The Hustler

Easily the best movie i think i've ever seen. Incredible symbolism. Incredible acting cinematography writing. Cutting commentary of the human condition. Remarkable. Exquisite. A poetic synecdoche of the ordinary. Majestic. I cannot recommend it enough. Cinema in a beautiful form.

With great acting all around, this tale or redemption is the template for a lot of the sports drama that came after, even to this day. With a great beginning and a fantastic ending, the only reason why this movie doesn't deserve the 5 stars is the slow and kind of repetitive middle section where Newman and Laurie are living together.

"The Hustler" is a critically acclaimed sports movie from 1961. It won 2 Oscars and is in AFI's top 10 Sports movies of all time. It stars some of the best actors to do ever do the job with, Paul Newman, George C. Scott, Piper Laurie and a different role for Jackie Gleason. It is likely the first movie that comes to mind when people think of a pool movie. With all that in mind, why do I not care for it? This may seem like a short attention span problem, but for most of the movie- Nothing happens. It begins with some impressive pool playing, but then follows an hour of characters wallowing in self-pity. In the characters own words, "all we do is drink and sleep." Paul Newman's "Fast Eddie", is anything but fast. The movie's pacing is pretty darn slow. Characters overreact to the extreme for simple misunderstandings. Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) is so emotionally unstable, that when Eddie tells her that he is going out of town for the week, she has a complete meltdown. It is not a relationship that I am rooting for. There are great actors, cool pool trick shots and even a good scene. But I can't get passed the story and characters. I don't like Fast Eddie nor Sarah Packard. This movie has a lot of talent, but it needs character. For me, this film is a loser.

Cinematic brilliance. Newman, Marie, Scott, McCormick & Gleason were incredible. From writing to cinematography to lighting to music to directing this is one of the most impactful & artistic films ever made.

Great cinematography and acting, just not a very interesting plot.

Chato e cansativo, bem chatinho, enfadonho, falta carisma aos personagens, falta um roteiro mais atraente, falta drama. A tradução do título em português é bem irônico, ''Desafio a corrupção'' uma vez que o protagonista é o típico malando, vagabundo, bêbado e que bate em mulheres, um retrato do típico orgulho masculino ferido, ambição desmedida e vício no jogo, nojento, repugnante, qual corrupção está desafiado, a não ser a de seu próprio caráter. Triste desfecho, insosso como todo resto, Chato

Suckering the audience in with tension and a driven Paul Newman, The Hustler finds its groove in a slick mood and layered themes on the nature of winning.

I really like the black and white dramas from the 50s and 60s, so I don't know why it took me so long to get around to watching this one. I liked it well enough, although I would have preferred more hustling and pool and less of the love story.

Probably the greatest depiction of pool in a movie, not only because of its accuracy, but because it shifts towards a story so specific it opens the gates to treasures of drama. The performances are very convincing, and that includes the acting, the dialogue, the pool games in action, and everything else throughout. The Hustler was considered revolutionary in its time, but it still can be considered so today. It's a must-watch.

The Hustler isn't just one of, if not the single, greatest sports movies of all-time. It's just one of the great films ever made. Everything about this film is almost pitch perfect, from it's cinematography, it's tone, the direction, writing, acting, music, etc. Robert Rossen has made a certified classic and a movie that is must-watch for any cinephile at least once a year. The best part of this film, by far, are the performances. In a film that uses limited sets and usually filmed in dark and closed pool halls, it's up to the actors to be at the top of their game, and the main quartet are certainly that. Paul Newman gives a career best performance as "Fast" Eddie Felson, making the brash and headstrong pool shark a sympathetic character who goes through the entire gamut of emotions by the end of the film and has you questioning whether the end justifies the means. Piper Laurie as well, as Newman's counterpart and the one who quietly shapes everything about Eddie, is phenomenal as the equally flawed but equally sympathetic Sarah. She actually ends up with the most heart-wrenching and most important moments in the film, with her tender care for Eddie as he recovers from his injuries and her desperation and end thanks to a sleazy manager really hits hard. Of course, you have to focus as well on possibly the most underrated antagonist in film over the past 75 years in George C. Scott's Bert Gordon. There is nothing redeeming about Bert Gordon, nothing that makes a view think that maybe he's right in the end. He's greedy, slimy, manipulative, and only out for his own pocketbook. That point is never more clear than the sequence with Findlay (Murray Hamilton) in which he is able to anger Eddie enough to come back and win a substantial of money and then accosts Sarah and causes her demise. The slow diatribe that Eddie goes on throughout the climactic pool sequence going after Bert is cathartic not just for Eddie but the viewers as well. It's a well-written villain and Scott is perfectly sleazy for the role. If it wasn't for Patton, I'd say it was his best work. Finally with casting, we get to the mere presence that is Jackie Gleason. He's barely in the film, bookending the feature, but whenever he's on screen you can't look away. The big man dominates his screentime and is believable as the legendary shark Minnesota Fats. When he say "pay up" after being thoroughly defeated by Eddie, you feel for him, almost like he was just a slight speedbump for Eddie to drive over and get to his real target at this point, Bert. Technically, it's incredibly vivid to watch and the way the cinematographer and Robert Rossen use lighting and shade is immaculate. The closeups of Newman alone in the pool halls are worth the watch, but the standout sequence is the final scene of Sarah. You see her broken and at her end through a mirror. Scrawling "Perverted, Twisted, Crippled" in lipstick shows how dark the path Bert has led Eddie on and the next shot of Eddie discovering her and Bert claiming ignorance is profound. In the end, the Hustler is an incredible film experience and one that we can all learn from about the mentality of winning and whether we would take the steps to get to the point that we think we desire to reach. In the end, Paul Newman and "Fast" Eddie Felson is all of us. What good is reaching the mountaintop if all we did is lose ourselves and everything we love in the process?