I had the original VHS tape set. There is a bit edited out when it playes on TV. I once saw it with the whole picnic scene edited out. That may be one of the most telling scenes in the movie and they cut it out.
I still have the VHS tape of this movie. With the possible exception of The Good The Bad and The Ugly I have never seen any movie more times in my life than 'The Hustler and I've never seen the picnic scene omitted. The casting in this film was superb. Gleason for fats was a no brainer, George C Scott for Bert Gordon was spot on. Many people didn't know that Mosconi's suggestion to the studios for the role of 'Fast Eddie' was originally a young Frank Sinatra. Willie mentions this in his autobiography. Also not universally known was that Mosconi was under contract at the time with Brunswick and had to get their permission to take part in this film. Brunswick at the time was trying trying put a 'cleaner' image of pool because pool was really in the doldrums but nothing seemed to work for them. I think that Brunswick just threw up their hands and said 'go ahead and do it Willie nothing we're doing seems to helping this game out anyway. The result as it turned out was a smash hit success and it was The Hustler that brought pool back in this country, for a while anyway!
