Hustler, The
I'm not elitist enough, nor am I old enough, to be one of those annoying film lovers who claim every 'classic' oldie as pure genius. Just because it is old doesn't mean it is great. Some films age terribly, some were probably terrible all along (in 50 years time audiences will no doubt be baffled that shit like Shakespeare in Love was once considered great by some). The Hustler is neither one of these types of films. It certainly could not be made today, for it has a beautiful simplicity that current cinema just does not allow, but it is because of this simplicity that it definitely has stood the test of time.
When I saw Scorsese's The Colour Of Money years and years ago I had no idea its origins lied in this 1961 film, which first introduced Paul Newman's Fast Eddie to the world. While I loved the sly but sage-like Eddie from Colour, the whole character and Newman's performance in that film is doubly as impressive having seen him in his prime (him being both Newman and Eddie) in The Hustler. Fast Eddie hustles not for money, but for the thrill of it, for the adulation he receives, for the barroom whispers of his name that precedes him in every town he enters. His whole aim is to hunt down the greatest pool player there is and take his title as well as his money. And that's the first half of the film.
This is about one man's ego – the lengths one hustler will go to protect his pride above all else. When Fast Eddie gets whooped in the endurance contest with Fats he goes to a shitty bar to take on some two-bit punks just to get a cheap boost. I loved watching the pool, and there is a lot of it. Those not partial to the game may tire of it, especially as it is without Scorsese's more 'showtime' punch, but I dug it. It may not be Newman hitting these shots but some of them are damn amazing to watch, especially as you know there could have been no CG trickery to them (the DVD helpfully has a pool champion showing you exactly how they were done. Comically, the guy is about as far removed from Fast Eddie as you could imagine).
While I felt the film started to meander into more uncertain places when Fast Eddie is at his lowest ebb, when he settles down with a fragile woman and slowly has to build his life, ego and reputation back up from the ground, it certainly carried along to an impressive and much more fucking powerful finale than I was ever expecting from a film about pool. This oldie is a goodie.