L'Arnaqueur

I think "The Hustler" is the best sports movie ever made. Fast Eddie Felson is perhaps the most talented pool shooter in the country and yet, at his core, he's a born loser. Why is Eddie so self-destructive? He has Minnesota Fats, ostensibly the country's greatest player, beaten in the first marathon match only to drink himself into insensibility and let Fats off the hook.

Throughout the movie Eddie is surrounded by other people who are self-destructive or only interested in making a buck off of him. Even Charlie, his original manager (Myron McCormick in a terrific role)needs him for a meal ticket. Bert, his second manager, is a slithering, calculating parasite who uses everyone around him. Sara, Eddie's pathetic girlfriend, is going through life in an aimless, alcoholic haze.

The movie really lets you into the lives of these people who live on the margins of society. The cinematography is outstanding, the settings and mood of the movie draw you in totally. The acting is uniformly outstanding from top to bottom. Great movies get great performances from the minor characters, too. Vincent Gardenia, Michael Constantine, Murray Hamilton and McCormick are perfect in the smaller roles while Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie (all getting well-deserved Oscar nominations) and George C. Scott are indelible in the major roles. Even boxer Jake LaMotta has a cameo as a bartender.

Can Eddie finally overcome being a born loser? Can love redeem any of these lost people? What makes a person a champion? Is it talent alone or does a champion need some inner demon that can only be defeated by pursuing victory at all costs?

Because of his tragically erratic, often interrupted career, Robert Rossen is rarely put into the pantheon of great Hollywood directors. However, he produced three films which deserve a permanent place among the classics, All the Kings Men( probably the best film about American politics), Lilith( one of the greatest films about mental illness) and this, a movie which DESERVES to be ranked with the hundred greatest, and possibly the fifty greatest, American films. It is superbly acted, brilliantly photographed and edited, and directed with clarity and assurance. In a just world ( if there is such a place), an special Oscar would have been bestowed on Newman, Laurie, Scott, and Gleason AS A GROUP. Piper Laurie was unforgettably poignant, Scott unforgettably sleazy, and Gleason... well, Gleason simply IS Minnesota Fats. Paul Newman almost certainly deserved the Oscar.It was an amusing irony, perhaps a little joke by God, that the bartender in the movie was played by none other than Jake LaMotta.

This is, without a doubt, the closest anything out of Hollywood ever came to touching the soul of a pool player. Paul Newman plays "Fast Eddie" Felson, a young player from California who travels east to take on the ultimate challenge: to beat "Minnesota Fats," played by the late Jackie Gleason.

Willie Mosconi, probably the greatest pool player who ever walked the Earth, was technical adviser and choreographed many of the game sequences. On technical merit alone, this film is a pool player's classic. Beyond that, however, the way "Fast Eddie" takes to his skills and relationships pushes this film out as a classic for the general audience. In one scene, he is describing what it is like to be really good at something. It is one of the best speeches about excellence I have ever heard. This is one of my top three films. On a scale of ten, I give it an eleven.

Fast Eddie Nelson, can handle a pool cue, potting balls around a table, with his top spin and back screw, often suckers other punters, as he pillages and plunders, a trickster and a hunter, with impressive follow through. Now Minnesota Fats, hasn't lost in 15 years, but Eddie's really confident, he'll keep him sitting in his chair, but his temperament defeats, and the fat man duly beats, after being well ahead, he's now behind and in arrears. At a station he meets Sarah, she's a drinker in despair, after one or two encounters they begin a love affair, though they fight and shout and wrangle, there's three in this paired triangle, playing Fats again the angle, it's a cross she'll have to bear.

So much more than a film about pool, with two out of this world performances from Paul Newman and Piper Laurie and top drawer support from George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason. As brilliant as it was when it was made, those two lead roles just mind blowing.

The Hustler (1961)

**** (out of 4)

'Fast' Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) shows up to play the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in a game of pool and soon the hotshot realizes that there's more to winning than just talent. After some time off the hustler winds up with a woman (Piper Laurie) who suffers from alcohol abuse but even worse is when he teams up with a gambler (George C. Scott).

Robert Rossen's THE HUSTLER is without question one of the greatest films of its type. Most people are connected to it because of its story of a hustler and the gambling aspect but there are some of the greatest performances you're ever going to see on display here as well as a pretty depressing look at losers. Throughout the movie Felson is constantly called a loser, which is a term that fits the majority of the characters in this rather grim, dark and depressing film.

For me the greatest thing here are the performances with Newman easily leading the way. It's easy to see why this is the film that turned Newman into a superstar. Up until this point he had played a fair share of troubled rebels but everything in him just came together for this role. He's certainly very believable as this young guy who can't seem to stay out of his own way when it comes to trouble. This is a very troubled character and the actor perfectly nails every aspect of it. Gleason will always be known as a comedic actor but he could nail drama when he needed and this is the perfect example. It certainly doesn't hurt that the two actors were also great pool players and this brings a real nature to the film.

Laurie is rather heart-breaking in her role as the drunk and then you've got Scott playing one of the biggest snakes in film history. There's no question that his Burt character is one of the great villains in film history. Myron McCormick is excellent in his small role and then you've got a young Murray Hamilton. THE HUSTLER also benefits from some wonderful cinematography that perfectly captures this pool world. I mean, has there ever been a better example of why B&W is so great? Add in the terrific score and you've really got something special.

THE HUSTLER is a classic film that constantly gets better each time you view it.