Sorrowful Jones is a cheap bookie in the 1930s. When a gambler leaves his daughter as a marker for a bet, he gets stuck with her. His life will change a great deal with her arrival and his sudden love for a woman also involved in gambling operations.
E io mi gioco la bambina, La Puce et le grincheux, Ein reizender Fratz, Zálogocska, Маленькая мисс Маркер, Panenka pro štěstí, El truhán y su prenda, A Garotinha que Caiu do Céu, Słodki zakład, 구두쇠와 꼬마 숙녀, პატარა მის მარკერი, Маленька міс Маркер
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"That's the important thing, winning!"
Outwardly joyless bookie Sorrowful Jones (Walter Matthau) is left with a little girl as a marker for a gambling debt. He finds his life irrevocably changed when the girl's father dies by suicide and he begins to care for her.
There's some good stuff here. Matthau is always awesome to see in his grumpy old man mode, and watching him interact with a child that is basically immune to his cantankerous attitude offers a few laughs. You get a solid supporting cast including Julie Andrews, Tony Curtis, Bob Newhart and Brian Dennehy. The movie is at its best when it's zeroed in on the relationship between Sorrowful and the kid (Sara Stimson), but gets mired…
”The kid’s a marker.
We don’t let go of her until we get our $10 bucks, you understand?”
So here’s a movie you probably wouldn’t like…but i did.
It’s slow, old fashioned, off kilter and yet, it won me over.
From a production standpoint if feels a bit like The Sting, but instead of Newman & Redford pulling a con, you’ve got Walter Matthau, Tony Curtis, Bob Newhart, Julie Andrews, and a 6-year-old girl mixed up in running numbers and fixing horse races.
Like I said, it’s an odd movie and you probably wouldn’t like it…but I did.
Right from the start, it stole my heart with this incredibly cool opening credit sequence that uses a bunch of old fashioned tin…
I don't know what kind of stonehearted grinch it takes to give this movie a low rating, but I can attest to the fact that it's 100% adorable and quite funny. Sure, you've seen Walter Matthau do his irascible-but-lovable schtick a million times before, but he did it because it worked. And he has a formidable straight-man in unbelievably cute moppet Sara Stimson. And Julie Andrews is as fresh and pleasant as always. I've never seen the original Shirley Temple movie, so I wouldn't know by way of comparison, but I can't imagine it was soooo much better than this one. Personally, I found Temple to be a bit too precocious and showbiz. Stimson is the real deal. The story,…
Watched as part of the Movies released into US theatres during 1980 list.
30. U.S. Release: March 21, 1980
A gambler insists on leaving his 6-year-old daughter with a tough-as-nails bookie (Walter Matthau) as a form of collateral (‘marker’) for a bet, promising to be back soon with the cash.
Unfortunately, the destitute gambler ends up committing suicide, leaving his daughter an orphan. The bookie now has to work out what to do with the kid while at the same time, continuing to run his illegal gambling operation.
A remake of the 1934 Shirley Temple movie of the same name, this 1980 version successfully skates the fine line between heartwarming and nauseating as Matthau’s curmudgeonly bookie is gradually won over…
This film sets up its 1930s period setting exactly like The Sting, meaning it feels a bit...off? But the little girl looks so much like *me* at age 6 and of course Julie Andrews is an utter dream. That speech she gives to Walter Matthau about how she really is too good for him is *chef's kiss*
Beau p’tit film cute qui se regarde bien en journée maladie. Walter Matthau est excellent comme toujours et la petite fille aussi est très bonne.
Pairing avec de la soupe Lipton.
"Ein reizender Fratz" spielt 1934, also im gleichen Jahr, aus dem die Erstverfilmung stammt, die in der damaligen Gegenwart spielte. Der Film ist liebevoll und teuer ausgestattet, sodass das Zeitkolorit authentisch wirkt, ebenso sind die Darsteller, insbesondere der "reizende Fratz" Sara Stimson und Walter Matthau in der Rolle eines menschenfeindlichen Scrooge, der sich das Mädchen einhandelt, ohne die Folgen zu bedenken, in bester Spiellaune. Drehbuchautor Walter Bernsteins einzige Kinofilmregiearbeit ist aber leider wenig dicht inszeniert ausgefallen und floppte an der Kasse.
This was actually so freaking adorable. Loved it. Julie Andrews is peak “mother” in this film.
i love this film so much, there's something about it that makes you want to return to this again and again.
idk why so few people know about it. it's so kind, naive and tender. the costumes, the sets, the dialogue and the music, everything is good. it's like a cup of cocoa on a cold day.
and there's Julie Andrews, so that's automatically great
Have you seen a kid?
What kinda kid? Boy kid or girl kid?
Yeah, and how high, about this high?
Utterly charming. At one point Walter Matthau and Julie Andrews are sitting on the floor of the kitchen cleaning out the fridge and he feeds her a piece of whole smoked whitefish. If nothing else you should check out the opening title sequence it’s a very cool antique toy scene.
