Trivia / The Cincinnati Kid

• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: What Lancey actually says is, "You're good, Kid, but as long as I'm around, you're second best."
• Breakthrough Hit: For Norman Jewison.
• Dawson Casting: The titular kid is played by the 35 year-old Steve McQueen.
• Follow the Leader: It's probably not an accident that this story is basically "The Hustler with cards".
• Hostility on the Set: Sam Peckinpah was the film's initial director, but he clashed frequently with producer Martin Ransohoff. Ransohoff in particular didn't care for Peckinpah's decision to shoot Deliberately Monochrome, and his decision to change one already sexually-charged scene to include unauthorized nudity finally got Peckinpah fired (the issue was more "unauthorized" than "nudity", but Ransohoff tried to make a moral issue of it when he talked to the Hollywood press).
• The Other Marty: Sharon Tate was replaced in the film by Tuesday Weld after Sam Peckinpah was fired by producer Martin Ransohoff.
• Wag the Director: The rather gratuitous fight scene in the film was added at the instigation of Steve McQueen who had it written into his contract that he feature in an action scene.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Spencer Tracy was originally cast as Lancey but had to drop out due to health problems and was replaced by Edward G. Robinson.
  • There had been talk about Cary Grant taking the role of Lancey Howard.
  • Paddy Chayefsky was originally signed to write the screenplay.

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