The Hustler (1961)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It is so daring, it is so ambitious, it is so thrilling and weird and pointed and powerful. I never knew where it was going.

THE HUSTLER is a sport drama about a bitter life and an unscrupulous competition. Film is based on Walter Tevis novel of the same name.A small-time pool hustler travels cross-country with his partner and earns, on fraud, some money. His attitude and his big mouth forcing him to challenge the legendary player "Minnesota Fats". A challenger and legend finally meet each other. Straight pool duel can begin. Their game attracts the attention of a professional gambler. The young challenger has, despite a noticeable talent, lost the match. He leaves his partner and he meets, at the local bus terminal, a girl, who is an alcoholic supported by her father, attends college part-time, and walks with a limp. They start a strange relationship. However, the pool hustler wants again to challenge a famous rival. His talent does not seem sufficient, he needs a strong character...A restless, irritable and evil protagonists are perfectly integrated into a dark atmosphere. Their greed for a fame and money has ruled out any form of love and nobility in this film. The plot is brisk and exciting. Every word or move is full of passion and has its price.Paul Newman as Eddie Felson is a passionate and violent pool hustler. The protagonist, who is, at one point, on the top of his life goal, and then drops down until he touches the bottom. He was intoxicated with his ambition. The loss of a loved person and a bitter life knowledge are his brutal sobering. Mr. Newman has offered a quite good performance. Piper Laurie as Sarah Packard is his girlfriend, who has lost in her unclear past. However, when Eddie comes into her life, she revives her pathetic reality. She is a dominant character in one part of the film, in which she emphasizes their tragic fate. George C. Scott as Bert Gordon is an antagonist on duty. He is an evil which trades with feelings and souls. His performance is very convincing. Jackie Gleason (Minnesota Fats) is a cool as a legendary player. However, he has become a prisoner of his talent and money.Maybe this movie is a strong projection of the real world, which is complemented with a cynical reviews and a tragic-ironic end. The protagonists have condemned themselves to a bitter taste of life.

Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and Charlie Burns (Myron McCormick) are two relatively successful pool hustlers. Felson walks into one pool hall and proudly claims that no-one will play him because no-one can beat him. When Felson discovers that the pool hall he's stepped into is the place where regular pool shark Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) spends his evenings, Felson can't resist the opportunity to prove to everyone that he is the best and is capable of beating the best. However, Felson is outclassed by Fats which sets off a spiral of events in Felson's life which results in Felson losing control.When watching The Hustler today and watching Newman's performance I couldn't help but be reminded of Alex 'Hurricane' Higgins. Higgins was one of the pioneers of British Snooker and was one of the people responsible for making the game of Snooker popular and bringing the sport to a wider audience. Like Felson, Higgins was a flamboyant character who mostly entertained the masses whenever he was in front of a crowd or on the big screen. Sadly, Higgins, like Felson, had a very destructive personality, lacked self-control and drank heavily which ultimately proved to be his undoing. For me having a real person's life mirroring that of Felson's made the film feel all the more raw, gritty, believable and actually quite sad at times.Part of the reason that this film succeeds is Newman himself and of all the films I've seen him in this is easily his best performance. He is the heart and soul of the film and the downward spiral that we see him on later in the film is heart-breaking to watch. Piper Laurie is also excellent in support and is almost as good as Newman but there's no mistaking that this is Newman's film and he's able to carry it with aplomb. Gleason is also excellent in the brief screen time that he was given. As much as I would have liked to have seen more of him in the film I can understand why he was only featured at the beginning and the end.Structurally the film is a little uneven whereby the first 20 minutes or so fly by at break neck speed - up until Felson's defeat to Minnesota Fats. The pace slackens slightly when Felson meets Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie). The melodrama here does mean the film suffers slightly only because the start of the film is so fast-paced - although the melodrama is much better here than melodrama we see in other films because of the relationship that exists between Felson and Packard. Giving the couple a relationship that exists more out of co-dependency than anything else still makes this aspect of the story quite interesting.The final third of the film comprises of Felson being approached by Bert Gordon (George C Scott) who tells Felson that he'll act as a financial backer to enable him to take on Minnesota Fats. Like Fats and Felson, Gordon is a Shark but not in the same sense. Felson is practically penniless at this point which is something that Gordon exploits for his own financial gain. Lured by the prospect of making money and having another shot at Fats, Felson once again becomes blinded by the very things that got him into trouble in the first place (not knowing when to quit). The real tragedy here is that Sarah can see Gordon for what he is, but Felson cannot and it's this inability for Felson to step back and see the bigger picture that ultimately results in Sarah taking her own life. It's only at this point that Felson starts to put things into perspective and see things in a different light.Cue (no pun intended) the action and the final match between Fats and Felson. This is the moment that we've all been waiting for and whilst some may find it disappointing that the match between them was short and sweet I think this fitted better with the narrative. I got the feeling that Felson faced off against Fats not just to show that he could beat him, but to prove that he could do it on his own. Felson's constant retorts to Gordon clearly prove this point. I also felt that the Felson that faced Fats at the end of the film was very different to the Felson that faced him at the start of the film. He still had the bravado but more importantly had much more self-control (Fats conceding and Felson walking away at the end clearly proved that Felson was a different person by the end of the film). It also showed that a mutual respect existed between the two men which probably didn't exist at the start.The Hustler is a fantastic film and is certainly one of the finest character studies that I've seen.

"The Hustler" is a great example of a film with a relatively simple plot, simple sets, not a lot of action and yet it's a great film nonetheless. Why is it great? The acting, writing and direction are simply superb and are great examples to folks in the field. So, without glitz, special effects and huge casts, you can STILL make a terrific film.The story is simple. Fast Eddie (Paul Newman) is a pool hustler. But he wants to be more--he wants to be the best there is. The best, it seems, is Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) and Eddie will do almost anything to beat Fats. It's a mania...one that dogs him through most of the film.In addition to amazing performances by Newman and Gleason, the film features particularly strong supporting performances by George C. Scott and Piper Laurie. The bottom line is that these four did a terrific job--thanks in no small part to a wonderfully written script and excellent direction. See this film.

There are so many great reviews of this amazing film (which easily belongs in the top 50 ever made) but I would like to point out two key scenes that no one seems to have really noticed that each show the incredible artistry of Paul Newman and Robert Rossen.First, the opening scene before the credits role and Kenyon Hopkins' incredible musical score begins when "Fast Eddie" and "Charlie" pull into the small Pennsylvania bar to hustle a few dollars.Next time you watch it check out the smile on Newman's face as he suddenly changes from wobbly drunk to absolutely confident, consummate pool hustler and makes that impossible shot (I've tried it 100 times with no luck). How can a momentary change in an actor's countenance constitute one of the of the great moments in film? I don't know, but Newman manages it here.He just smiles, he manages one of the most classic 5 mile stares ever, and doesn't even appear to notice the outcome. He KNOWS he made the shot before he even made it. Just that one moment is so brilliant every time I watch the film I play it through about 5 times before I go on.And then there is the great ending as the credits role and everyone vacates the pool room, one by one. Kenyon Hopkins should have won some kind of award for the music he provided for just that one scene.The final sax note and strummed guitar chord when the film stops rolling is like the end of a great symphony. A never to be matched ending to one of the greatest masterpieces ever in the history of American film making.