The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

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Directed by Norman Jewison.

Starring Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Tuesday Weld.

Steve McQueen stars as the Cincinnati Kid, a crackerjack New Orleans stud poker player. Tired of chicken feed, the Kid decides to challenge The Man (Edward G. Robinson), the reigning poker champ, who is in town for a private game. The Shooter (Karl Malden), another gambling pro, arranges a game between the Kid and the Man, with the Shooter dealing. The game is compromised by the intervention of Slade (Rip Torn), an old foe of the Man's who tries to fix the outcome. The Kid finds out about this and tells Slade to get lost, preferring to win fair and square. The outcome is in the cagey hands of The Man, who is smart enough to do (as one reviewer put it) the wrong thing at the right time. The Cincinnati Kid was based on the novel by Richard Jessup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Shade
by odd_john in Poker Fans

is neutral about it.

"I recently saw a film entitled Shade. It is a fiction film based around scamming and conning in the game of poker but I cannot put it in the list of worth seeing and dont bother because I am completely neutral about this film. It appears to be a low budget film and it dares to steal a line straight from the movie Cincinnati Kid. With me bringing up this film and how I am neutral about it I was wondering if you could make new lists for neutral instead of just worth seeing and dont bother. " [More]

Steve McQueen can do No Wrong
by smithco in My Ponderings on Cinema

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"I'll start off by putting my bias up front and centre. Steve McQueen and all his movies are great, without exception. So if you don't share that bias (though I can't imagine how), you may disagree with my thoughts here.Once again, The Cincinnati Kid has a great performance of cool from Steve, and this is being a movie about poker, cool is exactly the only way to play the role. Somehow, this film pulls off great drama from gambling, even though it does tend to hit the clichés a little hard here and there. And it doesn't at all hurt that there's lots of screen time dedicated to letting Ann-Margret and Tuesday Weld look good.My only gripe with this film is that the very beginning and the very end just do not fit with the rest of the film. This is a very rare occasion where Norm Jewison seems not to have gotten it right. The very start is a fast-paced escape scene. It's another great set of action-acting and some stunts from Steve; however, the fast paced action-packed entry ju ... " [More]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

The Cincinnati Kid might have been a very different movie had original director Sam Peckinpah not been fired from the production, but as it stands, the film is calmly, competently helmed by replacement Norman Jewison. There's quite enough talent on both sides of the camera to make Kid more than just a post-Hustler gambling romp, including writers Ring Lardner, Jr. (MASH, Laura) and Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove, Easy Rider); and editor Hal Ashby, who collaborated with Jewison on some of his best work. The all-star performances of Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Karl Malden, Joan Blondell and Ann-Margret help make The Cincinnati Kid not a suspenseful, gritty drama as well as a colorful, entertaining portrait of New Orleans during the Great Depression. Jewison, McQueen and Ashby would team up again for 1968's similar The Thomas Crown Affair. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

Tags: gambling , honesty , cards , poker , Classic
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