Winning the hard way.

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 1999)

When you are comparing first rate movies and trying to pick the very best of the very best, `The Hustler' must be in the running, and when you make comparisons you should remember Fast Eddie Felson's challenge, `That's right, it's my turn to shoot. When I miss, then you can shoot.' And this movie never does miss. It is one of those cosmic events where everything was in the right place at the right time on the right day. Casting, acting, direction, camera work, sets, editing, flavor and smell: all perfect.
Paul Newman is absolute perfection in the role of Fast Eddie Felson as he shows how ego and naiveté can work against each other to first destroy and rebuild character. When viewed against Jackie Gleason's Minnesota Fats he is almost touchingly vulnerable. `Pay him. I can't beat him.' is Fats' exit line. Just another hard days work for him, the consummate professional. Eddie has destroyed everything for his one moment at the top, and he knows it, and Newman makes sure that we know it, too. All of which would be just a little too heavy handed and metaphoric if it weren't for George C Scott's, Bert Gordon. Bert is the ultimate utilitarian cynic. He is pulling the strings, or thinks he is. His only flaw ends up being his inability to truly judge the inner being of someone as elusive as Fast Eddie.
My only complaint with this movie is that they should have given `Star Billing' to the poolroom. It is like no other place on earth. Not because it is physically unique. It isn't, but it is where the best come. It is not a mighty arena where great pageants are staged and tremendous throngs cheer the victors. `This is Ames', Mister.' This is where you win, not to please the crowd, but just to win. Winning has a high price for Fast Eddie, far higher than the price Minnesota Fats pays for loosing or Burt Gordon pays for backing him.
We know how the movie ends, but we don't know how the story ends, and we wonder what becomes of the characters. What is most surprising about watching this movie is realizing that we care about the characters in the end. That is a great compliment to any movie, one of the highest. This is of course the parable of an art form corrupted into a status symbol and a quest for glory, but don't let that stop you from watching it. It is also a marvelous evenings entertainment.