We watched The Cincinnati Kid the other night, the 1965 flick directed by Norman Jewison and starring Steve McQueen. I’ve never been a big Steve McQueen fan but I really liked this poker movie. This was made back when people played stud poker as opposed to whatever that Texas Holdem game is that’s so popular today. In this film they played 5 card stud. I remember as a kid that my dad liked to play 7 card stud or straight 7 as he sometimes called it. I’m not a poker player. I like games but I didn’t inherit the gambling gene from my father. I don’t enjoy casinos or the horse races or any of that. I did like this movie though.

Steve McQueen played the Kid. The Kid wanted to be The Man but he wasn’t. The Man was Edward G. Robinson. The Kid was good and The Man appeared to be ripe for the taking, but he wasn’t The Man for nothing. Karl Malden played The Shooter. I think that was because he was a straight shooter. That’s why they wanted him to be the dealer, because they could trust him. He was being squeezed by Rip Torn though, who wanted to see The Kid take down The Man, squeezed into doing a little cheating to help out The Kid. The Kid wanted none of that. He wanted to take down The Man fair and square. Ann-Margret played Melba, who was married to Shooter but who wanted to jump in the sack with The Kid. Tuesday Weld played Christian, who was with The Kid, but who knows why, since he didn’t treat her very well. The cast was filled out by the likes of Joan Blondel and Cab Calloway.

I enjoyed McQueen’s understated performance and also the quirky moodiness of the film. It’s your basic poker film, done up just right with a fine cast and a decent script.