THE CINCINNATI KID

Norman Jewison may not have been one of the greatest of directors but he did give us a couple of the most sheerly enjoyable films ever made, one of which, "In the Heat of the Night", won the the Oscar for Best Picture. Two years before, he gave us "The Cincinnati Kid". It didn't pick up a single Oscar nomination but it probably provided more pleasure than any of the films that were nominated that year, including "The Sound of Music".

Some people describe it as 'The Hustler' of poker with Steve McQueen as The Kid who wants to be The Man. The Man is actually Edward G Robinson and he's simply magnificent here. You feel this is the part he was born to play and not 'Little Caesar', but then every part is perfectly cast. As well as McQueen and Robinson there's Ann-Margaret, (a bad girl and Oscar-worthy), Tuesday Weld, (a good girl), Karl Malden, Rip Torn and a terrific Joan Blondell as Lady Fingers.

The brilliant screenplay is by Ring Lardner Jr. and Terry Southern from the novel by Richard Jessup, (the film is at least the equal of the book and probably better), and it's superbly photographed, designed and scored. It is, of course, a much cosier picture than "The Hustler", a real crowd-pleaser but one that courted its share of controversy at the time by showing a white man in bed with a black woman. Nevertheless, it was a huge hit and further enhanced McQueen's reputation as the coolest man on the planet and even if you know the outcome it's a film you can watch again and again without ever getting bored.