THE DEALER

Logline: 

A Las Vegas blackjack dealer is haunted by flashbacks to Vietnam, where he planned the missions for Operation Rolling Thunder. He saved eleven passengers from a burning plane. He planned the deaths of thousands. Can he forgive himself?

Opening Scene:

A small boy sits in a church pew, staring up at a large cross. A bump on the head. His dad, affectionately using the usher's collection basket to get his attention. Pay attention.

More About the Film:

Decades later, Steve deals blackjack in a small Nevada casino. Midnight shift. Army pension. The quiet rhythm of cards and chips. He doesn't sleep much — a few hours in his recliner, never in the bed beside his wife. The nightmares won't allow it.

The flashbacks take him back. A '57 Chevy and a girl named Lucy he'll never see again. A burning plane in Alaska where he pulled eleven passengers from the wreckage. And a classified room in Vietnam where he planned the missions for Operation Rolling Thunder — over 800,000 tons of bombs in three years, more than fell on the Pacific in World War II. Every morning, the same question: "Steve, what was our body count from yesterday?"

He saved eleven. He killed thousands. The math doesn't balance. It never will.

A friend visits him at the casino. Always at the right moment. They drive out to Death Valley. There's always a paper bag with a six-pack. There's always an offer. Steve always says no.

Some people never stop offering. Some people take a lifetime to say yes.

THE DEALER is inspired by C.S. Lewis: "The gates of hell are locked from the inside." It's about a man who built his own prison — and the friend who never stopped waiting outside.