and it is an absolute pleasure to watch ‘Let It Ride’ movie online. While reading our ‘Let It Ride’ movie review, don’t forget to explore the many subjects hidden in the plain text.

Digital Illustration of Horse Racing.

‘Let It Ride’ 1989 – Additional Info About the Production

🎦 Name: Let It Ride
📅 Released: 18th Of August 1989
🎥 Producer: David Giler
🎬 Director: Joe Pytka
💰 Budget: $18 Million
🌟 IMDB Rate: 6.8/10
🎞️ Duration: 1h 27mins

Released on the 18th of August 1989, ‘Let It Ride’ kind of marks the end of the 80’s style of movies. The story is based on the novel Good Vibes by Jay Cronley. We like the movie ‘Let It Ride’ because it shows the harsh reality in a fun way. However, it has a happy ending that rarely happens in real life.

David Giler and Joe Pytka contributed most to the creation of the movie. The budget of $18 million ensured one proper ‘Let It Ride’ movie cast, which we will overview in a minute. The movie ‘Let it Ride’ is a relatively short film. You won’t need more than one hour and a half, even less if you don’t watch the cast in the end.

Thirty years later, the film’s rating is relatively lower than we expected, but we assume it is because the screen quality differs from what we used to see nowadays. After all, the storyline is great. It gives you a good life lesson in a fun and pleasant manner. At the end of our ‘Let It Ride’ review, we will show you where you can watch the ‘Let It Ride’ movie online.

‘Let It Ride’ Movie Cast – Primary & Secondary Roles

As we previously mentioned, the film’s budget was $18 million, which back in the day was sufficient enough to ensure a great team behind and in front of the cameras. Richard Dreyfuss plays the primary role of the passionate gambler Jay Trotter, while David Johansen plays the best friend’s role that always wants to lure him into sin. The rest of the Let It Ride movie cast consists of other well known Hollywood actors like Teri Garr, Allen Garfield, Jennifer Tilly and other legends like Edward Walsh or Ralph Seymour.

  • Richard Dreyfuss playing Jay Trotter – Primary role
  • David Johansen playing Looney – Primary Role
  • Teri Garr playing Pam – Secondary role
  • Allen Garfield playing Greenberg – Secondary role
  • Jennifer Tilly playing Vicki – Secondary role

Thanks to the impressive list of actors, you will enjoy the movie ‘Let It Ride’, we can guarantee that. You will see some real-life personages that you can encounter in real gambling places like horse-racing tracks and bookmakers bars. Most of the films based on such a theme are way heavier to watch than this one. ‘Let It Ride’ is a nice, fun and full of lessons movie. If you are a passionate gambler like Jay, you might be interested to learn which are the top gambling sites in the UK currently.

‘Let It Ride’ Movie Review – How The Movie Starts?

The beginning of ‘Let It Ride’ is an introduction to the storyline and where you get familiar with the main characters. In the opening scenes, we see the strong faith of the leading role Jay Trotter. He is a superstitious man who believes he is born under a lucky star, and skills don’t matter that much. It is an excellent example of how believing in yourself could bring you to new heights.

However, in the first scenes, you see how Jay Trotter and his wife sit in a restaurant and discuss fortune cookies and how luck is essential. In the next moment, Jay goes to the man’s room and on the way, he asks God for one great day or one big win. At the beginning of the movie ‘Let It Ride’, it becomes clear that Jay is a passionate punter while his life is strictly against it. He must choose between them because he can’t have them both.

Jay is working as a cab driver, and this is how we meet the following important role, his fellow colleague called Looney. They are both into gambling, but Looney is the one with no luck at all. Despite that, he plays a crucial role in the development of the movie ‘Let It Ride’.

 The Start of a Horse Race

‘Let It Ride’ 1989 Main Action

Shortly after the movie starts, you see that the real trouble maker is actually Looney, who is recording the conversations of all of his passengers every day. One day Looney played one of the recordings to Jay. From it, it comes clear that the gentlemen were involved in a horse racing betting scheme. They found out that the owners of a horse called Charity were holding the animal from winning.

