A character study of a pool shark

Rating: 8/10 (18 November 2011)

This is a very interesting movie as it is a character study of a former pool shark named Eddie who has given up playing pool and has become a liquor salesman. He sees another very good pool player, Vince, and decides to mould him into what he once was. The problem is that Vince is a hot headed youth who is more concerned with showing off how great he is rather than listening to Eddie's advice.
The problem is that Eddie is trying to create a replica of himself and constantly becomes frustrated with the fact that Vince does not seem to listen to his advice. He struggles with this through the movie, almost giving up a number of times, and finally comes to the realisation that Vince is not him but another person. The final line is "I'm back," which shows us that he has had his epiphany and has realised that he is the only one who can be him.
Eddie wants to use Vince's skills to make a lot of money for himself, as well as Vince. Though Vince wants to make the money, he is a hot headed youth who would rather show off his skills. We see this when Eddie tells him not to play this one guy as the guy is the best pool player in town, and those who beat this pool player will not play him. He does it and learns that he must leave town because this guy does not want to have somebody better than him around the place. Vince tries to follow Eddie's instructions, but every time he does he seems to do something wrong. This is not because he is failing, but rather because he is not Eddie. Instead, he is Vince and is his own personality.
The epiphany comes during the pool championships in Atlantic City. Vince looses to Eddie purposely because of the money that he would make. Eddie believes that he is better than Vince until Vince walks into his room and throws $8000 into Eddie's lap and tells him that he threw the game for this purpose. At this stage Eddie decided that his goal was not to train Vince to be like him but to beat Vince. This is to humble Vince and to show that he is not the greatest.
Vince also grows during the movie. He at first relies heavily on Eddie, but at one stage Eddie vanishes when Vince decides to throw a game because he is sympathetic towards one particular player. Vince learns here that even the most retched looking player is a sinister scoundrel that will rip him apart. He also learns that sympathy is not something that somebody has if they want to make money because even the most pathetic looking person is able to twist their opponents around to make them look susceptible.
Eddie learns this as well when he is playing a guy in another pool hall that claims that all of his winnings are due to luck. Eddie works on a system of throwing a few games and then reaping the rewards and he believes that he is the only person who does this until it is done on him. Eddie is old and realises that because of this he is out of touch. The first realisation occurs when he enters a pool hall that has closed a long time ago.
Eddie and Vince constantly grow during the movie showing a lot of thought going into this movie as it progresses. I felt that Casino was much better, but this movie has a lot more depth than does Casino. Scorsese seems to have a style that creates characters who venture into the world and learn to grow into it. This is not like Casino, but it is very much the focus of this movie. The movie has a very dingy and sleazy look to it, but the character slowly grow into people that they were not like at the beginning of the movie. Vince is a hot headed youth who wants to show off his skill but comes to learn that this earns him enmity rather than money. Eddie is an old man believing that his pool playing days are over, but realises that he must return to his old self to beat Vince.
This is a good movie. The characters have depth, personality, and most importantly growth. Vince grows up and Eddie learns that he cannot get around manipulating people, but rather must be sympathetic to their needs.