Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

elvircorhodzic THE CINCINNATI KID is a drama film that shows us, in an interesting way, the sharpness and the ability of poker game during the Great Depression. It's simple, to be the best, you have to beat the best. However, everything has its price. Of course, the culmination of the story is in the final duel.Eric, nicknamed "The Kid", is a crackerjack New Orleans stud poker player. Tired and frustrated due a result of the Great Depression he decides to challenge "The Man", the reigning poker champ, who is in town for a private game. The Kid's friend "Shooter" cautions him of the danger of playing poker with the big champion. A cruel rich man Slade begins to take an interest in their poker game...Mr. Jewison take us from one to another incident in the story. All characters are in a certain conflict with itself. They have to prove... something. That is the biggest advantage of this one-way street. An authentic scenery and sharp dialogues very well correspond to a red-hot atmosphere of a scam and love.Steve McQueen as Eric "The Kid" Stoner is a charismatic character who wants to prove that he is the best poker player in the region. Edward G. Robinson as Lancey "The Man" Howard is an unobtrusive and deadly champion who keeps an ace in his sleeve for the very end. Karl Malden as "Shooter" is unsure in both games. Tuesday Weld as Christian Rudd is a beauty from the inside, who is somewhat lost in these relations. Ann-Margret as Melba is a kind of problem without which a shifty game does not make sense. Rip Torn as Slade is a rich man who wants to destroy the best on the table at any cost. Joan Blondell as "Lady Fingers" is a kind of consciousness that breaks the monotony of the table.One of the protagonists must to stop cheating and illusion, because love and poker are still gentlemen's games.

Antonius Block Steve McQueen is the young upstart poker player, Edward G. Robinson an old master, Karl Malden is their friend and dealer, Ann Margret his flirtatious girlfriend, and Tuesday Weld is McQueen's. It's a fantastic cast – McQueen oozes cool, it's special to see Robinson at age 72 deliver a very good performance, Malden plays 'conflicted' well when he's pressured to fix the match, Margret is sexy and has a way of speaking with her eyes, and Weld is incredibly cute but also nuanced. To top it off, Joan Blondell is the backup dealer, and while her role and performance aren't amazing, it's very nice to see her and Robinson together again nearly three decades after 1936's 'Bullets or Ballots'.New Orleans is a fantastic setting and director Norman Jewison makes good use of it. I have to say, I was not all that jazzed about the scene with the cock fight, which is cruel. And, he's less effective in making the movie feel as though it's in the 1930's, but maybe that doesn't matter. The poker talk at the tables is pretty authentic, but I always find it amusing that the 5-card stud hands shown routinely in movies are extremely rare. The ending comes as a jolt and seems abrupt, but perhaps that's because I was thinking how interesting it would have been if it was revealed that Robinson was engaged in a nefarious fix with Blondell. As it is, the movie is about integrity and dignity, even in what may seem to be an unlikely place, amongst gamblers. Cheating, and accusations of cheating, are shown more than once to be signs of weakness, whereas real skill is cool and confident, and there is mutual respect between McQueen and Robinson's characters. How interesting that McQueen falters on the relationship side by being seduced by Margret, though even then he doesn't deny it or make excuses. It may be a little clichéd and it may have borrowed its theme from 'The Hustler', but it's an engaging, interesting film.

BoomerDT Somewhere I read that at the heart of it, deep down in their souls, all hard core gamblers really want to lose…that they enjoy the pain and angst. Personally, I think that's complete bullshit. But "The Cincinnati Kid" is a profile of a stud playing expert, one Eric Stoner, played by Steve McQueen in one of his most memorable roles. By 1965 McQueen had become a screen superstar, following the release of "The Great Escape" in 63 and he would have about a 10 year run of top notch dramatic classics that would also include "Nevada Smith" "The Sand Pebbles" "Bullitt" and "Papillion" among some other solid offerings. In TCK McQueen is paired with screen legend Edward G. Robinson, who is brilliant as "the Man" Lancey Howard, regarded as the top stud poker player of his era. Their characters are similar to their real life personas…McQueen, like the Kid was an up and coming superstar while Robinson, like Lancey was now entering the twilight of a brilliant career, but not ready to step aside yet.TCK has a superb cast. Karl Malden is Shooter, the Kids mentor and seemingly only real friend. Ann Margaret plays his incredibly hot wife Melba, a complete slut and gold digger. She's one of those women men can't resist, even though they know she will only cause trouble and Ann is at her absolute sexiest in this role. Tuesday Weld turns in a surprisingly strong performance as the Kid's girlfriend Christian, who has moved to New Orleans from a farm in rural La. She and McQueen are in love but they both know that his top priority in life is stud poker. Speaking of which, the marathon poker game which is at the heart of this movie is done superbly. Also credit director Norman Jewison for keeping this moving at a steady clip, 102 minutes. I could easily see where other directors could have stretched this out to well over 2 hours, give us a lot of back story about McQueen's character. But we get virtually none-the Kid really had nothing except his ability to play poker. Whether he and Christian have any future together after the game is left for the audience to speculate.

bandw (Spoilers!) Steve McQueen plays Eric Stoner (the Cincinnati Kid), a young professional poker player. The Kid wants to be "the man," i.e. the best player in the country. Currently that person is Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson). As soon as you have this setup you know that the movie has to end with a big showdown, and all else is back-story.There is the obligatory romance between Stoner and Christian (Tuesday Weld). I did not find any chemistry between McQueen and Weld; there is little psychological depth to the relationship. Christian's pondering on the "do you love poker more than you love me" theme is exploited, but hardly of any consequence. You know the answer.Some side stories are developed. There is Stoner's friend Shooter (Karl Malden), a player who went up against the man and lost and is now relegated to dealing and just getting by. The relationship between Shooter and is wife Melba (Ann-Margaret) is more interesting than that of Stoner and Christian--they seem so mismatched in age and attractiveness that you want to know more about them. (Spoiler) But everything is just window dressing leading to the final match. Any such match is usually determined by a few crucial hands, or a single one as here. A straight flush comes up in only one hand in 72202 in five card stud, so it's not totally out of the realm of possibility that Howard would get such a hand, but would he make substantial bets on the hope of getting such? A full house comes up once in 694 hands, so the odds of a full house and a straight flush being dealt on the same hand are remote. But there had to be a dramatic climax.The setting is supposed to be 1930s New Orleans, but I thought the period detail was a little weak. McQueen looks more 1960s than 1930s. The opening scene of the parade and a later scene in a jazz bar were the two most enjoyable scenes in the movie for me.After having seen "The Hustler" with its psychological complexity, strong character development, and brilliant performances, I was insulted by "The Cincinnati Kid." Pretty much any of the poker programs on TV are more exciting to watch than the poker seen in this movie. Contemporary viewers will find five card stud particularly lacking in spectator appeal (and player appeal as far as that goes). Five card stud has not been an event in The World Series of Poker since 1974.I am surprised that there was not a sequel to this where Stoner regroups and comes back to beat Howard.