The Gambler V: Playing for Keeps (1994)

Kenny Rogers is back as Brady Hawkes, and he’s about to settle down on a ranch he won in a poker game along with former partner Billy Montana.

Then he spots a photograph in an old newspaper that delivers disturbing news: It’s a photo of the Wild Bunch — Butch Cassidy (Scott Paulin), the Sundance Kid (Brett Cullin) and their gang.

And one of those gang members is none other than Jeremiah Hawkes (Kris Kamm), Brady’s grown son, who was supposed to be off at school.

Turns out Jeremiah dropped out of college after his mother died and headed West.

He just happened to land in the same jail as Butch and Sundance. And, when they broke out, he went along and joined the gang.

Brady heads out on the trail of the gang, determined to rescue his only son from a life of crime.

But he’s going to have company. The Pinkertons are after The Wild Bunch too, and Frank Dimaio (Richard Riehl) is determined to capture his prey.

More than once, Brady nearly succeeds in his mission. But he’s going to have to travel to Bolivia to find Jeremiah.

And he heads there in the company of Etta Place (Mariska Hargitay), the former school teacher who is now Sundance’s lover.

Kenny Rogers as Brady Hawkes meets a hangman and hatches a plan in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Kris Kamm as Jeremiah Hawkes, explaining how he wound up with Butch and Sundance in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Review:

Between the first and second Gambler film, Brady Hawkes lost a limp. Between the second and third, he lost a son. Between the third and fourth, he lost his partner (Boxleitner).

For the fifth and final Gambler film — one telefilm and four mini-series spanning 14 years — Brady gains back the partner (albeit in a cameo role) and the son.

But what makes this film perhaps the most entertaining of the five is the fact that it also has a decent plot that doesn’t revolve around Brady playing poker.

In fact, when it comes to acting, the heavy lifting is left to three capable and appealing co-stars — Paulin as Butch, Cullin as Sundance and Hargitay as Etta.

The first part of this two-part mini-series borrows from Westerns past. Jeremiah blows up an entire train station because he uses too much dynamite on a safe (sound familiar?). And Brady meets a hangman and trades places with him in a scene the will conjure up memories of Jimmy Stewart in “Bandolero.”

The second part is the more entertaining of the two, as both Brady and the Pinkerton-led Bolivian army close in on the three men they’re looking for.

And for those wondering, yes, Mariska Hargitay is the daughter of Mickey Hargitay and Jayne Mansfield. In fact, she and her two brothers were in the 1967 car crash that killed their mother.

Mariska suffered only minor injuries, made her acting debut in 1984’s “Ghoulies” and won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her work as detective Olivia Benson on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit,” which began airing in 1999 and is still on.

Scott Paulin as Butch Cassidy, cornered along with Sundance as Bolivian troops converge in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Brett Cullin as The Sundance Kid, contemplating a train station holdup in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Directed by:
Jack Bender

Cast:
Kenny Rogers … Brady Hawkes
Scott Paulin … Butch Cassidy
Brett Cullin … Sundance Kid
Mariska Hargitay … Etta Place
Kris Kamm … Jeremiah Hawkes
Stephen Bridgewater … Flatnose Bill Curry
Richard Riehle … Frank Dimaio
Ned Vaughn … Ford Hayes
Martin Kove … Black Jack
Geoffrey Lewis … George Lynch
Bruce Boxleitner … Billy Montana
Loni Anderson … Fanny Porter
Dixie Carter … Lillie Lantry
David S. Cass Sr. … Sheriff Boone

Runtime: 189 min.

Mariska Hargitay as Etta Place, warning Jeremiah about the outlaw life in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Martin Kove as Black Jack, a member of the Butch and Sundance gang in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Memorable lines:

Child #1: “Would you like my penny?”
Child #2: “Or mine?”
Child #3: Or mine?”
Butch Cassidy, robbing the bank: “You keep them. Just don’t put them in a bank.”

Etta Place: “Harry’s always talking about taking me away from all of this some fine morning. Let me tell you something Jeremiah Smith — or whatever — there aren’t many fine mornings in this line of work.”

Lilly Lantry, about to enjoy a reunion with Brady Hawkes: “An actress always appreciates a request for an encore.”

Fannie Porter to Brady Hawkes, after he’s brawled with Pinkertons at a Lilly Langtry show: “I happened to overheart the illustrious Lilly Langtry said that she didn’t want to see you again. Unless, perhaps, it was to identify the body. She thought you put on a better show than she did.”

Brady Hawkes: “Your mom would never believe this.”
Jeremiah: “Believe what?”
Brady: “Well, here I sit horseback in a country that six months ago I didn’t even know existed. And my son is teaching me how to rob banks.”
Jeremiah: “Yeah, well a lot has happened.”

Sundance Kid: “I ain’t never lied to you, Etta. I just held off tellin’ the truth.”

Etta Place: “They’re gone, aren’t they?”
Brady Hawkes: “No. No one’s ever gone until they’re forgotten.”

Richard Riehle as Frank Dimaio, the Pinkerton responsible for tracking down the Wild Bunch in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Ned Vaughn as Ford Hayes, a trigger happy member of the Pinkertons in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Lonnie Anderson as Fanny Porter, helping Brady Hawkes recuperate from a rough night in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Dixie Carter as Lillie Langtry, flirting with Brady Hawkes from the stage in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Geoffrey Lewis as George Lynch, the hangman explaining the tools of the trade to Brady Hawkes in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Kenny Rogers Brady Hawkes and Mariska Hargitay as Etta Place, confronted by Pinkerton detectives in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Kenny Rogers Brady Hawkes and Mariska Hargitay as Etta Place, confronted by Pinkerton detectives in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Scott Paulin as Butch Cassidy, trying to hold up a Bolivian bank where no one speaks English in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Mariska Hargitay as Etta Place, trying to help Butch and Sundance during a bank robbery in Bolivia in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Bruce Boxleitner as Billy Montana, helping Brady on his new ranch in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)

Kenny Rogers as Brady Hawkes, dreaming of a quiet life on a blossoming ranch in The Gamber V, Playing for Keeps (1994)