A Big Hand For The Little Lady (1966)

A farmer (Henry Fonda) with a heart condition, his wife (Joanne Woodward) and child (Jean Michel Michenaud) on their way to San Antonio come into town to have their wagon fixed. But he has a gambling addiction and joins a high stakes poker game with professional players (Jason Robards, Kevin McCarthy, Charles Bickford, Robert Middleton, John Qualen) and finds himself dangerously out of his league and in danger of losing his life savings. Originally written by Sidney Carroll for television in 1962 under the title BIG DEAL IN LAREDO with Walter Matthau and Teresa Wright and directed by Fielder Cook, this big screen adaptation reunites Cook and Carroll performing the same duties. It's an unbalanced film, part of it amusingly done and others too broadly played (at times I expected someone to break out into a musical number) and its "twist" is obvious around the 40 minute mark. There's a decent David Raksin score. With Burgess Meredith, Paul Ford, Virginia Gregg, Mae Clarke and Ned Glass.