One of my favorite all-time gambling movies is Any Number Can Play from MGM in 1949 starring Clark Gable and Alexis Smith as Charley and Lon Kyng. Gable plays the proprietor of upscale gambling joint - complete with horse book ("still got a couple more races - Western tracks") - called Charley's. He is suffering health ills from the stress of running the operation for 20 years and is advised by physician to slow down. Entire movie told in single long night with thunder storms looming and Charley staring down both business and personal challenges.
Gable is perfect as Charley playing the benefactor for gamblers down on their luck with early scene providing money for degenerate woman horseplayer who pawned her wedding ring as well as supporting never well brother-in-law Robbin (played by Wendell Corey) who is cheating Charley as crooked craps dealer to pay off gambling debts.
Gable's son Paul is shamed that his reputation at school suffers the shame of his father running a gambling joint. Gable's defense of gambling to his son is a classic:
"Let me tell you something about gambling. You know how many decks of cards were bought last year? Over 60 million. And more than 5 million pair of dice. I didn't use all of them believe me. More than half the people gamble. And I didn't force one, not one, to come to my place. Over $6 billion was bet on the horses last year. $70 million collected in taxes from racetracks. Legally. You can buy horse racing shares of stocks legally. People gamble on bridge, football, fights, poker, the lottery, the weather, there's pinball machines, punch boards, bingo. In this town, gambling is open. If you don't gamble, you might say you're not supporting your city government. In some places, you can even place a bet as to how long you are going to live. Wrong? Maybe it is. But I'm not smart enough to judge over half the population. And honest kid, I don't think you are old enough to judge your father."
Alexis Smith as wife and mother Lon Kyng is the focus here. From the opening shot of her taking phone call from Charley all the way to closing scene, she plays the rare role of a woman supporting her man in his gambling endeauvors as well as his life. I've watched a lot of gambling movies and can't recall a similar supportive female character. An early scene has her showing Charley hidden room with memories from their early days including tickets stubs from 1931 World Series:
Lon: "That's where we spent our honeymoon watching Pepper Martin steal bases.
Charley" "Who won?"
Lon: "I don't know who won the series but you won a lot of money."
The strong relationship between Charley and Lon is at the heart of Any Number Can Play and her rallying at end of movie when told by grand dame Sarah Calbern (played wonderfully by Marjorie Rambeau) "You better get all the cash you've got honey, he's going to need it" in middle of epic crap game to bring cash and jewels from years of anniversaries saying "We might as well be partners all the way" brings lump in throat to any gambler.
At virtually same time as Any Number Can Play was released in July 1949, MGM released The Great Sinner - an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Gambler starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner. The Great Sinner's leaden production bombed at the box office while Any Number Can Play provided MGM healthy profit on one of the best gambling movies ever.