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Adapted from Richard Jessup’s novel by Terry Southern and Ring Lardner, Jr., and directed by Norman Jewison, (replacing Sam Peckinpah who is fired early in the shoot), The Cincinnati Kid premieres in New Orleans. Steve McQueen stars as a hot-shot, Depression-era poker player looking to burnish his reputation by challenging the ageing reigning champion, played by Edward G. Robinson, to a marathon, high stakes winner-take-all game. Despite its thematic similarities to Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, where pool was the name of the game, McQueen’s cool charisma, backed by a solid supporting cast – Tuesday Weld, Ann Margaret, Karl Malden and Shelley Winners – raises the stakes high enough to give the film an enduring identity all its own.
