SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Bad screenplay, scenarios, plots. Bad acting of all the cast, pretentious dialog. The only thing I've found out interesting is the time frame of this movie showed us $1.00 was still a big money, a dime was still good to shine your shoes. The leading actor looked like an emotionless monkey but what ever weird was this deadbeat still got a woman loved him so much and he just couldn't care less. All the gamblers in town just wanted to prove himself better than the others. The train depot was an interesting scene. A dollar tip was more than enough to be appreciated wholeheartedly. When you watched this film, the only thing you suddenly realized how the depreciation of your paper money in 2018 only means More is Less; only the homeless panhandler might still ask you: "Can you spare a quarter?"

Those into gambling and strong card playing must have loved this film. The rest of us probably did not.Steve McQueen in the up and coming card shark who is in New Orleans to play Lancy Howard, Edward G. Robinson, who I thought looked as though he was bored with the entire project. I know that others would say that Robinson projected a gambler's bluffing face.Ann Margret is her usual suggestive type, married to Karl Malden, as probably a marriage of convenience. Tuesday Weld is along for the ride, and as the girlfriend of McQueen, projects as if she is ready to return to Dobie Gillis on television.Then there is Joan Blondell as Lady Fingers, an old card hand dealer who is morbid and whose time has come and gone.Then young child always challenging McQueen represents someone ready to take your place, no matter how far that shall be.Don't really deal yourself into this one.

I had heard of this movie, but only just saw it tonight on TV in Tokyo (interspersed with the most hideous, God-awful commercials that you could remotely imagine). I always liked Steve McQueen, even more so since I met him when I was 13 and he was so nice to me, a real gentleman. So, I looked forward to seeing this movie with great pleasure.As the plot has been discussed here often, I'll just give my impressions.Steve McQueen had the most devastatingly beautiful blue eyes I believe I've ever seen on a man, and, for the most part, they were lit within an inch of their stone cold beauty for the majority of the film. You could just sit and watch his eyes for two hours and be mesmerized. But most of us need more... and I'm not sure this movie offers that. We learn that the "Kid" (Mcqueen) is really named "Eric" -- although we don't find that out until he backtracks through his life to go check in on his girlfriend Christian (Tuesday Weld). Yes, she was called "Christian" and sometimes "Christie." And she doesn't seem to have any other life whatsoever except to exist for the "Kid." This was sad, that such a pretty young woman would hang her star on a man who was going nowhere fast.What was consistently distracting about this film was everyone calling Mcqueen "Kid." Although he was only about 35 years old when he made this film, he looked much, much older and calling him "Kid" seemed bizarre.Certain scenes, such as the cock-fighting scene (please get your minds out of the gutter) were totally gratuitous and did absolutely nothing to further the story, but did make all of the characters seem absolutely heinous.The most interesting person in the film was Ann-Margret, who stars as "Melba"--obviously the hottest girl in town. She was at the peak of her beauty and sexuality and she goes for every moment, including a scene where she's hardly wearing anything and she reaches for an apple and takes a big juicy bite out of it. She oozes sensuality and knows it and flaunts it. But she too seems to serve absolutely no purpose except as a cock-tease (now you can put your minds in the gutter) and, inexplicably, as Karl Malden's gal pal... except, if you had a gal pal with creamy white jugs spilling out of tight tops, you wouldn't ignore her the way Karl does. But then, Melba calls "Shooter" (Karl's character) a loser-- which he most definitely is. And Karl! Come on, there is no way in hell that I can believe that 1) Karl would play someone called "Shooter," 2) that he had a reputation for being "honest" --in the gambling business?--, and 3) that he could possibly allow the Kid to overpower him (considering that Karl was bigger than Steve) and throw him against a door. I didn't buy his character for one moment. The most interesting moment in the film is when Rip Torn as "Slade," who obviously is a wealthy white Southerner who's got his fingers in a lot of dirty pies, is in bed with a black (female, of course) prostitute, and, after he finishes his phone call, she tries to snuggle with him, and he says, "Don't touch me!" -- it's all the more interesting when we meet his real wife, Midge Ware, who is the picture of Southern hospitality, and his two fake kids, one who looks like she could be his daughter, the other who looks like some blonde boy chosen from an adoption agency, and who is forced to wear some girlish pink pajamas (unless the boy was a girl--and, if so, she looked miserable and unhappy for her two minutes on screen).It's fun to see familiar faces: Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Jack Weston, and the "story" is easy to follow, since there are constant "announcements" throughout the film to make clear we know what is or what might happen. But after they took their third break during the marathon poker game, I thought to myself, "You know what? Maybe I'll hit the 'john' (as Joan called it) and get myself something to eat and then go to sleep, too! The only action in the movie comes near the beginning when one of the men the Kid is playing with accuses him of having marked cards. This results in the Kid escaping from a bathroom window and somehow being close enough to a train transfer track that he can jump on the train, walk along the side of it, and jump off on the other side. It's actually a great scene... but after that, there ain't no action, unless you call the Kid swatting Melba's ass "action." There are several moments in the film, especially during the bathtub scene with Tuesday, where Steve seems like he forgot his lines and he actually looks away from Tuesday and for a split second it seems like he's looking at a cue card so he knows what to say next. This is a fun movie if you have absolutely nothing to do some night and you want to see what some of the greats looked like. Yeah, there are some fun shots of all the eyes being lit just so as they watch the final round of the poker game, and it's fun to see Edward G all dressed up in the fiercest purple smoking jacket I've ever seen, but other than Steve's blue eyes and Ann- Margret's incredibly sexy bust and creamy white skin and sexy vibe, you aren't missing much.

Quite a fine movie. The cast is the best part-McQueen doing his uber-cool thing, Ann-Margret as the sultry decoration, Malden the jittery best friend, a youngish Rip Torn as the baddie, Edward G. as Minnesota Fats, more or less.It's set in New Orleans in the thirties, it involves a killer marathon poker-showdown between the reigning champion of these events-Edward G. Robinson, and the local up and coming hotshot, Steve McQueen. Familiar faces such as Cab Calloway, Dub Taylor, Jeff Corey and Joan Blondell get into the action and help make this one even better me thinks just because.Only real debits-slowish pacing in the middle, Malden too trusting w/ his gal A-M around McQueen, and it really doesn't have that authentic Sting/Thirties look to it. A-M and Weld could have walked in off the Viva Las Vegas sets, you know? The marathon poker match is the best part, certainly, keep an eye out for Jack Weston here-he certainly adds something to the preceedings.I was surprised by Edward G winning by the way-it looked like a real set-up to have McQueen take him down at the end. No dice. I think Edward G also steals the show here, he's quite in his element and the camera just loves him.Check it out, well worth your time. *** outta ****