Paul Newman - A Proper movie star !

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2020)

The Hustler was one of those movies that I thought I had seen before because the name is so iconic but soon as I started watching it i realised that I hadn't and what a treat this film was !
Paul Newman plays Fast Eddie Felsen who hustles in the world of professional pool. Fast Eddie is a young hopeful on his way to challenging Minnesota Fats for his world title. When he starts getting feelings for a woman he gets into a dilemma.
Firstly this is not really a film about pool at all . It's about addiction . Be that an addiction to the thrill of winning , an addiction to money or more horribly an addiction to Alcohol.
Newman is fantastic . He's so cool yet he's playing an extremely flawed character so the coolness isn't something the viewer aspires too.
Piper Lawrie is fantastic too as the alcoholic girlfriend who is always going to play second fiddle to the hustle and you just know that the relationship isn't going to end well but she is so desperate to be loved she'd do anything for Eddie .
One inspiring decision was to make this in black and white . In 1961 most films were now being made in colour and you would think a film involving pool , it would make more sense but it being in black and white makes this much more atmospheric .
As for the actual pool scenes , I'm a pool and snooker player myself and I can always tell if an actor can actually play the game by the way he holds a cue and his hand position and believe me , Paul Newman knew how to play the game !
Next step is to watch the follow up The Color of Money and see how that holds up against this film . If it's even half as good I'll be happy .