The Cincinnati Kid (Norman Jewison, 1965)

It's easy to figure out what went wrong here. Despite the wattage in front of the camera (Steve McQueen as the titular kid, Edward G. Robinson as a well-manicured poker genius, Karl Malden as a put-upon card dealer, Joan Blondell as the brassy Lady Fingers, Ann-Margret and Tuesday Weld as arm candy, Cab Calloway surprisingly effective as a fellow player, and Rip Torn on board for sleaze) and behind it (Sam Peckinpah fired early in production, screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. and Terry Southern, music by Lalo Schifrin, edited by Hal Ashby), no one knew what to do with a story in which a mammoth poker game is its sole raison d'être. The poker scenes are fantastic. Even if you don't understand every filigree of the game, Jewison revs up the tension so that the stakes are never in doubt. But it takes about an hour to get there. Before then, it's deathly dull despite a gnarly chicken fight scene. Most of the screen time dwells on romantic foibles that Jewison et al. should have breezed through if not ignored altogether. And the prodcution design offers no compensations. The only way to tell the story takes place in the 1930s is by the cars and a National Recovery Administration poster in the background. Does the film end when the poker game ends? Of course not because you need the Formation of the Heterosexual Couple stamp to bring the thing to its quick, clockwork conclusion. 

Grade: B-minus

Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987)

A tad overlong and yet severely undernourished, Moonstruck proves yet again that Hollywood enjoys no corner on well-constructed narratives. After twenty-five minutes of back (and present) story about Loretta (Cher), Ronny's (Nicholas Cage) first scene does way too much heavy lifting. He airs his back story and then...that's it. The affair between Loretta and Ronny happens so quickly after that it comes off as random, leaving Ronny with little character left. Truth is, the same happens with Loretta. The film simply settles into a courtship stasis and you wonder how on earth these people could become so instantly attracted to one another (no matter how beautiful they are). It's no surprise to discover that the best (deepest, most mature) scene has nothing to do with the two principals. Loretta's mother, Rose (Olympia Dukakis), strikes up a lonely conversation with gasbag professor Perry (John Mahoney, as sexy as Cage) at a favorite restaurant during which more insight is gained into the nature of attraction and long-term relationships than at any other point in the film.

Still, the finale is a master class in corn. I half expected the ensemble to burst out in a chorus of "We Go Together." Best line (Cher to Cage): "Where's The Met?" In short, though, I'll take Twice a Man (Gregory Markopoulos, 1964).

Grade: B