Le Kid de Cincinnati

Norman Jewison's (`In the Heat of the Night,' `The Thomas Crown Affair,' `Fiddler on the Roof')1965 `The Cincinnati Kid' contains top notch location shooting in New Orleans and gritty dialogue (screenplay by Ring Lardner, Jr., `M*A*S*H*') that seems way ahead of its time.

The star power of this film is immense, with Steve McQueen portraying `the Kid' who is overly confident that he can beat `the Man,' Edward G. Robinson at his own game, stud poker. McQueen is ever confident while Robinson has seen it all and will not be surprised or scared by anything that he sees on the card table.

As in all great movies there is a very strong supporting cast in this film. Led by Karl Malden as `the Kid's' confidant, Shooter and a trio of strong supporting actresses, Ann-Margaret, Tuesday Weld and Joan Blondell. Ann-Margaret portrays Shooter's wife, Melba with great flair; she sees her husband as a loser and as a weakling. She openly commits adultery and talks down at him in front of anyone. Her characterization appears to be the role model for Fredo Corleone's wife Deanna, in `The Godfather, Part II.'

Beyond the obvious supporting roles is one of the best supporting/character players of all time, Jack Weston. He appears in many films in the 1960s and 1970s often as a person who gets in over his head with people and situations he cannot handle. In this movie he plays `Pig,' the first victim of Edward G. Robinson at the big card game. Pig thinks he is a pro but quickly and thoroughly gets gutted by `the Man.' Weston portrays a similar character in the original `Thomas Crown Affair.' Nobody sweats on camera like Jack. His type of adept characterizations can be seen in more recent settings, for example William H. Macy's `Jerry Lundergard' in 1996's `Fargo.'

Al in all this is one of the all time classics and by far is my favorite of any of the serious gambling movies such as `The Hustler,' `The Gambler' and `The Color of Money.'

Well, I've always enjoyed poker; Steve McQueen and Edward G. Robinson are two of my all- time favorite actors and I thought Tuesday Weld and Ann-Margaret were two of the most beautiful women in their day.....so why don't I love this movie?

Don't get me wrong: I like it, but I should have liked it a whole lot more. It's a bit too slow, for one thing, becoming more like a soap opera in parts and the movie drags for much too long. The story doesn't have much spark until the poker showdown at the end of the movie. That ending is an excellent one, too, but one has to wait too long to get there.

Robinson is good to watch, as he almost always was in his great acting career. He plays the only classy person in the film.

Watching this late in December of 2009 on some high-def equipment, I discovered how beautifully-filmed this movie appears.

What has stuck with me all these years, since I saw it in the theater in 1965, wasn't the story but the title song by Ray Charles. I have never been able to get "The Cincinnati Kid" song out of my head.

Like the rest of the English-speaking world, I've recently succumbed to poker-mania, and started wasting some of my spare cash in amateur Texas Hold 'Em games.

Due to my newfound interest in card-playing, and my appreciation for old movies, I picked up "The Cincinatti Kid" on DVD. And I sure wasn't disappointed. The movie's awesome, on so many levels. As you might expect, the poker scenes are incredibly tense and, from what little I know of the game, they're pretty realistic. But other aspects of the film are great, too.

The New Orleans location shooting is gorgeous. You get to see a lot of the city, so I imagine the crew must've spent a fair amount of time there. There's plenty of cool jazz numbers and some nice French Quarter atmosphere. Director Norman Jewison manages to imbue New Orleans, and the movie as a whole, with an atmosphere that's both sleazy and glamorous at the same time.

The strong cast is another highlight. Steve McQueen is understated yet compelling, while Joan Blondell hams it up in a highly entertaining fashion (I love how she keeps teasing Lancey Howard about his age). Edward G. Robinson, one of my favorite character actors, radiates class and even a little menace as Howard. And - this is the best part - the movie also features the sweetly beautiful Tuesday Weld and the painfully sexy Ann-Margret. You just can't lose with a multi-generational cast of stars (and babes) like that.

