On my way home from That’s Rentertainment I stopped by Panera and bought some bagels. The cashier asked me what movie I had in my hand and I responded, “The Hustler . . . Paul Newman . . . I need it for film class . . . I guess it’s the prequel or something to The Color of Money.”
Robert Rossen’s The Hustler brought Paul Newman into the spotlight of stardom. Newman’s character, Fast Eddie Felson, twists the viewer constantly between love and hate. At times I wanted Eddie to lose all his money in the hopes that he learns his lesson about gambling, and at other times, I cheered when Felson hit the balls into the pockets. This tragic flaw helped make Eddie a believable character, and thus increased the overall quality of the entire film.
In one scene Eddie plays a guy for two dollars—pocket change from the $1000 a game bets with Minnesota Fats—he then raises the stakes to $100 over 10 games. The idea that he was so blatant about raising the bet, exaggerated Eddie’s frustration with the game and his conceded attitude. From the title, I assumed tact and grace in winning money, but apparently not in this scene, Eddie went from the hustler to the bettor. By the end of the scene, the $100 is Eddie’s, but the pool hall dislikes sharks, and consequently breaks Felson’s thumbs.
Logically, two broken thumbs should cause a hustler to learn new hustles, tact, humility, or simply reanalyze playing pool. But, for the entire month with castes on both arms, Eddie does not grow as a person. He gets frustrated because he can not drink from a cup of coffee (among other daily tasks). Then, when he finally gets the castes removed he goes straight back to pool and gambling. This viewer would like to have seen some character growth.
Another thought that passed through my mind was the similarity between this movie and the Color of Money. The road trip with Eddie, his girlfriend Sarah, and Scott seemed a carbon copy of Newman’s other road trip with Tom Cruise. Additional, the fact that the girlfriend catches the eye of the “mentor/agent” only increases the detail of the mold.
After a some research on both movies I found that The Color of Money is in fact the sequel to The Hustler. Suddenly, Eddie’s character in the second movie made much more sense. The scene when Newman and Cruise go to Aims pool hall seemed random at first, yet after watching The Hustler, I realize the importance of that visit. Also, Eddie’s comment about pool being a young man’s game did not seem justified until I learned about the 25 hour pool marathon with Minnesota Fats.
Unlike the movie with Cruise, The Hustler is entirely in black and white. Considering the 1961 date and the fact that pool is a game played with colored balls, Rossen’s medium of choice puzzled me. Perhaps, the black and white film was made to push the viewer’s eyes away from the game and the fantastic shots, and to the characters and their actions. Rossen’s movie may have drawn those interested in the game, while simultaneously advertising those who may know nothing about cues and balls. I rented this movie because it had Paul Newman and pool, but my enjoyment of the film derived very little from watching Eddie make his shots.
Like many of the movies we have seen in class, The Hustler has an episodic nature. Looking deeper, this viewer finds it hard to make a movie about pool that is not episodic, especially one about hustling. Some of the most entertaining moments of the movie happen during the scenes where Eddie is playing pool. He plays someone, wins money, goes back to Sarah, plays someone else in pool, talks to his manager Charlie Burns, and plays more pool. If the movie were not episodic, the viewer may not have a firm grasp on the hold that pool has on the protagonist.
Also, like the films If . . . . and Masculine-Feminin, The Hustler has its share of youth rebellion. Minnesota Fats, whom people consider the best player alive, represents tradition because of his age and omniscient skill at the game. Fast Eddie , with his punk attitude, wants to beat tradition. Yet, unlike the two films mentioned above, the protagonist conquers tradition with the help of tradition. Charlie helps Eddie learn a love of pool and the real art of hustling. He teaches him to recognize when he has lost, and most of all humility. In a sense, Eddie beats tradition by becoming tradition. This idea further exemplifies itself in The Color of Money where Eddie teaches his young apprentice, and makes him do what he learned as a youth.
Although this film is in black and white, it is not of the art variety because not only Fox made it, but also due to the happy-ending. Like many films it presents the main problem at first, a few subplots later, and finishes with the resolution of the main plot and all the sub-plots. Art films on the other hand, often do not completely resolve the main problem. Had this been an art film, it may have shown Eddie on his way to play Minnesota Fats, and either Eddie losing to Fats again, or not shown the result of their rematch. Instead, an early scene shows Eddie’s first loss to Fats. It displays that he has the skill to play with the best, but not the skill to hustle. Before Eddie starts playing Fats he makes a goal of winning $10,000 in one night. But when Eddie met his goal of $10,000 by beating Fats, his pride of “we quit when Fats wants to quit,” causes him to lose all the money back to Minnesota.
One of the last scenes then shows Eddie returning to play Fats, and Fats losing a great deal of money—implied from the actions of the characters. Eventually, Fats acknowledges that Eddie is a better pool player than he, and thus Eddie’s life is complete. In general this film starts with Eddie wanting to beat Minnesota Fats and it ends with him accomplishing his goal, which leaves the viewer happier and thus making a Hollywood ending.
--SirMontego, look for me on Battle.net
This is a paper I wrote during the summer of 1999 for a Cinema Studies 262, Survey of World Cinema, II: The Thirties to the Present class at the University of Illinois taught by David M. Desser Ph.D. University of Southern California 1981. I did not get a good grade on this paper.
As i recall, the assignment was to discuss the social, political, and economic aspects of the film and the time is was made.
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