WEIRDLAND: Losing a poker hand in "A Streetcar Named Desire"

Friday, February 17, 2012

Losing a poker hand in "A Streetcar Named Desire"

Marlon Brando, in his second screen appearance and recreating his Broadway role, delivers an overpowering, memorable performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire". During a drunken, losing poker hand, Stanley becomes uncontrollably beserk and assaults his wife Stella, causing a fight to break out to control his "lunacy." His poker buddies hold him under a cold shower to sober him up.

John Garfield wardrobe test for “Nobody Lives Forever”, 1946

On Sunday, 18th May in 1952, John Garfield emerged from the Warwick Hotel. The final three days of his life would be a strange odyssey. People reported that they saw Garfield Sunday night wandering the streets of his old neighbourhood in the Bronx. Monday evening was spent playing poker with Howard Lindsay, Russell Crouse and Oscar Levant. Robert Whitehead would later tell reporters that he understood Garfield sat up late playing cards with friends in a hotel Monday and had attended to personal affairs on Tuesday, without getting much sleep.

"Every time I hit Las Vegas take a good look at it just to make sure it's still there" -"The Prowler" (1951) directed by Joseph Losey

Officer Webb Garwood (Van Heflin) returns to Susan Gilvray's (Evelyn Keyes) residence initiating a romantic relationship game. With no prowler in sight, a looming Californian hacienda in front of him and a beautiful woman alone inside, Garwood decides to take on the titular role without even changing out of his uniform.

He and Susan reunite and Webb pledges both innocence and love. The couple gets married. Webb quits the police department and fulfills his dream: buying a truck stop motel next to a busy freeway in Las Vegas, Nevada! Garwood believes that his ship has finally come in. A closer view reveals that Webb's ambition isn't a gold bargain.

Susan Sarandon received her first Oscar nomination for playing croupier Sally Matthews, in "Atlantic City" (1980) directed by Louis Malle, who handles poker chips with aspirations to become a blackjack dealer and move to Monte Carlo.

In "Casino Royale" (2006) there are thrilling adventures and romance amidst rounds of poker culminating in an engrossing high-stakes poker game in Montenegro. “Money Penny” Lynd (Eva Green) assists James bluffing her way through poker and later a love story.

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