Some commentators have complained that "The Cincinatti Kid" is slow, particularly during the scenes that don't feature poker. I can't say that I agree. The McQueen-Weld romance is sweet, and it doesn't really take up that much screen time. Sure, the movie may seem a little plodding if compared to contemporary films, but then again even "Aliens" is plodding compared to contemporary films.

The theme song's catchy, too. What more do you need? This movie's a mini-classic.

Blah blah blah is the feelings I get when I see comments about this being McQueen's answer to The Hustler, the Newman film is firmly ensconced in the hall of classics and rightly so, but this is a different animal that stands up on its own two feet as a great film regardless of comparisons of leading men or films they respectively delivered.

"It's a pleasure to meet someone who understands that to the true gambler, money is never an end in itself, it's simply a tool, as a language is to thought"

Steve McQueen is The Cincinnati Kid of the title, a young man who has an enviable reputation as the pretender to the throne of the king stud poker player. Standing in his way of claiming the crown is the holder of said crown, Lancey "The Man" Howard (a wonderfully sedate yet dominant Edward G. Robinson), both men are in New Orleans for the big showdown across the card table.

The film does suffer slightly from a meandering script, though, because you can't help feeling that there is so much more to these characters that needed fleshing out before the big tense showdown arises. However, the cast and director manage to stere the film home with a glorious final third. Suspense and drama start to boil to the surface, the tight knit editing bringing claustrophobic clarity to the enormity of the game.

McQueen is perfect here, cocky and cool in equal measure, yet still infusing the role with stoic heart and honest endearment. Tuesday Weld & Ann-Margret are playing second fiddle in the acting stakes to a delightful turn from Joan Blondell (a little under used though), but both Weld and Margret bring their respective girls' traits to life, with Margret positively smouldering with femme fatale sex appeal.

Karl Malden is solid and safe, whilst Rip Torn gives an acting lesson in dialogue driven menace. Yet in all honesty it's director Norman Jewison who has the trump card here. Once the game commences, even those who know nothing about a good game of poker are firmly watching every frame, such is the intense way that Jewison has brought the finale together.

No cop outs here, a film about egos, ambitions and personal satisfaction is gloriously laid out for a very enjoyable viewing experience. 8/10

Edward G. Robinson as Lancey Howard has been King of the Poker Players for a good long time. But as that eminent American philosopher Ric Flair says, "to be the man, you got to beat the man." And there's a kid from Cincinnati played by Steve McQueen who thinks he can do it.

McQueen's up for a fair and square game, but Robinson's developed a bad enemy in Rip Torn. Torn is this rich hotshot who thinks he's good, but he gets in a game with Robinson who guts Torn good and proper. No markers for Torn, he's rich enough to write out a check and pay it up front. But Torn's looking to get even and he ain't too squeamish about what he has to do.

The action of The Cincinnati Kid takes place over a three day period in New Orleans and in the French Quarter which was left fairly intact after Hurricane Katrina. It's fitting and proper the story location should be there, a city with a rich gambling tradition.

There's a couple of nice women's parts, kind of a coming of age for two young actresses who played virginal teenagers up to then, Tuesday Weld and Ann-Margret. Ann-Margret is the nymphomaniac wife of dealer Karl Malden, the Nathan Detroit of the piece. After The Cincinnati Kid, Ann-Margret never played innocents again.

Torn is a slick and malevolent villain who tries to compromise Karl Malden in his quest for vengeance against Robinson. Malden has a great part as a man who's caught by the short hairs.

Originally Spencer Tracy was to do the Lancey Howard role, but according to The Films of Steve McQueen, Tracy thought his role subordinate to McQueen's and bowed out. Other sources have said it was health reasons. Probably both are true. Anyway Robinson is a wily and wise old soul who goes to the poker table like most of us go to the office, to work.

This is one of Steve McQueen's four or five best screen roles, he's an ultimate rebel hero here. He's got what it takes to win, but he'll win it on his own terms.

This film is always called The Hustler at a card table. Like The Hustler, the last climatic scene of the poker showdown with McQueen and Robinson crackles with tension. Who's going to pull it out.

Don't think you can guess the outcome and all its ramifications. Not by a jugful