While Looney saw it as a ridiculously long shot and a possible lie, Jay accepted it as a divine sign that he just got and bet on it. And that’s what he did, despite what he promised to his beloved wife the day before. Before the race, he has prayed again to God to bring him one lucky day.

This is where it’s getting interesting. Jay’s horse won the race, and he made $710 out of $50. Then he went to the horse trainers to thank them, but they got scared that he can expose them, and they gave him another tip that brought another significant win of $2450. This is when Jay felt that this is really his lucky day, but then he got arrested by mistake. Shortly after, it became clear that it is a mistaken identity case, and he was released, and of course, he went back to the race track. Slowly but steady, he made $68,000.

‘Let It Ride’ Movie – The End

The culmination of the movie is at the very end when Jay places the whole amount of $68,000 on a single race despite the many bits of advice he received from his life and Looney not to. It was the most intense race in the movie where two horses finished almost together, and a video reply/photo finish of it was needed to declare the winner.

Suddenly the crowd started cheering, then Jay’s wife Pam asked him what is going on, and he answered, “It is because I am having a very good day”. This is how movie ends, but anyway you need to watch ‘Let It Ride’ movie online, to see it with your own eyes.

 Jockey Riding A Horse On A Race

Where & How to Watch ‘Let It Ride’ Movie Online

After you read all about this gambling movie, you are probably wondering where you can watch the ‘Let It Ride’ movie online. Well, since the production is over 30 years old, you can find it on almost every large streaming platform. In fact, you can still buy a physical copy of the movie, but it’s not worth it when you can buy the digital version from PlayGoogle. So here are the rest of your options where you can watch ‘Let It Ride’ movie online:

  • Amazon Prime Video
  • Netflix
  • JustWatch
  • ParamountPlus
  • PlayGoogle

For those of you who dislike paying for old movies, we suggest you seek the film on any of the largest torrent websites you can find on Google. We won’t mention them because they are illegal in many countries. It is a risk that you take on your own, but it is an option after all.

However, the movie ‘Let It Ride’ is a top choice for every person that likes gambling, horse racing and comedy! If you are into old gambling movies, we suggest you check our The Color Of Money (1986) review. This is another classical movie that you will like for sure.

FAQ

It was not that lost ‘Let It Ride’ movie review, but we assume that you will have some additional questions. Therefore we have prepared the most frequently asked questions about the movie ‘Let It Ride’ 1989. If you want to study any of the matters in detail, you should use the jump links in the answers, which will lead you to the exact place in the content where you will find a complete explanation.

📝 Who stands behind the 'Let it Ride' 1989?

The film is based on the novel Good Vibes by Jay Cronley, but the people who contributed most to the movie 'Let It Ride' are the producer and the director - David Giler and Joe Pytka. Check the full 'Let It Ride' background to learn everything about it.

👨‍🎤 What is the Let it Ride movie cast?

The budget of $18 million was enough to ensure one great 'Let It Ride' movie cast consisted of many great actors. In the movie, you see the combination of old-timers like Edward Walsh or Allen Garfield and rising Hollywood stars like Cynthia Nixon or Jennifer Tilly.

🔚 How does the movie 'Let it Ride' end?

The movie shows the reality of compulsive gambling disorder in one funny and cool manner. The end of 'Let It Ride' is a happy one, but know that things rarely go well for any person suffering from gambling addiction. Sports betting is very tricky, and you can easily slip over. This is what precisely the movie shows.

🎞️ Where I can watch 'Let it Ride' movie online?

This question has many answers. Since the movie was made in 1989, nowadays, there are many online platforms where you can watch the 'Let it Ride' movie online. You have many options, but the most commonly used and available worldwide are Netflix, Amazon Prime and PlayGoogle.

Enjoyed this article? Share it with your friends!

Similar Articles