It must have been tough, writing and directing a full-length feature that swivels on an event that only takes half an hour.
Henry Fonda, his wife Joanne Woodward, and their young son are stranded for a few hours in a Western town where a high-stakes poker game is going on. Fonda, a poker addict, is drawn into the game and loses the $4K his family had been saving for their new farm. He winds up holding what he considers a winning hand -- we don't know what it is -- and when he's informed that he must put up an additional several hundred, which he doesn't have, he drops on the floor, still holding his cards.
Woodward is forced to take his place but asks that the nature of the game be explained to her. She listens attentively while another player, Kevin McCarthy, explains to her, "We are all holding cards. Some cards are better than others. We all think we have the best hand. And we have all bet four thousand dollars that we have the best hand." Well, of course Woodward's stash has already been gambled away by Fonda, but she crosses the street to borrow money from the owner of the local bank, offering as collateral the hand of cards she is holding. The filthy rich bankers gawks and lends her enough to raise the pot and drive everyone else out of the game.
That's not the end. Legal ethics prevent me from revealing more of the plot. I think I can go so far as to say, "Don't worry." The laying on of hands by the bank is the pivotal event. The notorious skinflint who owns the bank would never lend money unless he was certain of getting it back. However, the story must be made tensile to fill the time slot.
So we get an opening scene of a boisterous saloon, clamorous cowboys, rollicking tunes, riotous laughter at remarks and wisecracks that aren't in themselves funny. Okay, the film needs some juice, but this is like transfusing blood into a patient whose life is hardly worth the expense of saving. There are anti-climactic scenes that drag on much too long after the point has been made, or are themselves entirely irrelevant.
Nice cast, though. Fonda may be too old for the part of a naive guy setting out to make his fortune on a small farm but Woodward is just fine. I can't help wondering if Fonda and John Qualen swapped stories about working for John Ford in "The Grapes of Wrath." I imagine Fonda approaching Qualen with outstretched hand and saying, "Why, MULEY!" Charles Bickford as a player is stiff but has a magnificent exit. Jason Robards' part is unsympathetic but he has one of the more expressive faces on the screen. And he's a good actor with considerable range. Catch him in "All The President's Men," as the hard-nosed Ben Bradlee.
It's much too long for the simple story it has to tell and it's so loud and forceful that it leaves your eardrums in a grievous state. Worth seeing but not seeking out.
Henry Fonda, his wife Joanne Woodward, and their young son are stranded for a few hours in a Western town where a high-stakes poker game is going on. Fonda, a poker addict, is drawn into the game and loses the $4K his family had been saving for their new farm. He winds up holding what he considers a winning hand -- we don't know what it is -- and when he's informed that he must put up an additional several hundred, which he doesn't have, he drops on the floor, still holding his cards.
Woodward is forced to take his place but asks that the nature of the game be explained to her. She listens attentively while another player, Kevin McCarthy, explains to her, "We are all holding cards. Some cards are better than others. We all think we have the best hand. And we have all bet four thousand dollars that we have the best hand." Well, of course Woodward's stash has already been gambled away by Fonda, but she crosses the street to borrow money from the owner of the local bank, offering as collateral the hand of cards she is holding. The filthy rich bankers gawks and lends her enough to raise the pot and drive everyone else out of the game.
That's not the end. Legal ethics prevent me from revealing more of the plot. I think I can go so far as to say, "Don't worry." The laying on of hands by the bank is the pivotal event. The notorious skinflint who owns the bank would never lend money unless he was certain of getting it back. However, the story must be made tensile to fill the time slot.
So we get an opening scene of a boisterous saloon, clamorous cowboys, rollicking tunes, riotous laughter at remarks and wisecracks that aren't in themselves funny. Okay, the film needs some juice, but this is like transfusing blood into a patient whose life is hardly worth the expense of saving. There are anti-climactic scenes that drag on much too long after the point has been made, or are themselves entirely irrelevant.
Nice cast, though. Fonda may be too old for the part of a naive guy setting out to make his fortune on a small farm but Woodward is just fine. I can't help wondering if Fonda and John Qualen swapped stories about working for John Ford in "The Grapes of Wrath." I imagine Fonda approaching Qualen with outstretched hand and saying, "Why, MULEY!" Charles Bickford as a player is stiff but has a magnificent exit. Jason Robards' part is unsympathetic but he has one of the more expressive faces on the screen. And he's a good actor with considerable range. Catch him in "All The President's Men," as the hard-nosed Ben Bradlee.
It's much too long for the simple story it has to tell and it's so loud and forceful that it leaves your eardrums in a grievous state. Worth seeing but not seeking out.