Video Viper: Big Hand for the Little Lady

HENRY FONDA (left) and Joanne Woodward (center) enter town with their son, played by Gerald Michenaud, in "A Big Hand for the Little Lady." The saloon keep er is played by James Kenny.

If you pick cards right, you'll like this film

If you grew up in the 1960s, it’s always fun to watch an old TV show or movie with familiar faces from the era.
Even if you weren’t born until 30 years later, you can enjoy the strange twists, funny situations and subtle drama of “A Big Hand for the Little Lady.”
Released in 1966, it includes such big stars as Henry Fonda, a younger Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards and Kevin McCarthy.
It’s a 1960s type of western where the streets are clean and nobody says a discouraging word. They all look like the 60s, too.
It opens with the richest men in Texas dropping everything they are doing to participate in a no-holds, high-stakes series of games of poker.
Players are portrayed by Robards, McCarthy, long-time character actor Chester Conklin, Robert Middleton and John Qualen.
Burgless Meredith is the town physician who likes to listen to wind-up records on the fancy Victrola.
Everybody in town wants to know who is winning and who is losing. This is high drama.
In the midst of it all, a couple, played by Fonda and Woodward, arrive with their son, played by Gerald Michenaud. Their buggy has broken down and the blacksmith must repair it. In the meantime, they need a place to spend the night.
That turns out to the the saloon where the game is taking place. (The rooms aren’t fancy and the boy must sleep in the woodbin.)
They are traveling through to get to a new ranch they are buying with money they have saved.
Trouble is, Daddy Fonda is also a compulsive gambler. But this time, he just wants to sit in and watch.
Well, for maybe 20 minutes. Then he wants to participate. When wife leaves to check the status of the buggy with the blacksmith, the Fonda character gets $10,000 of the family nestegg to buy a stake in the game.
And promptly loses it. Remember, this is when $10,000 was worth $10,000. So, much to the protest of this son, he gets more money. And loses it.
His wife finds out what he has done and it is all too much. Right there during the game, Henry has a heart attack.
But his final hand hasn’t been played. If he walks away (or is hauled away), the family loses the last of its nestegg.
As it is, the money left isn’t enough to stake the hand. So not only does Woodward have to play the hand, she must borrow and be assured of winning.
The film has a wonderful twist I won’t even hint at. Let’s just say it changes the tone of the film.
This was originally supposed to be an hour-long episode of a TV series, directed by Fielder Cook, who worked mostly in television.
Fonda was truly a great actor and has a lot of fun in this little, mostly forgotten film.
If you are looking for a “Deadwood” clone, this isn’t it. But it is a film you can enjoy with the entirel family, if you play your cards right.
This appeared in the Star Beacon WEEKENDER May 16, 2008.