Born Losers

Rating: 8/10 (20 July 2012)

A sports movie that focuses on the losing end of the deal, "The Hustler" is spearheaded by a fine Paul Newman performance in the title role, a killer pool player who nevertheless is snakebit by his own fatal lack of character.
Fast Eddie Felson knows the ins and outs of life with a pool stick, but he's a loser at heart, unable to express his deepest longings and find true fulfillment. The same might be said of the three other main characters who discover their own depth of loser-ness when they come into contact with him: pool-room maestro Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), who wastes his days at the Ames pool hall wearing the target Eddie aims at; the nasty manager Bert Gordon (George C. Scott), resenting the glory of others he lives off of; and dysfunctionally alcoholic Sarah (Piper Laurie), who has the misfortune of seeing Eddie as a ticket to love and a better life.
Watching the four actors play off each other is more exciting than the clever shot making and massé action on the table, though it's all riveting stuff. Director Robert Rossen and his co-writer Sidney Carroll plant you in the seedy environs of back-alley pool halls and never let you breathe until it's all over.
Rossen also maximizes the potential of his actors. Newman in his opening scenes sells you right away on both his talent and his hunger, but it's not until Gleason shows up some ten minutes in that the film pushes things to another level, the TV funnyman demonstrating awe-inspiring command in a deadly serious role. With him, we know quick that Fast Eddie has bitten off more than he can chew.
"I didn't leave you much," Eddie tells Fats after his opening break in their first game.
"You left enough," Fats answers, going on to show why.
Newman was the best in his business when he had a solid script and good supporting actors to play off of. In the latter department, it's hard to imagine better than he gets here. Sure, Gleason is terrific, but even better are the other two. Scott is a grade-A SOB, full of himself in that inimitable Scott way, yet there is the mildest hint of discomfort around the edges, a sense of incompleteness that shows he is a loser, too.
Laurie should be the weak link in this movie. I've read others here decry her method acting and sharpness of tone as negatives. But she reminds me of the journeyman pitcher who saves his best game for the World Series. Laurie was not a screen beauty, but she is quite striking here in the way she forms an empathetic center to the proceedings. You need her to reflect the hurt the others shrug off, and in her soulful eyes and quivering chin she makes you feel it to the bone without sacrificing subtlety or believability.
What is the weak link? I don't think the film needed to be two hours, 15 minutes long, though I can't second guess any but two or three minutes of Dede Allen's cuts. Also, there are key scenes, one a final confrontation between Newman and Scott, the other between Newman and Laurie in a basement billiards room some minutes before, where the characters spell out what's going on in ways that feel too staged.
Rossen may err on the side of telling too much rather than too little, but at least on a first viewing, you kind of want the additional information. I think that's where "The Hustler" scores best: It hits hard on a first viewing, like any good sports movie should.
"The Hustler" is everything a sports movie should be, with some poignant observations on the human condition - when it doesn't lean on them so hard. Most of all, it stands up to repeat viewings as a chance to watch remarkable screen actors practice their craft at its highest pitch. Not much different from the Ames pool hall that way.