The Hustler

[DynoDan]

I had a brainstorm the other day and I think the time is right to act on it. I want to remake The Hustler with an entirely new film. By the way the title to a film cannot be copyrighted so I have every right to use that name again if I so desire, and I do! Of course that starts with a script, and I'll be the one to produce that. But I need help and that's why I'm announcing this on here. I know that AZB is the greatest resource there is for the knowledge that I seek.

What I'm looking for is all the best hustles you have ever seen. Poolroom hustles are my first choice and other similar hustles being second. Maybe you know how someone beat the books or outwitted the ponies. That's all good stuff as far as I'm concerned. I want my hustler to be a little more well rounded than Fast Eddie. I probably know ten or twenty hustles that I've seen in poolrooms in my life but I'm looking for the most innovative ones to write about. Obviously my main character(s) will be hustlers, so I have to give them some clever ways to hustle. What I'm not looking for is criminal ways to steal from people but con games of all kinds, including some gray areas that may border on illegal, could work as well. For instance I have seen crooked dice tables and blackjack boxes, but I may not use any of them in my story, other than to mention they exist.

Any other ideas that you think may work for this script would also be appreciated. Let's see what we can create together. Rather than sit around and bemoan the state of the billiard industry, let's be proactive and do something about it. I don't know how much difference a new movie like this will make, but it would be fun to try, and I'm up for it. I know that I probably can't write a better script than Robert Roessen and Sydney Carroll did for The Hustler, but I can damn sure do my best to write a good script that will be entertaining. I wrote Pool Wars and people loved it, so why not write a new script about The Hustler.

I have begun the process of compiling my notes now. I will organize them first and create a rough outline before embarking on writing this script. Rather than send me PM's here (that would be too cumbersome), I'm requesting that you send your ideas to me via e-mail, jayhelfert@yahoo.com. I will answer all e-mails and let you know later if it's something that I'm incorporating into the script.

You never know unless you try! :yes:

I don’t think it was the ‘love story’, or ‘con game tricks’ that caused the original movie to kickstart a resurgence of billiards popularity. I like the idea of a well made ‘STING’-type historically-accurate epic, that exemplifies the beauty & precision of the game (no trick shots in competition this time), and revives the ‘character/winning’ theory. A contemporarilly situated plot wouldn’t likely make the ‘video game’ generation take notice.

 

[King T]

Just remeber

Thanks for the words of encouragement. There will be obstacles, of that I have no doubt. I start today!

If you want a movie about Pool to do what the Hustler did then it needs to be a modern. The sound track can sell the movie, think "Hustle and Flow" a good movie, sold by the sound track.

The general public is not enamored by Pool anymore, there are no Minnesota Fats or Willie Mosconi's so the story has to be told in todays language, not in the way us Pool players speak.

Hope you pull it off, Good luck!

 

[DynoDan]

A well done historical biography like say, ‘tragic rise & fall of Ralph Greenleaf’ might well generate interest. Pool isn’t popular today maybe because romance and tragedy is missing (?).

 

[Kickin' Chicken]

you may (or may not :grin: ) want to include the guy who shows up at some big pool events and gets beat up a lot but also collects on plenty of bets claiming he's go a cock that hangs below his knee...

 

[Nostroke]

It started in a pool room allegedly-The guy that knocked over the head bowling pin using a single deck of cards and only allowed to throw one at a time. I cant vouch that it happened but an old timer or 2 on here swore by it.

 

[Straightpool_99]

I don't know if such a movie exists, but a biography of Titanic Thompson would be great for the big screen! He had some good hustles too! The one with throwing the playing card out the window is great.

Also DO NOT remake the Hustler! It was and is a near perfect movie.

Earls life is also great movie material and he is a great character!

 

[mfinkelstein3]

Hustles

Jay, I sent you three or 4 that aren’t the standard ones that most people know. Hope that helps.

 

[Straightpool_99]

I thought some more about it, and I think, for the movie to work, it would have to take place in the past. 60's at the very latest, preferably earlier. Pool today just isn't the same. Who wants to see someone with headphones and his face buried in the smartphone barely get by? I mean it could work as a drama maybe, if you made it REALLY gritty and dirty, but prop bets and hustles? Come on, does anyone fall for those anymore? Watch the modern "hustle" style pool movies, they fall flat, because they are just not believable or relatable. So go the other way, go to a different world and take the audience away from that.

I think the 20's and 30's would be a great setting. You'd have a lot more wiggle room as to what angle you'd like to take. You could make it gritty, realistic, tough...or slightly more upbeat. There could be prop bets in there, lots of pool, cards, dice, ponies..Those all existed in more or less the same form. But the setting is different, so that makes it interesting. People today are into complex characters, being immersed in a different world, and if you go with a drama, you'd have lots of possibilities with that era, action, romance, everything would be available even comedy (but I'd advice against it as that is much harder to pull off). Of course it would be more expensive as well.

If you put pool more in the periphery of the story, you could go with a modern setting. But hustling? No, don't think so.

