More than just a sports movie.

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2012)

This is more than a sports movie. It is a movie about the human condition. The movie is crammed with metaphors, all of which add up to one thing: it is easy to become depraved. What starts out as a desire to win causes one to spiral downward into an abyss of moral decay which erodes one's priorities and leads to tragic consequences. Eddie Felson wants to win, but at what price? How much is he willing to hobnob with the sharks, shysters and gangsters who don't care a spit for him? For Eddie is symbol of an economic system that puts winning at any price before everything, and if anyone gets hurt along the way, then too bad for them, until of course it's too late and the damage is done. And Minnesota Fats is a symbol of what Eddie can become if he goes that route. And the pool hall itself is a symbol of a system in which people are being hustled, lured by the promise of a quick win. For Eddie, winning and losing is a matter of life and death, but for everyone else it's business as usual. Nobody seems to care about Eddie, and he becomes so craven that he rejects the only person who actually does care about him, all so he can play a game of pool and win some money and show to the world that he is the greatest - except that nobody cares. And that is the point of the movie. As Eddie leaves, life goes on, as if he was never there. He ruffles the feathers of the powers that be and it's duly noted; there will be other Eddies, and as for Eddie himself, he just another player, and a good one too, who arrives, has his moment of glory, and than disappears, with many others waiting in the wings to take his place.