Years ago there was a movie that starred Alex Karras where he was a weightlifter at the
Olympic games - The 500 lb Jerk. Something like that but about pool
How about a movie with a similar story that takes place at the fictitious World Sporting Games, and instead of a hillbilly that can lift a car, the main character is a guy (Bobby Bonato) that just got out of prison where he learned to play pool from Benny Ray Barns, an old time pro that gets murdered just before our star's release date. The murder is in retaliation for a prison bet at the pool table. Anyways, he gets out and is a mess because his mentor was murdered, so he hustles a while, lives where he can, from town to town until he runs into an old road partner of his mentor, a woman - a Jean Balukus type that gave up pool many years ago because of crime that sent her road partner to prison.
So he begins to train and meets up with an unscrupulous agent that wants to enter him in the qualifier for the American team for the World Sporting Games where he meets some interesting characters including a street-wise slightly older player that reminds him of his mentor who turns out to be his mentor's first protege' that left the mentor for a life on the road.
At the World Sporting Games things are going well for the Americans, and then Bobby meets Mai Sing, a female North Korean player and of course, they fall in love much to the disapproval of Se Jun Kim, Mai Sing's coach and her practice partner and arranged fiance' Sung Lo Quan.
While traveling the world as a younger man Benny Ray Barns was in (you guessed it) Korea and defeated Se Jun Kim quite handily. Se Jun Kim and friends returned later and beat Benny almost to death on the streets of Soul but was never held accountable for the crime and returned to the North where he was The 9 Ball Champion.
Now bear in mind that all this is happening at the height of the cold war between USA and North Korea.
So the games continue, Mai Sing and Bobby fall more and more in love and the unscrupulous agent is making a deal with Se Jun Kim for Bobby to lay down and get beat, which of course Bobby won't do. It is now that we find out that the agent was the one brokering the crooked bet that got Benny killed in prison for. So everything happens that would expect to happen and our final scene has Bobby headed to top step of the platform to receive his gold medal and Mai Sing cheering, wearing a gold metal and holding tightly a passport and a ticket to the United States .
With no real pool players.