 

[franko]

Perfect

Jay you are the perfect person to be taking this on.
You Hustled you played Tournaments and you owned several rooms.
In addition you have written two excellent Books.
What I would like to see is some flashbacks to whoever the Hustler is to his youth , how he got involved his mentors , the people who Hustled him etc. similar to Godfather II showing how he became the Don of a powerful Family.

We all like to know how we all fell in love with Pool. Personally I would love to see a Eddie Felson as a 15-17 yr old kid before he hooked up with Charlie and went hunting for Minnesota Fats.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[lfigueroa]

A well done historical biography like say, ‘tragic rise & fall of Ralph Greenleaf’ might well generate interest. Pool isn’t popular today maybe because romance and tragedy is missing (?).

JD Dolan has been working on this very thing for the last several years. Book can’t be long now.

Lou Figueroa

 

[lfigueroa]

It started in a pool room allegedly-The guy that knocked over the head bowling pin using a single deck of cards and only allowed to throw one at a time. I cant vouch that it happened but an old timer or 2 on here swore by it.

It’s originally a Smorg story.

Lou Figueroa

 

[gogg]

I would consider what made The Hustler and TCOM so succesful in relation to every other dog pile crap film out there

keep this in mind with your screenplay, imo the actual books were really not so great

Not as” sellable” but I preferred the originals by far!

 

[Scott Lee]

There aren't 1 in 100,000 poolplayers that know who Greenleaf even was...so make that 1 in 10,000,000 for the public. Never work...

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

A well done historical biography like say, ‘tragic rise & fall of Ralph Greenleaf’ might well generate interest. Pool isn’t popular today maybe because romance and tragedy is missing (?).

 

[mvp]

To keep it modern, You might be able to pull off some social media hustles??? Fake accounts, fake names etc hiding skill sets etc. maybe create your own fake investors and fan base to hustle???? Some one more creative could come up with something here.

 

[alstl]

It's been a while since I watch the Hustler but I think it included the brother in law hustle. That's a good one.

I liked a couple of Tom Ferry's stories. He posed as a salesman with a 3 piece cue. Couldn't play as good with the 3 piece cue but played good enough to get the cash in bars.

He also told a story about beating an Asian guy who wouldn't play unless Tom fought him. They went outside and the Asian guy turned out to be the owner/instructor of the Karate school next to the pool hall. After Tom got knocked down he picked up a 2x4 and hit the Karate instructor in the mouth. They rode the same taxi to the hospital to get patched up. That seems like it would make for a good movie scene.

 

[Nine ... corner]

The twist at the end after all the cons etc is that "The Man" should keep his crown so to speak. More like the Cincinnati Kid than The Hustler. Just my two cents. Good luck.

 

[lfigueroa]

There aren't 1 in 100,000 poolplayers that know who Greenleaf even was...so make that 1 in 10,000,000 for the public. Never work...

Scott Lee
http://poolknowledge.com

Doesn’t matter.

Tons of movies out there, including Oscar winners, about little to unknown to completely imaginary people. It’s about whether the character and story are compelling and portrayed in a decent movie.

Lou Figueroa

 

[johnnysd]

If you really want to bring pool back into the mainstream, I would look to continue the story of Vincent and see if Cruise would have interest in reprising the role. With the rise and fall of online poker, to the loss of any real professional pool tour and the game moving to a more league oriented activity in bars at the expense of real pool halls, I think there is plenty of info to make a movie about how pool comes back into favor, which could happen for real if the movie captures audiences. The hustlers can be worked in somewhat like they were in Color of Money. And the movie could sort of parallel both the Hustler and the Color in its arc as the movies are separated by roughly the same amount of time at this point. Just my one and a half cents.

 

[gogg]

If you really want to bring pool back into the mainstream, I would look to continue the story of Vincent and see if Cruise would have interest in reprising the role. With the rise and fall of online poker, to the loss of any real professional pool tour and the game moving to a more league oriented activity in bars at the expense of real pool halls, I think there is plenty of info to make a movie about how pool comes back into favor, which could happen for real if the movie captures audiences. The hustlers can be worked in somewhat like they were in Color of Money. And the movie could sort of parallel both the Hustler and the Color in its arc as the movies are separated by roughly the same amount of time at this point. Just my one and a half cents.

As much as I dislike Tom Cruise, THIS makes a LOT of sense.... anyone who would be even slightly interested in this new movie has likely all ready seen the Color of Money
As well as the Hustler...... and Tom has matured a bit as an actor, so maybe he would be believable as a “later in Life” Vincent.

 

[RiverCity]

As much as I dislike Tom Cruise, THIS makes a LOT of sense.... anyone who would be even slightly interested in this new movie has likely all ready seen the Color of Money
As well as the Hustler...... and Tom has matured a bit as an actor, so maybe he would be believable as a “later in Life” Vincent.

Bingo, and the story from the book TCOM still works, just with Vincent instead of Eddie.