Pocketful of Miracles

Infobox_Film
name = Pocketful of Miracles

| imdb_id = 0055312
writer = Robert Riskin
starring = Glenn Ford
Bette Davis
Hope Lange
Arthur O'Connell
Peter Falk
Edward Everett Horton
Thomas Mitchell
director = Frank Capra
distributor = United Artists
released = December 19, 1961
runtime = 136 min
language = English
budget =

"Pocketful of Miracles" is a 1961 film that was the last to be directed by Frank Capra. The screenplay was based on a story by Damon Runyon called "Madame La Gimp" and an earlier screenplay by Capra and Robert Riskin for Capra's "Lady for a Day" (1933). It starred Glenn Ford, Hope Lange, and Bette Davis. The supporting cast including Edward Everett Horton, Peter Falk and Ann-Margret in her film debut. The film proved to be director Capra's final production, and the last role of veteran actor Thomas Mitchell.

The film inspired the 1989 Jackie Chan film, "Miracles".

Plot summary

Dave "the Dude" (Glenn Ford), a successful, but very superstitious New York City gangster, buys apples from street peddler Apple Annie (Bette Davis) to bring him luck. On the eve of a very important meeting however, he finds Annie in tears. It turns out that she has a grownup daughter, one she sent as a child to Europe for a fancy education and to avoid the shame of her family background. Now, Louise (Ann-Margret) is returning to introduce her mother, whom she has been led to believe is a wealthy socialite, to her aristocratic fiancé Carlos (Peter Mann) and his father, Count Alfonso Romero (Arthur O'Connell).Dave's girlfriend "Queenie" Martin (Hope Lange) talks him into helping Annie pull off a deception. Dave acquires an instant husband for Annie, cultured pool hustler "Judge" Henry Blake (Thomas Mitchell), a butler named Hutchins (Edward Everett Horton), and all the props needed to fool Annie's guests, all while postponing his appointment with another powerful gangster, much to the exasperation and nervousness of Dave's right hand man, "Joy Boy" (Peter Falk). When nosy reporters get a whiff that something odd is going on, they are kidnapped. Finally, Dave manages to engineer a lavish reception, with the mayor and the governor as guests. Louise and her impressed future husband and father-in-law return to Europe none the wiser.

Production

Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies said Capra later complained about Glenn Ford's interference with the production; among other things, Ford insisted on using Hope Lange in the film, possibly because Ford was in a long-term relationship with the actress.

Awards and nominations

*nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - Peter Falk

External links

*imdb title | id=0055312 | title=Pocketful of Miracles
*tcmdb title | id=17708 | title=Pocketful of Miracles