The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw

• Directed by Dick Lowry
• November 3, 1991 (US)
• NBC

Cast

• Brady Hawkes-Kenny Rogers
• Ethan Cassidy-Rick Rossovich
• Burgundy Jones-Reba McEntire
• Theodore Roosevelt-Claude Akins
• Fight Promoter-Dion Anderson
• Bat Masterson-Gene Barry
• Cookie-Paul Brinegar
• Cade Dalton-Jere Burns
• Kwai Chang Caine-David Carradine
• Lucas McCain-Chuck Connors
• Mark McCain-Johnny Crawford
• Ruby Roy Bean-Juliana Donald
• Jim-James Drury
• Kate Muldoon-Linda Evans
• The Westerner-Brian Keith
• The Westerner’s Friend-Dub Taylor
• Bart Maverick-Jack Kelly
• Sir Colin-Patrick Macnee
• Doug-Doug McClure
• Wyatt Earp-Hugh O’Brian
• Melody O’Rourke-Park Overall
• Lute Cantrell-Christopher Rich
• The Director-Mickey Rooney
• Judge Roy Bean-Brad Sullivan
• Cheyenne Bodie-Clint Walker

Brady Hawkes journeys to compete in a card game and encounters legends of the West.

Sometimes a film or miniseries comes along that is more about honoring predecessors than they are anything else. The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw is one such miniseries. While it is a story about Brady Hawkes (Kenny Rogers) competing in a card game to help an orphanage (though he does not know the latter part until later), it is more an excuse for the character of Brady Hawkes to cross paths with various Western TV personalities of the past.

Television was once ruled by the Western and this movie is as much a love letter to those old Westerns as it is another installment of The Gambler series. One of the treats of this movie is watching out for all the television Western stars who make appearances. First up was Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain. He starred in the fantastic series The Rifleman.

Beyond that, one thing that’s noticeable about this is the distinct lack of Bruce Boxleitner. I’m not coming down on him as an actor, but rather on his character of Billy Montana. After watching this I am convinced that the character of Billy Montana held Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, Part III: The Legend Continues back a bit as well as the development of the character of Brady Hawkes. Then again it looked a bit like they were aiming for it to be a handoff film.

A lot more of the story here is put on the shoulders of Brady Hawkes as a character and Kenny Rogers as an actor than in any of the previous stories. And while Kenny Rogers was no great thespian this film benefits from that. After all he is The Gambler. 

Not that Billy Montana is entirely missing from this film. They just replaced him with a Billy Montana-like sidekick for Brady named Ethan Cassidy (Rick Rossovich) who is just a dumber version of Billy. I do not think Brady needed a sidekick. At least not after the second film. The character blossoms much more here than he has in any other narrative to this point.

Brady is also joined this time around by Reba McEntire as Burgundy Jones. She performs well and is interestingly joined by Christopher Rich playing gambler Lute Cantrell that is a general nemesis throughout the story. Rich and McEntire would go on the work together about 10 years later on the series Reba.

Kenny Rogers plays well off of Reba McEntire. My complaint in the characters/performers is the Bruce Boxleitner replacement. He is just dumb to the point of being annoying. And his portion of the story is propelled in large part by Judge Roy Bean’s (Brad Sullivan) daughter Ruby (Juliana Donald) stalking him after a single dance.

Being a lighter film this has a good amount of humor and plenty of action. There is a rather entertaining joke-at least for me-involving Cookie (Paul Brinegar) from the series Rawhide where he strings together in a rant the names of multiple Western shows. Maverick, Wagon Train, Wanted Dead or Alive, The Big Valley, Little House on the Prairie, The High Chaparral, Bonanza, The Wild Wild West, and his show Rawhide all get a mention. Once you pick up on what he’s doing, it’s just funny. 

Linda Evans makes a brief return as Kate Muldoon. They had written themselves in a bit of a corner two films ago in this case. Why? Linda Evans was in a classic Western series with Barbara Stanwyck called The Big Valley. Naturally they had to include her, but they couldn’t write her in as her The Big Valley character-at least not easily. It would have been a fun meta moment though I am sure.

The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw not only intersects with many of the better-known fictional characters of the era, but also a few of the real individuals as well such as Teddy Roosevelt (Claude Akins) and DW Griffith (Mickey Rooney) whose name is only hinted at once. All performed by fine actors.

In my opinion The Gambler movies take their cue more from the basics of the concept of Maverick than they do anything else and somebody from that show-like Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) who shows up-probably should’ve been a little more important here than they were. It would’ve been appropriate to have the character a little more significant to things. 

I don’t know why, but I find it weird that Zelda Rubinstein played Burgundy’s mom. Rubenstein was a fine actress and she did great in the part. It just strikes me as as an unusual choice. I am little uncertain in the context of the story whether or not she was her biological mom or just the maternal figure that raised Burgundy From a little girl. 

The orphanage. It comes and goes as an element. I get Brady not talking about it since he doesn’t know what’s going on till very close to the finale, but Burgundy doesn’t do too much talking about it. At least not enough to remind the audience of her motivations.

But is it good? Yes. The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw is fun and light fair that entertains and is just a story about trying to help others as Brady Hawkes is a bit roped into helping Burgundy with her plan though he doesn’t know it. This will certainly satisfy fans of older Westerns-both theatrical and television. It takes a more positive and much less of a cynical eye towards the genre than dominates it today. I recommend this one!