The Cincinnati Kid

New Orleans in the Depression. Eric Stoner, a young poker player known around town as the Cincinnati Kid, wants one thing: to beat Lancey Howard, reckoned the best there is, at the table. The big game is arranged and the film settles almost entirely into the hours spent there. Norman Jewison directed. Sam Peckinpah was fired shortly after shooting began and Jewison replaced him. The source is Richard Jessup's 1963 novel, and the screenplay was Ring Lardner Jr's first major studio work since he was blacklisted in 1947. Steve McQueen plays Eric Stoner and Edward G. Robinson plays Lancey Howard. McQueen was paid 350,000 dollars; the budget was 3.3 million. North American rentals came to 7 million. The reviews were mixed. Variety found it taut and well-turned-out; the New York Times said it was strictly for those who relish stud poker and noted the resemblance to The Hustler. Rotten Tomatoes now sits at 86 percent. Joan Blondell was nominated for a Golden Globe for her supporting performance. Jewison called the film his ugly duckling and credited it with changing his career, letting him move from comedy into serious drama. Who it is for: viewers who like tension across a card table and the American star cinema of the sixties. Who it is not for: anyone who will not compare it to The Hustler. It has lived in that film's shadow, and most of the criticism comes from exactly there.