Strictly average movie

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This film is perhaps to long but it kind of is a Western with a theme that would be used later on and much more effectively in "The Sting". While this movie has a great cast with Joanne Woodward, Henry Fonda, and Jason Robards particularly effective, the script could have been so much better if it had been developed more with the characters. It does have poker in mind, and the bluff in particular as themes.What the film does not do is develop the story line better. In The Sting, all of the characters are carefully developed and even though you have it all in front of you what is going down, there is enough else going on that you still enjoy the actual deception and get a feeling for the characters. This film has some great characters and even though the story tries to hide what is going on, it sort of tips it's hand. Robards here plays a pretty good heavy, but it is never explained why he is one of 4 guys who all get played by Fonda in the game. What is really not making much sense is how all the players at the table all have a good enough hand to stay in until the end. Poker just does not work that way. It is hard to swallow all of them staying in for huge money. The poker game in The Sting makes more sense with 2 players surviving for the big pot, and everyone else dropping out.Even though the viewer is not told a lot about the minor characters in the cast until after the game, it becomes too easy to suspect there are other motivations for everyone before the big bluff happens. This story was first done as a television production and then was expanded here into a movie. While the results are good, they are not perfect. Some great support here from Burgess Meredith and Charles Bickford among others. I feel this is an actors school sort of film. There are some great lessons for method acting from a great cast, but the film falls just a little short of being a great one. Think if the director had been better about how they paced the film, which at times it seems to stop in its tracks or winds up a bit slow, it would have been better.

The opening of A Big Hand for the Little Lady has so much frantic build up, the scoping scenery shots as far as the eye can see with a grand western music score and for what? A game of poker; but rightfully so as this may be the best poker movie I'll ever see. I don't know how to play poker nor do I have any interest in cards, but it doesn't stop me from being absorbed in this fascinating and inspired comedy.Much humour is derived from Henry Fonda's performance as a gambling addict who attempts to act naive and innocent in order to mask his addiction; resulting in the man becoming a ticking time bomb and the suspense which derives from watching this guy throwing his livelihood away. At one point in the film however it stops being entirely comic in which I start feeling sorry for how pathetic Fonda's character has become; the effective quick switched between comedy and drama is superb. Backed by a cast of charismatic gents as they bicker and tell outlandish stories of what they abandoned in order to attend the game of poker and take the rules of poker so seriously, even when a man's life is one the line. The only issue I would take with the film are the unnecessary remaining 10 minutes which drag along after the film's plot has been resolved. I'd love to see this concept of a poker game going out of control expanded upon and taken to new heights. Not a remake but the same concept in a different setting and perhaps a bit zanier, I would like to see. The sub genre of the western comedy intrigues me. Westerns as a whole I find hit and miss but when presented in comedic form I have a much easier time caring about what's happening on screen.

An ex-gambler passing though a small town with his wife and son can't resist participating in a high-stakes poker game, thereby risking his family's life savings. Judging from the furious activity and the loud, exaggerated manner in which much of the supporting cast delivers its lines, one would think this was a riotous comedy, but it's not all that funny. However, this Western is generally enjoyable, thanks to a good cast headed by Fonda and Woodward. This was the final film of Bickford, a reliable character actor for four decades. There is a twist at the end, but the execution is somewhat clumsy, leaving more questions than answers.

This is great! The first viewing is a roller-coaster ride of confident control suddenly lost, then understood, then whipped away again! It's certainly Joanne Woodward's finest hour with an excellent cast of also ran stars. At the end, it all makes wonderful sense and you just wish to see it again!Second viewing lets you see how everything works, and you marvel at the screenplay and acting. Then you want to see it again and just enjoy the whole film. The fourth viewing is confident entertainment which you want to share with your nearest and dearest. Repeat viewing maintains the entertainment level and I still want to see it again!One of the top films I have ever seen and I look forward to seeing it again. Thank you Hollywood!