40 Pounds of Trouble

40 Pounds Of Trouble casts Tony Curtis as a somewhat jaded manager of one of Las Vegas's gambling palaces owned by Phil Silvers who has told him to find a singing spot for his niece Suzanne Pleshette. But he's got another crisis on his hands. One of his regular players has left a marker in the form of his daughter while he's out raising a bankroll. The daughter is little Claire Wilcox the 40 Pounds Of Trouble in the title.

It doesn't look like he's coming back this time and the little girl does work on melting the heart of this gambler. Suzanne Pleshette's working on her end as well. It might be working out if it weren't for the fact Curtis has an ex-wife in Mary Murphy whom he's into for a lot of back alimony and she's got a good attorney in Kevin McCarthy who is a one man collection agency.

This is a pleasant almost G-rated comedy with a climax in that most G-rated of places, Disneyland. It's where Wilcox has always wanted to go and Curtis and Pleshette plan on a day there. Only Murphy's bloodhound McCarthy sniffs them out and then it's a mad Keystone Kops like chase through Walt's Magic Kingdom to get the papers served.

Besides those mentioned there are a lot of familiar faces that line the cast of 40 Pounds Of Trouble which always makes for great viewing. In many ways Curtis is playing a comic version of the role Robert DeNiro did as the manager in Martin Scorsese's Casino.

I wonder how Ace Rothstein would have handled all this?