Pocketful of Miracles (1961) on Netflix
Bootlegger Dave the Dude buys apples from peddler Apple Annie for luck. When her daughter comes from Europe, Dave and Queenie Martin pass Annie off as a society lady.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb7.1/108,910 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes50%
Trailer
Plot summary
Boozy, brassy Apple Annie, a beggar with a basket of apples, is as much as part of downtown New York as old Broadway itself. Bootlegger Dave the Dude is a sucker for her apples --- he thinks they bring him luck. But Dave and girlfriend Queenie Martin need a lot more than luck when it turns out that Annie is in a jam and only they can help: Annie's daughter Louise, who has lived all her life in a Spanish convent, is coming to America with a Count and his son. The count's son wants to marry Louise, who thinks her mother is part of New York society. It's up to Dave and Queenie and their Runyonesque cronies to turn Annie into a lady and convince the Count and his son that they are hobnobbing with New York's elite.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- This was the last film for both director Frank Capra and actor Thomas Mitchell, and it was Ann-Margret's screen debut.
- Frank Capra first cast Frank Sinatra as Dave the Dude, but Sinatra walked out over script disagreements, and Kirk Douglas, Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason all turned the role down after him. Glenn Ford finally got the part by offering to help finance the film through his own production company in exchange for a 37½ percent cut of the profits.
- Bette Davis only landed the role of Apple Annie after Shirley Booth, Helen Hayes, Katharine Hepburn and Jean Arthur had all turned it down. Davis, facing financial trouble at the time, took the $100,000 paycheck despite worrying that playing an elderly beggar was a poor way to relaunch her career.
- Bette Davis and Glenn Ford clashed on set after Ford had his girlfriend Hope Lange given the dressing room next to his that had already been assigned to Davis. Ford then began treating Davis, a much bigger star, like a supporting player, and told an interviewer he had pushed for her casting as a favor she never forgave him for.
- Because Glenn Ford was also financing the picture, Frank Capra refused to intervene in the constant clashes between his two stars, and the resulting stress gave him blinding, frequently incapacitating headaches during the shoot.
- Under the financing deal, Glenn Ford was paid $350,000 upfront while Frank Capra himself received only $200,000, and because the film failed to earn back its cost, Capra lost a further $50,000 in deferred salary he had been counting on.
