Just count the cash.

Rating: 10/10 (25 January 1999)

There isn't one weak scene in this movie. Not a one. To me this truly is the cinematic ultimate of what a movie is all about. In no other movie has there been such a universal theme so well portrayed. The theme here is what makes a winner, what defines a loser. The answer is character. How do we obtain that elusive ring? Through the crucible of disaster? Of a love lost? By selling out?
The pool game in this movie is merely a convenient prop. This movie is NOT about pool. We have seen this shoot out before. The fast young guy challenges the king. King of the Hill is a nice term for boys growing up. Some gain the maturity to move on, to quit using people for selfish gain. Tevis & Rossen state it takes character to overcome those early base animal instincts and to find inside ourselves there is more than raw physical talent that makes us winners. How many times have you read about a sports team `They have no character.'
It could be anything other than a pool game; business `brick laying' `a jockey.' The most telling statement was delivered by the character Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) to Fast Eddie (Paul Newman) after Eddie's ego got him humbled, and his thumbs broken, hustling suckers. ` This( read - life) isn't football, you don't get paid for yardage.' Just count the cash. And isn't that life in 1999? Just count the cash. There are so many dialogue lines that that just hammer the senses. Like " You know what beat you Eddie? Character."
But there is another side to this. Because as Fast Eddie Felsen states (Paraphrasing.)...If I take that then she never lived she never died.... Eddie doesn't sellout to cash, he already sold out a greater value, too late does he realize it, and finds some pride gained through newly found inner strength. Character, maybe?
Yeah Eddie there is more than cash and technical talent to life.
The acting, absolutely brilliant. Newman's best. He had the game face and demeanor of a dominant aggressor. Everything in this movie is what life is : Power. It is at times subtle, linear, abstract, existential (They wear masks Eddie.) Piper Laurie delivers fragility and vulnerability better than Leigh in `Streetcar.' Scott is the loser and is stunning in role. Gleason is the mountain of a man Newman had to `climb' over to get to the top. It is all here in one superlative package of cinematic art.
The best ever.