The Gin Game

When I saw The Gin Game on Broadway in 1977 with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy I thought for sure I had seen the best play ever.

Then when I saw Charles Durning and Julie Harris perform it again on Broadway 20 years later, with my fiancee, I said "Okay, this is it. This one is the best."

Then last night I was flipping channels. I saw the card table and I realized what it was: "Look, it's The Gin Game!" I said to my bride, "Are you kidding me, it's Dick Van Dyck and Mary Tyler Moore."

I loved it. I think you can do more with a dramatic play on television, believe it or not.

Cheery Dick Van Dyck was an almost convincing Weller, but Mary is too sweet for a Fonsia. I am quite certain I saw Julie Harris stand up, lean over the table, shove the cards in Charles Durning's face and bellow triumphantly "Gin, F*cking Gin!". There's no way our dear Mary Richards would ever say that! :-)

The portrayals in this version are more subtle. You catch more of it in this version: The excellent script doesn't get lost in the commotion.

A great show. Don't miss it!

Casting for this revival of the bittersweet play was perfect. I have enjoyed the work of these two wonderful actors throughout their careers. This play is a perfect vehicle for a reunion of Rob and Laura Petrie. At my age, the play is almost too close for comfort - I see Weller in me, but I don't plan to go down the same path...

I highly recommend this production to anyone wishing to encounter a slice of reality portrayed by two gifted actors.

Really more a filmed theatrical staging for PBS, than a true film per se, this two- hander is solidly acted by Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.

They play two very different types in an old age home: the extroverted, gregarious, but also somewhat volatile and misanthropic Weller and the introverted, prim Fonisa form a friendship over games of gin, which she has an uncanny knack for winning, even though she is a complete novice to the game.

In this production at least, the play feels sweet, funny, well written and occasionally touching, but also a bit familiar. And the characters' secrets aren't very surprising given the build up to their reveals.

But that said it can often invoke a smile, and the ending was surprisingly touching without resorting to the obvious or unsubtle.

While I didn't see the original production starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and directed by Mike Nichols, certainly the reviews I could find make it sound like a darker, more disturbing approach to the play and the characters, which I could imagine giving the whole thing more heft and power. While this never turned 'cute' it threatened to at moments.

But in the end, it was still fun to see these two excellent old pros go at it, and I was never bored or less than interested.

The movie was good and I was enthralled by the connection between Moore and Dyke. The only problem I had with the film was the ending. The ending is very abrupt when you don't really expect it.

Yet over all it was an intriguing story of two elderly people.

It takes a bit to get used to VanDyke and Moore as the antithesis of Rob and Laura but the quicker you do it the sooner you can enjoy this well-produced version of D.L. Coburn's play. The rapport between these two is still present and just as sharp as it was 40 years ago. The text (written in 1978) holds up well. Direction and camera work are also fine. A film well worth seeing/owning.