Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Steve McQueen in The Cincinnati Kid, image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Norman Jewison and MGM delivered The Cincinnati Kid to movie theaters in 1965. Steve McQueen has the title role, with Edward G. Robinson as the wily poker veteran. Shuffle up and deal…

Richard Jessup’s The Cincinnati Kid Novel

The Cincinnati Kid is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Jessup (1925-1982). Numbering a slim 154 pages and priced at $3.95, The Cincinnati Kid garnered some excellent reviews upon publication by Little, Brown & Co. in 1963. “Not a sentence is too fat in Mr. Jessup’s story as he builds an all but unbearable tension. Card by card, he renders The Game in front of our eyes…Of its kind, this novel is simply first-rate,” reported Paul Carroll in Book Week (1/26/64).

The movie rights for Jessup’s novel were eventually secured, with producer Martin Ransohoff given the green light from MGM to proceed. Paddy Chayefsky penned the initial screenplay, an atmospheric character study that was rejected by Ransohoff. The project was then turned over to Ring Lardner Jr., with he and Terry Sothern completing the final draft.

Sam Peckinpah was the original director, who for reasons only known to him decided to film The Cincinnati Kid in black and white. Peckinpah’s deviation from the script, coupled with his drinking and marital problems, led to his eventual firing after only four days.

Norman Jewison Directs The Cincinnati Kid

Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night, Rollerball, A Soldier’s Story) succeeded Sam Peckinpah as director. Lalo Schifrin crafted the original music score and Philip H. Lathrop delivered the movie’s stunning cinematography.

Steve McQueen garnered the title role of Eric Stoner a.k.a. The Cincinnati Kid, earning a $350,000 payday. McQueen was producers’ choice from the get-go. “Steve was cooking. He was a hot young actor,” recalled Martin Ransohoff years later.

Joining McQueen in the cast are Edward G. Robinson (Lancey Howard), Ann-Margret (Melba Nile), Karl Malden (Shooter), Tuesday Weld (Christian), Joan Blondell (Lady Fingers), Rip Torn (Salde), Jack Weston (Pig), Cab Calloway (Yeller), Jeff Corey (Hoban), Theo Marcuse (Felix), Milton Selzer (Sokal), Karl Swenson (Rudd), Emile Genest (Cajun), Ron Soble (Danny), Irene Tedrow (Mrs. Rudd), Midge Ware (Mrs. Slade), Dub Taylor (Dealer) and Mimi Dillard (Slade’s Girlfriend).  

Steve McQueen, Ann-Margret, Tuesday Weld, image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

The Cincinnati Kid Filmed in New Orleans

Initially budgeted at $2.6 million, The Cincinnati Kid was eventually made for $3.3 million due to costly production delays. The Cincinnati Kid began filming in New Orleans in early November 1964, but shooting came to an abrupt halt after only four days when director Sam Peckinpah was given his pink slip.

With filming on hold and the search for a new director underway, producers had to contend with a restless Steve McQueen. MGM then presented McQueen with $25,000 cash and sent him to Las Vegas with his buddy, Dave Resnick. “We bought a lot of coke. We went to Vegas and partied for two weeks. It was a bizarre time. Oh shit, we had a great time!” Resnick told author Penina Spiegel in McQueen: The Untold Story of a Bad Boy in Hollywood (Doubleday, 1986).

Steve McQueen Is The Cincinnati Kid

Set in the Depression-era 1930s, The Cincinnati Kid follows the exploits of Eric Stoner, a young, hotshot gambler who is determined to be the number one stud poker player in the country. Standing in his way is The Man, Lancey Howard, the old, wily veteran who plans to hang on to his unofficial title for a few more years.

When Howard decimates a wealthy New Orleans businessman named Slade in a private poker match, the latter is left steaming. Slade plots his revenge when Shooter arranges a game involving Eric Stoner, Lancey Howard and four other high rollers. Slade bets heavily on Stoner, but leaves nothing to chance, putting the pressure on Shooter as dealer to slip the Kid some winning hands.

With the marathon game now underway, the Kid proves to be more than a match for Lancey Howard. During a rest break, the Kid learns of Shooter’s crooked machinations and has him replaced as dealer by the honest Lady Fingers. Eventually, Stoner and Howard go head-to-head, with the Kid hitting a full house and betting it accordingly.

But the champion isn’t going away, with Lancey Howard calling the Kid. “Okay, let’s see it?” the Kid then asks, with Lancey turning over his all-important hole card which could give him a winning royal flush.  

Steve McQueen, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson seated, image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

The Cincinnati Kid Opens in New Orleans

The Cincinnati Kid premiered in New Orleans on September 21, 1965.

“The Cincinnati Kid is the fastmoving story of a burningly-ambitious young rambling-gambling man who challenges the king of stud poker to a showdown for the champ title of The Man…It emerges a tenseful examination of the gambling fraternity,” reported Variety.

“…The film pales beside The Hustler [1961], to which it bears a striking similarity of theme and characterization…The pool sharks in The Hustler have it all over the card sharks in The Cincinnati Kid, in spades,” observed Howard Thompson of The New York Times (10/28/65).

Film Analysis: The Cincinnati Kid Scores a Royal Flush

Steve McQueen (1930-1980) was at his best when playing the kid, the punk, the rebel. In 1965’s The Cincinnati Kid, McQueen scores all three, portraying the brash, cocky gambler from the wrong side of the tracks who comes to the Big Easy to take on the reigning royalty of stud poker.

McQueen is riveting as the young pro, hustling poker games, betting his guts and romancing the blond and beautiful Tuesday Weld on the side. Edward G. Robinson is excellent as the dapper poker veteran, with Karl Malden delivering his usual solid performance and sultry Ann-Margret making her own play for the Kid as the buxom sexpot Melba Nile.

Poker aficionados, of which there are now millions of new converts thanks to the increasingly popular World Series of Poker and other televised card events, will love this movie. It’s got the nuts in spades, delivering plenty of card play and atmospheric gambling action, including the climactic final hand sequence in which either the Kid or Lancey Howard will successfully make “the wrong move at the right time.”

The Cincinnati Kid Box Office, Notes, DVD

• The Cincinnati Kid grossed $6 million at the American box office and an additional $10 million overseas.
• Lancey Hodges was the name of the Edward G. Robinson character in Richard Jessup’s novel.
• Sharon Tate was originally groomed by producer Martin Ransohoff for the role of Christian.
• Both Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant were considered for the Lancey Howard role. Tracy dropped out of consideration due to ill health.
• Sam Peckinpah filmed a controversial nude scene involving an unknown black actress and Rip Torn, which landed him in hot water and contributed to his firing.
• The uneasy Norman Jewison/Steve McQueen relationship on the set was described by visual designer Nikita Knatz as “more like Mr. Wilson and Dennis the Menace.”  
• McQueen, who privately referred to Karl Malden as “potato nose” because of his prominent proboscis, had nothing but praise for the veteran actor, calling him “a stunner.” McQueen and Malden then made Nevada Smith (1966) together.
• Following a second prescreening, Steve McQueen pronounced The Cincinnati Kid awful and wrongly predicted that it would bomb at the box office.
• On DVD: The Cincinnati Kid (Warner, 2005).

“…After the game, I’ll be The Man. I’ll be the best there is,” the Kid tells his girlfriend Christian.

Not so fast, Kid…