Jackie Gleason Steals Movie from Paul Newman

Rating: 10/10 (3 June 2002)

For those of us brought up on "The Jackie Gleason Show" and especially "The Honeymooners", we thought of "The Great One" as a gifted comedic actor. Imagine our shock when we discovered he was a world class dramatic actor. His portrayal of Minnesota Fats ranks as one of the great acting turns in motion picture history. Watch Gleason carefully. No mugging, no great elastic face, no punchlines, only total believability. We always knew he could play pool. It is a fact that some of the shots were done by the great Willie Masconi. Forget that, Gleason plays a one-of-a-kind character coupled with the era's hottest mail star. Perhaps women swooned at the sight of Paul Newman, but Gleason walked away with the Oscar. This could have been a television drama taken to the screen, ala "Marty", but the era of live television drama had passed. Jackie Gleason is simply amazing. Those who knew him said he was larger than life. A/B this title with "The Color of Money" and I defy you to say the later version was better. It couldn't have been. The Great One didn't appear. BTW: Check out Soldier in the Rain as Gleason stretches his acting ability even more. Again he's teamed with a hunk of his era (Steve McQueen) and again he steals the picture. WOW!