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The Cincinatti Kid (1965)

Director:
Norman Jewison

COUNTRY
USA

Genre
Drama

NORWEGIAN TITLE
The Cincinatti Kid

RUNNING TIME
113 minutes

Producer:
Martin Ransohoff

Screenwriter (based on the novel by Richard Jessup):
Ring Lardner Jr.
Terry Southern


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Eric "The Kid" Stoner Steve McQueen
Lancey "The Man" Howard Edward G. Robinson
Melba Ann-Margret ½
Shooter Karl Malden
Christian Rudd Tuesday Weld ½
Lady Fingers Joan Blondell ½
Slade Rip Torn ½
Pig Jack Weston

 

Review

Steve McQueen rose to the challenge of playing an up-and-coming poker player nicknamed "The Kid" who sets out to dethrone "The Man" (Edward G. Robinson) as the city's top player in 1930s New Orleans. The film takes its subject matter seriously and gives a truthful depiction of many of the characteristics and mechanisms of stud poker, particularly in the patiently paced decisive game. The battle of wits and endurance between McQueen and Robinson has got a crude lyrical quality to it. The same cannot be said of the vapid romantic subplots involving Tuesday Weld as Christian Rudd and particularly Ann-Margret as the stylized seductress Melba. She and some of the film's ambient scenes are disappointingly directed by Norman Jewison and appear dated and anachronistic in retrospect. Luckily, Karl Malden, Rip Torn and Jack Weston spice things up and add a little verve on our way to the big showdown. Hal Ashby edited, Lalo Schifrin provided an unremarkable score.

Copyright © 05.04.2021 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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