Great movie, but read the book

Rating: 8/10 (16 August 2005)

The Hustler is hands down the story that most people would refer to when confronted with a pool room; unfortunately, many of these people would be referring to the movie. While it is still a classic and deserves to be on many hit lists, The Hustler (movie) takes too many liberties with the story by killing Sarah, changing Bert's character, etc. While the core of the movie was kept the same, most of the decorative wrapping that Walter Tevis (author of the book) crafted was smashed, or lines were transplanted from their original context into new ones.
However, if one were to look at The Hustler (movie) by itself without taking into consideration the above mentioned issues, The Hustler is still a great movie with outstanding performances and superb casting.
If you do not read the original book by Walter Tevis then you are missing out on one of the greatest stories of all time.