A Big Hand For the Little Lady (1966)

“That’s a bargain all right, but a bargain ain’t a bargain unless it’s something you need.” – Jesse Buford

Number of Times Seen – Twice (Cable in the 90’s and 5 May 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A small family arrives in a town where a high stakes game of poker is being played and the father decides to join in until something unexpected happens.

My Take on it – This is a movie that I recall seeing once over twenty years ago, yet thankfully didn’t recall the whole story.

The movie works really well largely due to the very simplistic (yet clever) premise and the great cast.

Henry Fonda and Joanne Woodward are great in the lead roles while Jason Robards is stellar in his role.

The rest of the supporting cats is filled with some very familiar and talented faces and that adds so much to the flavor and feel of the story while staying realistic throughout.

The characters aren’t developed deeply yet they all are more than caricatures which helps make things more enjoyable.

The pacing of this story is expertly done and they find ways to keep this so suspenseful throughout due to some very clever ideas in the script.

The story is all about a poker match, yet one doesn’t need to understand the game to understand this film because of the way that they explain all that is needed.

Bottom Line – Great film that works due to its very simple premise and great cast. Fonda, Woodward and Robards are all great here and each enhance the story with the personalities of these characters. The supporting cast is also great and they all add so much to the flavor of the story while making it all seem quite realistic throughout. The story is paced really well and the way that they keep raising the suspense of it all works really well. The film is all about a poker match yet one doesn’t need to understand the rules of the game to get so much enjoyment from such an idea that has so much momentum throughout. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Bafflingly, the film was released in the UK under the new title, “Big Deal At Dodge City”, despite the fact that the town is clearly said several times to be Laredo and Dodge City is never even mentioned in the movie. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)