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by Brody Wilder 07/11/2019, 5:11pm PDT |
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Insider's Jacob Shamsian wrote:
Even "The Hustler" can't make pool scenes exciting.
The 1961 Paul Newman star vehicle "The Hustler," which is about a pool player who rises the ranks of the billiards world, received a handful of Oscar nominations and it's seen as one of Newman's best films. It even inspired a sequel called "The Color of Money" starring Tom Cruise and directed by Martin Scorsese 25 years later.
But there's a fundamental problem with it: The pool scenes are boring. The age-old story of a determined down-on-his luck guy beating the system to become the best in the world still works, but the games themselves aren't exciting.
I guarantee you the Insider's Jacob Shamsian has never actually seen The Hustler. Guarantee it! This is exactly the negative review you would write for an old pool movie you didn't see. I'm not sticking up for The Hustler, I thought it was depressing as fuck and the second act drags. But the second act only drags because it's the part without any major pool scenes in it, and the pool scenes are easily the most exciting part of the movie. They're not even really about pool; half the time you can barely see the game, you're just watching two actors reveal their characters' character - or lack thereof - through the decisions they make.
And it's a depressing watch because Paul Newman's character doesn't beat the world, he doesn't even come close. He's one of those gamblers who's never satisfied until he loses everything, which is not uncommon, but it's particularly tricky for him because he's so fucking good at his sport. That he can play a beautiful game of pool and still walk away a loser is the fundamental problem of the story, and he resolves it by realizing he doesn't have to prove himself, he doesn't have to beat the world - he can just quit, and be a winner on his own terms, whatever that ends up meaning to him.
The Hustler sucks for me because it's too realistic and the actors are acting too hard. I watch movies to escape from the bleak, lonely life of a guy with great abs and unrealized potential, not immerse myself in an additional layer of it. I want actors to fulfill their role in an exciting story about daredevil airmail pilots or whatever with efficiency and panache, not slouch around a bus station for fifteen minutes wasting their time and mine. The Hustler would be better if it was about a pool spy who gets parachuted into sunny Cuba to solve the missile crisis by beating a Soviet superplayer and stealing his girl. She could still wind up dead, but it would have to be by silenced Makarov instead of any poor life choices Paul Newman made, and it would only motivate him even more to break all the balls on and off the table. I guess since The Color of Money wasn't officially called The Hustler 2, that means the title is still up for grabs? Let me check... okay, no, there are at least sixteen gay pornos by that name, nevermind everybody nevermind. |
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