The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Memorable, crazy movie

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Somewhere I read that at the heart of it, deep down in their souls, all hard core gamblers really want to lose…that they enjoy the pain and angst. Personally, I think that's complete bullshit. But "The Cincinnati Kid" is a profile of a stud playing expert, one Eric Stoner, played by Steve McQueen in one of his most memorable roles. By 1965 McQueen had become a screen superstar, following the release of "The Great Escape" in 63 and he would have about a 10 year run of top notch dramatic classics that would also include "Nevada Smith" "The Sand Pebbles" "Bullitt" and "Papillion" among some other solid offerings. In TCK McQueen is paired with screen legend Edward G. Robinson, who is brilliant as "the Man" Lancey Howard, regarded as the top stud poker player of his era. Their characters are similar to their real life personas…McQueen, like the Kid was an up and coming superstar while Robinson, like Lancey was now entering the twilight of a brilliant career, but not ready to step aside yet.TCK has a superb cast. Karl Malden is Shooter, the Kids mentor and seemingly only real friend. Ann Margaret plays his incredibly hot wife Melba, a complete slut and gold digger. She's one of those women men can't resist, even though they know she will only cause trouble and Ann is at her absolute sexiest in this role. Tuesday Weld turns in a surprisingly strong performance as the Kid's girlfriend Christian, who has moved to New Orleans from a farm in rural La. She and McQueen are in love but they both know that his top priority in life is stud poker. Speaking of which, the marathon poker game which is at the heart of this movie is done superbly. Also credit director Norman Jewison for keeping this moving at a steady clip, 102 minutes. I could easily see where other directors could have stretched this out to well over 2 hours, give us a lot of back story about McQueen's character. But we get virtually none-the Kid really had nothing except his ability to play poker. Whether he and Christian have any future together after the game is left for the audience to speculate.

. . . why the South lost the War Between the States in this 1965 Civil War Centennial piece, THE CINCINNATI KID. Steve McQueen plays the title character here, who grew up at the doorstep to the Confederacy. He heads South to New Orleans, absorbing such Southern values as 1)Try to spend as much time as possible gambling, especially with money you don't have. 2)See if you can pass the rest of the time smoking and guzzling booze. 3)If there's still time to kill, tie razor blades to anything that moves, and force it to fight some other innocent critter to the Death, so that you can gamble on the outcome and potentially make money while getting your sadistic jollies (look again at the close-ups of the lead actors' eyes during the cockfight, which are seen again in the poker finale to this story). 4)Fooling around under the sheets with your best friend's wife always is preferable to sleeping. 5)Don't worry yourself about #1, #2, #3, and #4 causing your woman to leave you, since it's highly unlikely that there's another man in town sober enough to stand upright as an alternative meal ticket to your gracious self. 6)Whenver possible, reenact Pickett's Charge by putting all of your eggs into one basket. 7)If there are any minority people within earshot, be sure to say something to make them feel inferior.

An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game (Edward G. Robinson , though Spencer Tracy was originally cast as Lancey Howard but poor health forced him to withdraw and he was replaced). Cincinnati Kid lets nothing stand in his way , especially the reigning king of the card tables , Lancey Howard . Cincinnati gets together in 30's New Orleans for big poker game with unexpected consequences .This interesting film contains emotion , drama , a lot of competing game in the tradition of the not dissimilar : The Hustler , and meaningless romances between McQueen , Tuesday Weld and Ann Margret . Nice acting by Steve McQueen as a roving card-shark determined on his way to the big time, here he had one of his earliest and best performances . Awesome Edward G. Robinson as a veteran poker player , this is the second movie in which plays a gambler that features a straight flush in diamonds , the first was Smart Money (1931) . Extraordinary support cast such as Rip Torn , Jack Weston , Cab Calloway , Jeff Corey , Milton Selzer , Karl Swenson , Robert DoQui , Dub Taylor and Sharon Tate was replaced in the film by Tuesday Weld . And special appearance by Joan Blondell , Mitzi Gaynor campaigned for the role of "Lady Fingers", but it ended up going to Joan ; rumors are abound as to why Blondell got the role, with the most common being that Gaynor and Ann-Margret did not quite get along . Appropriate and evocative Art Direction by Edward C. Carfagno and George W. Davis . Marvelous cinematography capturing splendidly New Orleans settings by top-notch director of photography Philip H. Lathrop . Adequate as well as atmospheric soundtrack by Lalo Schifrin , including catching jazz music . The motion picture was well realized by Norman Jewison , he directed after Sam Peckinpah was fired by producer Martin Ransohoff who was unhappy with the film tone and fired Peckinpah . Jewison is a prestigious and veteran filmmaker, his greatest hit is , of course , ¨Jesus Christ Superstar¨ . He directed successful movies as ¨Fiddler on the roof¨ , ¨Agnes of God¨ , ¨Moonstruck¨ , ¨Thomas Crown¨ and this ¨Cinncinati Kid¨ . However , he also got some flops as ¨Bogus¨, ¨In country¨ , ¨Only you¨ and ¨Other's people money¨ and his last picture titled ¨The statement¨ . He considers ¨The Hurricane¨ (1999) the last in a trilogy of racial bigotry movies he's realized, the first two being ¨In the Heat of the Night¨ (1967) and ¨A Soldier's Story¨ (1984). Cincinnati Kid rating : Good, worthwhile seeing for its prodigious interpretations , magnificent settings and colorful cinematography . .

Made in the mid sixties this is a throwback to the forties where it was de riguer to have large casts and plentiful sub plots. In the manner of say Gable and Tracey it is the males who predominate with the females taking second place and it is salutary to note that Joan Blondell, who came to prominence in the thirties as the wise-cracking friend of the leading lady, leaves the two 'modern' leading ladies, Ann-Margret and Tuesday Weld, dead in the water. Similarly Eddie Robinson, himself a survivor from the thirties dominates even such a fine actor as Karl Malden, a product of the forties. Much has been written here about the game of poker and how it is treated (or allegedly mistreated) in the movie but the poker in The Cincinatti Kid is as metaphorical as the pool in The Hustler, both are merely pegs on which to hang morality tales. In my opinion both do pretty well.