The Cincinnati Kid

Based on a novel by Richard Jessup, The Cincinnati Kid follows Steve McQueen’s Eric Stoner as he prepares for a pivotal poker match against, among others, Edward G. Robinson’s Lancey Howard and Karl Malden’s Shooter – with Eric’s ongoing efforts threatened by a very sinister, very wealthy figure named Slade (Rip Torn). There’s little doubt that The Cincinnati Kid starts with a great deal of promise, as filmmaker Norman Jewison opens the proceedings with an engrossing sequence detailing Eric’s encounter with an especially sore loser – with the scene’s effectiveness heightened by McQueen’s charismatic and downright commanding turn as the title character. It is, as a result, rather disappointing to note that the movie subsequently morphs into a slow-moving melodrama, as scripters Ring Lardner Jr and Terry Southern emphasize Eric’s relationships with two very different women (Tuesday Weld’s Christian and Ann-Margret’s Melba). The inclusion of a fairly unpleasant (and thoroughly needless) cockfighting sequence wreaks havoc on the film’s tenuous momentum, with the narrative’s uneven nature persisting right up until around the one-hour mark – after which point Jewison stresses the big poker game that the various characters have been waiting and preparing for. The high-stakes match, which essentially dominates the movie’s final 40 minutes, has been packed with a number of engrossing episodes and interludes (eg Robinson’s character destroys an opponent without breaking a sweat), with the electrifying, enthralling final showdown between Lancey and Eric ensuring that The Cincinnati Kid concludes on an unexpectedly positive note. The end result is an erratically-paced yet stirring drama that benefits greatly from McQueen’s mere presence, though it’s hard not to get a kick out of the movie’s impressively-populated supporting cast.

*** out of ****