For many reasons, when people think of the greatest performances in Paul Newman’s career, the character of Fast Eddie Felson seems to come to mind.  Newman’s performance is riveting and memorable for a variety of reasons, but his skill for being able to bring a multi-dimensional character to life has never been better than it is here.

Fast Eddie Felson thinks he's God on earth when it comes to playing pool.  He's been playing all over the country, hustling games and making something of a name for himself.  It's feasible that he could win $10,000 dollars in just one night playing pool.  One day he wanders into a pool hall that's the home turf of Minnesota Fats (portrayed by Jackie Gleason).  Felson has been looking to challenge Fats for quite some time.

The two pool sharks duke it out.  For a good part of their duel, it seems that the younger upstart player will beat the older legend.  However, in the end Minnesota Fats beats him and retains a considerable sum of money that Eddie had within his grasp.

From here, Eddie changes.  First he meets a woman in the bus depot as he's planning to leave town.  Sarah (portrayed by Piper Laurie) is largely a good influence on him, although at times it doesn’t seem that she and Eddie are suited to each other.  Part of this is due to the pull of Bert Gordon (portrayed by George C. Scott) who’s willing to manipulate Eddie and anyone else he has to just to ultimately get his own way.  The pull of these two forces on Eddie is at the heart of the film, and it’s only in tragedy that the entire scope of his situation becomes apparent.

Much has been made of this film being a battle between Minnesota Fats and Felson, and thus between Gleason and Newman.  Not to take anything away from their marvelous performances, I came away with the feeling that it was more of a battle between Sarah and Bert Gordon for Eddie’s very soul.  Sarah is no angel, but she has a heart and cares and if Eddie can give a bit of himself to her she can possibly be saved.  Eddie is, however, completely wrapped up in himself and his own needs and desires.  Whether it’s done intentionally or not, his neglect of Sarah’s needs for what Gordon dangles in front of him are at the heart of the tug-of-war.

There’s not a bad performance to be had in the leads.  Newman is at his finest in this character.  Where Felson could have been nothing more than a typical brooding young man with a certain angle - a character that’s been seen so many times before The Hustler and even more times since - he makes Eddie someone the audience wants to root for.  It’s not just the competition with Fats where I found myself rooting for the underdog, but in his potential as a human being.  Yes, he has an amazing talent, but Eddie is also weak in many ways and Newman manages to achieve a balance others have tried and missed.  I compare his performance here with the performance by Tom Cruise years later in The Color of Money as the young upstart to Felson’s aging legend, and there’s no question that Newman’s performance was by far the better one.  Just in the fact that he didn’t have to strut and yell around the pool table to display his bravado but instead did so with a cool confidence is enough for me.

Jackie Gleason is wonderful as Fats.  He comes off as really not caring whether he’s beaten or not, although he is supremely confident of victory if only for having been down the road before.  Being challenged by those who invade his territory seems to have become the norm for him, and he easily dismisses Felson as just another wannabe who’s more talk than action.

The tug of war between the two characters for Felson’s soul has some of the best performances of the film.  Piper Laurie conveys her emotions well, as well as drawing in sympathy from the viewer.  I wondered about Scott in this role until I saw him, and then he is perfect as the cool gambler out to exploit anyone he has to.  All he cares about is coming out on top in the end.

Filmed in 1961, The Hustler is entirely in black & white.  This surprised me a bit at first, but it works well for the material presented.  There’s no distraction of the colors of the pool hall or the world around them.  It focuses attention on the characters at the heart of the film.  The picture is excellent and makes good use of shadows as necessary to create an atmosphere of despair, especially in the hot, airless pool hall.

The soundtrack surprised me as it wasn’t something I’d heard a lot about, but it was something I paid quite a bit of attention to.  It’s filled with nice jazz sounds that really fit the atmosphere and events that are taking place.

The DVD is loaded with extras and make it worth checking out, even if you aren’t a junkie on the extras like I am.  The commentary is a lot of technical information as well as historical background to the time period as well as the effects of McCarthyism on the production.  I would have liked more about the film itself, but it wasn’t bad at all.  The futurities on the making of the film are worth watching, especially how they did some of the trick shots on the pool table shown during the film.

If you’ve never seen The Hustler, well, what are you waiting for.  It’s truly one of the greatest American films, and perhaps the best performances in the careers of these actors.  I would definitely expect it to be on a highlight reel of their respective careers.  There’s not a bad performance here and this is a great film and a great DVD.



SPECIAL FEATURES:

• The Hustler: The Inside Story
• How To Make The Shot
• Trick Shot Analysis by World Champion Trick Shot Artist, Mike Massey
• Commentary by Paul Newman, Stefan Gierasch, Carol Rossen (Director Robert Rossen's daughter), Editor Dede Allen, Assistant Director Ulu Grosbard, Richard Schickel (Time Magazine Film Critic), Film Historian Jeff Young
• Behind the Scenes Still Gallery
• Trailers



© 2009 Patti Aliventi

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Viewing Format: DVD