Role: Amanda Worthington

Year: 1980

Synopsis

Sorrowful Jones (Matthau) is a gloomy, cantankerous bookie circa 1934, who is confronted by a gambler who cannot pay a $10 debt. He ultimately gives his 6-year-old daughter (Stimson) to Sorrowful’s gangster-run gambling operation as a “marker” (collateral) for a bet. When the desperate gambler loses his bet and commits suicide, the gangsters are left with the “Kid” on their hands. Sorrowful’s nervous assistant, Regret (Newhart), is concerned about the legalities of this, particularly the kidnapping statutes.

In the interim, a crime boss named Blackie (Curtis) coerces his longtime rival Sorrowful into financing a new gambling joint. The casino is opened in the stately home of Blackie’s girlfriend, widowed Amanda Worthington (Andrews), who needs money to buy back her family property. Amanda is also counting on a racehorse of hers called Sir Galahad to ride to her rescue. While the Kid’s personal needs inconvenience Sorrowful, a father-daughter relationship develops between them and they become inseparable. Amanda also takes a liking to the Kid, and reluctantly, the icy Sorrowful, who eventually comes to love her as well—much to Blackie’s chagrin.