All of Robert Redford's early work was done in television series like this one; he also appeared in Hitchcock's half hour program prior to this appearance. He doesn't show up in the story until about halfway through as the younger brother of Gig Young's character, John 'Duke' Marsden. Duke is an investment counselor with a penchant for high stakes gambling, in fact, it appears that he runs a local betting club where the members win and lose against each other, though Duke's expertise allows him to stay ahead of the pack. Hot-headed Ed Krutcher (Gene Evans) is down a considerable sum to Duke and demands a chance to win some of his losses back, while Duke makes a half-hearted effort to quit lest he lose his wife (Martha Hyer), who's fed up with his being away from home days at a time. When Chuck Marsden (Redford) shows up fresh from graduating law school, his interest isn't so much in pursuing a legal career, but like Duke, figures the easier path to riches lies at the poker table. In an attempt to dissuade Chuck from going in that direction, Duke sets his brother up as a patsy for Ed Krutcher, but when he and his fellow gamblers start losing to Chuck big time, a call goes out to Duke in the middle of the night to help bail out the losers. Relying on a marked deck to clean out his younger brother, Duke sends up a big red flag to Krutcher and his associates as to how Duke might have come up a winner against them in the past. The finale is pretty well telegraphed and isn't much of a twist in this very first entry in the new and longer Hitchcock program, but Redford fans ought to be pleased with this early look at the future A-list celebrity.
Review of A Piece of the Action
