A film at a crossroads

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2019)

This film is at the crossroads of the more cinema verite style that would become increasingly common in the '60s with one foot still in the past - some of the dialogue still strikes me as the kind of speechifying one would see in an older movie. I pass no judgment; I like both styles, but having both in one movie makes for a slightly uneven mix. Paul Newman I tended to find a little too theatrical and stagey at this stage in his career, though he has charisma coming out the ears. He does that same cracking himself up with some private joke laugh that he does in Cool Hand Luke. He only really became a great actor in the 70s or even the 80s, in my opinion. You're not 15 minutes into the movie before a Fast Eddie-Minnesota Fats showdown is underway. There's sort of an emotional letdown after the intensity of that early highpoint.
George C. Scott is electric. He really hit the ground running, nabbing Supporting Actor noms for Anatomy of a Murder and this film early in his career. But the story arc of poor Piper Laurie makes this film a tough and slightly unpleasant watch, as good as she is. Watching this film again helps give some resonance to the sequel The Color of Money, which I also saw again recently, in which Newman's Eddie (and anyone who's seen the original film) can see many of the same traits in the Tom Cruise character that he himself had in the first movie.
Oh, and special mention of Myron McCormick, who plays Fast Eddie's first manager, whom I've just learned about by reading that new book about Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart. During the Depression, McCormick shared a one-bedroom apartment with Fonda, Stewart and Josh Logan in Manhattan and was the only one of the four getting steady work, in radio. He had his two highest-profile roles at the very end of his career: this film and No Time for Sergeants. Unfortunately, he was dead at the age of 54 only a year after making this movie.