King of the Gamblers
Cast & Crew
George Blair
Janet Martin
William Wright
Thurston Hall
Stephanie Bachelor
George Meeker
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
At the Pair-O-Dice Club, owner Bernie Dupal correctly "guesses" the outcome of a football game he knows to be fixed. Shortly thereafter, Bernie goes to the offices of the Sportsman's Gazette , where editor James F. "Pop" Morgan shows Bernie an editorial which he has written denouncing the sports gambling syndicate. Pop and his secretary, Elise Pringle, who are secretly working for the syndicate, express their concern about Pop's adopted son, Dave Fowler, a deputy district attorney crusading against the syndicate. Meanwhile, on board a train, Dave is listening to a radio broadcast of the football game, when one of the players, Speed Lacey, whom Bernie paid to throw the game, begins fighting on the field with teammate Jerry Muller. After their team loses, Jean Lacey, Speed's sister, and Jean's friend, Lorraine, offer Speed their sympathy, but he rushes off to ask Bernie for more money. When Bernie refuses, Speed asks Pop for $10,000 in exchange for evidence against the syndicate, and Pop tells him to return the next day. Meanwhile, Bernie plots to frame Jerry for Speed's murder. Impersonating Jean on the phone, Elise convinces Jerry to come to Speed's home. When he arrives, the two players fight, and Bernie's henchman, Mike Burns, shoots Speed with Jerry's gun. Pop enters and asks Mike to forge a letter from Jerry confessing to the shooting. After Jerry is arrested, Dave instructs his office to postpone the prosecution until he returns to town. After Dave guesses that Jerry has been framed, he goes to the office of district attorney Sam Hyland. There, he tells Pop that he suspects the attorney who has offered to represent Jerry, Earl Lorrenz, is involved with the syndicate. When he resigns from his job to take up Jerry's defense, Pop offers Dave the office next door to his own. At the nightclub, Elise informs Bernie that Dave has decided to take the case. Mike then eavesdrops on Dave and Jean as they talk about the case at Jerry's. After Dave notices Mike through the window, he follows him to Bernie's club. Later, Pop tells Bernie that Dave has become suspicious, and they arrange for Mike to be killed by a hit-and-run driver. After Jerry is sent to jail, Jean remembers that Speed had been working with Pop at the Gazette . When Elise overhears Dave questioning Pop about Speed, she convinces Bernie that she will be called to testify, so that he will buy her a ticket to Chicago immediately. Instead, he sends a henchman to kill her. Meanwhile, Dave discovers that his father has been working with the syndicate. Later, homicide detective Cassidy reports that Elise was found dead, the victim of an apparent suicide. Pop tells Dave that he will attend the trial in order to cover it for the paper. At the trial, Saunders, a ballistics expert, testifies that the bullet taken from Speed's body came from Jerry's gun. Before Dave calls Pop to the stand, he explains to the jury that he owes a lot to Pop, who adopted him when he was orphaned. When Pop confesses everything, Bernie shoots and kills him. At Hyland's office, Dave learns that he will become district attorney after Hyland is promoted by the governor. After Jerry is acquitted, he returns to his football career.
Director
George Blair
Cast
Janet Martin
William Wright
Thurston Hall
Stephanie Bachelor
George Meeker
Wally Vernon
William Henry
James Cardwell
Jonathan Hale
Selmer Jackson
Howard J. Negley
John Holland
George Anderson
Ralph Dunn
John Albright
Robert Williams
Clarence Muse
George Eldredge
Vera Marshe
Crew
Stephen Auer
Albert Demond
Joan Eremin
Bradbury Foote
John Grubbs
Ira Hoke
Frank Hotaling
C. B. Lawrence
Robert Leeds
John Macburnie
Bob Mark
Steve Martin
Enzo Martinelli
John Mccarthy Jr.
Herbert Norsch
Adele Palmer
Morton Scott
Charles Thompson
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title for the film was Recoil, which was also the name of Steve Martin's screen story. Although Martin did not receive screen credit, contemporary sources list him as the story writer.
