By Lee Pfeiffer
The Warner Archive has released the quirky 1966 film A Big Hand for the Little Lady as a burn-to-order title. Originally written for television, the story was aired in 1962 under the title Big Deal in Laredo as part of the DuPont Show of the Week series. Ostensibly a Western, the movie is a claustrophobic affair with any views of open ranges and wide vistas confined to the film's opening sequence, which finds an undertaker (Charles Bickford) driving his hearse at a frantic speed across the desert. He stops at various homesteads to pick up an eclectic assortment of other men, each of whom seems to regard their final destination with the utmost solemnity. Turns out they are all participants in an annual event that draws spectators from far and wide: a high stakes poker game in Laredo, Texas. The players are the wealthiest businessmen in the county: Tropp, the undertaker, Drummond (Jason Robards), a cantankerous man whose passion for the game has resulted in his leaving his daughter at the alter and her wedding ceremony postponed until the game is completed, Buford (John Qualen), Wilcox (Robert Middleton) and Habershaw (Kevin McCarthy), an erudite, polite man who is the least temperamental of the group. The tournament takes place in private in the back room of the local saloon while crowds of curious townspeople speculate about who will emerge the winner in the high stakes game. In the midst of this, a family of three arrives in town: Meredith (Henry Fonda), his beautiful but prim-and proper wife Mary (Joanne Woodward) and their young son Jackie (Gerald Michanaud). They are pilgrims en route to buying their dream farm in San Antonio, something they have saved for over a period of many years. A broken wagon wheel delays their journey and results in them having to take a room for the night at the saloon. Mary turns many a man's head, but her sweet nature and fawning care of Jackie earns their respect and the family is accorded all due courtesies. Meredith, who is a compulsive gambler, uses their farm funds to buy his way into the poker game. He loses the entire amount, much to Mary's horror. In the midst of this anxiety, he also falls ill from a stress-induced heart attack. He pleads with Mary to play out his hand, which he says is the best he has ever seen. There are two problems, however: Mary doesn't know how to play poker and they need $500 more to remain in the game and play the hand. Mary imposes on crusty local banker Ballinger (Paul Ford) to lend her the money, using the card hand as collateral. To the amazement of the other players, Ballinger complies, saying he has never seen a more impressive hand to play. With the financial future of her family on the line, Mary sits down at the table to take part in the highest stakes game ever played in Texas.
A Big Hand for the Little Lady is a delightful tour de force for the talented actors involved. Ironically, Fonda, who was the biggest boxoffice draw in the movie, is off screen for much of the action, as his character is being tended to by the local doctor (Burgess Meredith.) Director Fielder Cook doesn't stress restraint in the performances and his remarkable cast seems to love hamming it up as much as possible, with Robards in full scenery-chewing mode. It's hard to say who is the most fun to watch, but certainly Burgess Meredith and Kevin McCarthy excel, as does the great Paul Ford. (Sadly, this was the final movie of the noted character actor Charles Bickford.) The film's payoff is designed to be a big surprise, but astute viewers can probably see it coming fairly early on, though there are some "sting in the tail" elements you might not find predictable. To say any more would be a disservice. Suffice it to say we don't have many "little" movies like this today that would draw such top-flight stars and character actors. The movie is a great deal of fun throughout.
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