The Hustler (1961) 
And we thought all he could do was make salad dressing
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I can state with a clear conscience that this is the greatest movie I have not seen in its entirety. That is because I had to bring it back to the library so I tried to get it in during my plan period and after school. Sadly, I only got to the point where Fast Eddie agreed to go to Louisville with the professional gambler. I did get to see how he broke the news to his girl, but had to leave to catch a bus (which I missed).
Anyway, who knew that you could get that much tension into a slow black and white with almost no background sounds. I thought that the first big pool game was awesome. “Fats, lets you and me play straight pool for a thousand dollars a game.” And Gleason actually made a smoking ring look cool. Though maybe the idea of a 24 hour pool game is too ridiculous. Can anyone really do that? I only ask this in retrospect and at the time I was just thinking “No way! That guy is awesome!” I also really liked how Eddie talked about Fats. “Those big thick fingers with that smooth stroke”
Throwing a woman into that story could risk being a little pointless, but I thought it was a valuable part of the wound-licking stage of the story. Watching Eddie talk to the gambler about being a loser for some reason reminded me of Million Dollar Baby as it layed out the philosophy of the profession. I was real excited to see more of that guy. I just wish I knew what happened next. I am guessing Eddie built himself back up only to be destroyed again. Poor sucker.
yes! hustler rockets to the top of the cb highest rated.
Throwing a woman into that story could risk being a little pointless
make sure you see the end…
(i always say ‘dot dot dot’ in my head when someone uses an ellipsis like that)
Comment by Unfrozen Cavedan — June 6, 2006 @ 9:01 pm
How have I not seen this! I’m picking it up this week from the library (might even be Nate’s copy.)
Comment by Holly — June 7, 2006 @ 11:51 pm
did you ever see the end of this?
Comment by Unfrozen Cavedan — November 20, 2006 @ 5:08 pm