The allure of the pool hall....dissected

Rating: Null/10 (28 March 2007)

They say there are four perfect games: tennis, bridge, chess and billiards --- in these games, a person of superior skill will best a person of inferior skill in virtually every encounter. When two players of equal skill match up --- luck comes into play.
The characters in Ames Pool Hall seek this perfection if only as spectators. In every other encounter, Robert Rossen shows the true hustler's gift --- seeming lucky. From the opening scene where Fast Eddie and his parner take down the bar owner to the encounter with the gang of pool sharks to the "billards" game at the Kentucky Derby, characters are victimized by "bad luck" when in reality luck never came into play.
What makes "The Hustler" such a tremendous film is that both the love interest, played by Piper Laurie, and the real antagonist, played brilliantly by George C. Scott, never understand the quest for perfection that draws the characters into Ames.