TORONTO, Canada—On May 19, 1984, 35-year-old Michael Larson won $110,237 on CBS’s Press Your Luck, thus becoming the most successful single-day game show contestant in television history.
Premiering on Sept. 5 at the Toronto International Film Festival, The Luckiest Man in America is the fictionalized story of that legendary real-life run, which is often referred to as a “scandal” because, as it turned out, Michael wasn’t merely the beneficiary of random fortune. Alas, while its protagonist...