A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)

Excellent, a Must See

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Produced and directed by Fielder Cook and written by Sidney Carroll, this above average comedy Western stars Henry Fonda and features Joanne Woodward in the title role. The exceptional cast also includes Jason Robards, Paul Ford, Charles Bickford, Burgess Meredith, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Middleton, and John Qualen.Fonda plays a reformed "on the poker wagon" gambler now homesteader that happens upon the high stakes annual game between Robards, Bickford, McCarthy, Middleton, and Qualen in a remote town. Though his wife (Woodward) and his preteen son Jackie (Gerald Michenaud) try to keep him out of it, Fonda is unable to resist joining the game even though the $1,000 entry fee is a quarter of their life savings intended to be used to buy a 40 acre farm in San Antonio, Texas.When Fonda has all $4,000 of his family's money in the pot and he's $500 short of being able to call the most recent bet, Woodward bursts into the room where the game is being played (the back room of a hotel/saloon run by James Kenny). While explaining the situation to her, he suffers a heart attack and must be attended to by the beloved but poor local doctor (Meredith).Because wealthy farmer Robards left his daughter in the middle of her wedding to play poker, and defense attorney McCarthy departed the courthouse just before he was deliver his closing remarks to keep his client from the gallows, the men are impatient to finish their game.Though she professes to know nothing about poker, Woodward pleads to play on her husband's behalf because of their dire financial situation. Though undertaker Bickford hates women, Middleton is persuaded to bend the rules and allow her to leave the room (with the others save Qualen in tow) to go and see banker Ford about a loan.Convinced that he's being put on by the others, especially since the only collateral Woodward offers is the hand she shows him, Ford has his clerk (Milton Selzer) throw them out. However, shortly thereafter, Ford arrives at the game to verify that they were joking, only to find that they were not.Then, after a soliloquy about how conservative his investment philosophy has been, Ford says that he's backing Woodward, based on her hand, calls the $500 and raises the rest of them $5,000, after which each of the others folds. Though they lost, the men feel charmed to have been in the presence of the little lady so devoted to her husband.But the story doesn't end there, and I won't spoil the denouement which includes a couple of different sequences and a surprise ending.

It must have been tough, writing and directing a full-length feature that swivels on an event that only takes half an hour.Henry Fonda, his wife Joanne Woodward, and their young son are stranded for a few hours in a Western town where a high-stakes poker game is going on. Fonda, a poker addict, is drawn into the game and loses the $4K his family had been saving for their new farm. He winds up holding what he considers a winning hand -- we don't know what it is -- and when he's informed that he must put up an additional several hundred, which he doesn't have, he drops on the floor, still holding his cards.Woodward is forced to take his place but asks that the nature of the game be explained to her. She listens attentively while another player, Kevin McCarthy, explains to her, "We are all holding cards. Some cards are better than others. We all think we have the best hand. And we have all bet four thousand dollars that we have the best hand." Well, of course Woodward's stash has already been gambled away by Fonda, but she crosses the street to borrow money from the owner of the local bank, offering as collateral the hand of cards she is holding. The filthy rich bankers gawks and lends her enough to raise the pot and drive everyone else out of the game.That's not the end. Legal ethics prevent me from revealing more of the plot. I think I can go so far as to say, "Don't worry." The laying on of hands by the bank is the pivotal event. The notorious skinflint who owns the bank would never lend money unless he was certain of getting it back. However, the story must be made tensile to fill the time slot.So we get an opening scene of a boisterous saloon, clamorous cowboys, rollicking tunes, riotous laughter at remarks and wisecracks that aren't in themselves funny. Okay, the film needs some juice, but this is like transfusing blood into a patient whose life is hardly worth the expense of saving. There are anti-climactic scenes that drag on much too long after the point has been made, or are themselves entirely irrelevant.Nice cast, though. Fonda may be too old for the part of a naive guy setting out to make his fortune on a small farm but Woodward is just fine. I can't help wondering if Fonda and John Qualen swapped stories about working for John Ford in "The Grapes of Wrath." I imagine Fonda approaching Qualen with outstretched hand and saying, "Why, MULEY!" Charles Bickford as a player is stiff but has a magnificent exit. Jason Robards' part is unsympathetic but he has one of the more expressive faces on the screen. And he's a good actor with considerable range. Catch him in "All The President's Men," as the hard-nosed Ben Bradlee.It's much too long for the simple story it has to tell and it's so loud and forceful that it leaves your eardrums in a grievous state. Worth seeing but not seeking out.

If you're not familiar with BIG HAND, I urge you not to read anything that even hints at a spoiler before you see it. It would be a shame to ruin the whopper of a surprise ending, or any of the other startling developments along the way in this fresh and inventive Western comedy. From the opening credits, the sure-footed plot grabs the viewer and just gets more and more engrossing, until that climactic twist. The story of a high stakes annual poker game that spins out of control, it boasts great dialogue in the repartee around the table, a cast of vivid characters, fine pacing, and impeccable performances by all, right down to the bit players. Paul Ford, that consummate scene stealer, here too carries off the picture as an irascible banker. But he gets plenty of competition from the rest of the cast. Henry Fonda, a master at portraying anxious, conflicted characters, grows increasingly frantic as a farmer with a gambling problem (strange that Hitchcock only used him once, as an innocent musician accused of a crime in THE WRONG MAN. Fonda would have been terrifying in Jimmy Stewart's parts in VERTIGO, in REAR WINDOW, in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. But I digress.). Kevin McCarthy, John Qualen, Robert Middleton, Charles Bickford, and Jason Robards, Jr. each play distinct and likable rogues as Fonda's adversaries in the game (although Robards is on full volume a little too much). Burgess Meredith does a memorable turn as the put-upon town doctor. As the little lady of the title, Joanne Woodward shines as Fonda's delicate, long-suffering wife who shows her steel when she must take matters in hand with these raucous men to save the family fortune. To divulge more would be criminal. Love this little classic, even on repeat viewings.

BHFALL is not your typical Western: the Wild West is being tamed and here in Texas at the turn of the Century we have a new West; professional rich men who hold a once a year poker game for the highest stakes.When Henry Fonda rolls in all innocent and joins in the fun begins.This is great little movie, full of character, and surprises.My only gripe is the noise is a bit much with everyone delivering their lines at foghorn levels but this has a charm and an energy that it's hard not to enjoy.Recommended.