The Color of Money (film 1986)
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When Newman say that "I´M BACK" in the end of TCOM is most emotional content ever on any movie!
When Newman say that "I´M BACK" in the end of TCOM is most emotional content ever on any movie!
How many times have we said this to ourselves just to go back in to our slump?
As did Mizerak, Sigel, Sigels wife Chris, Don 'the Preacher' Feeney, and a guy pretending to be Louie Roberts. :thumbup:
Short attention span
Grady telling road stories....and the guy with the beard Howard Vickery.....
the scene with Forrest Whitaker is second most natural acted pool scenes in movie history, both actors are not acting at that point, they ARE those characters. it's a performance level that rarely gets reached in pool movies. The direction on that scene is fantastic, how the pool match is playing a roll in the development of the characters and their interaction with each other. So damn good. I could watch that over and over again.
The best pool scene ever is the first interaction between fast Eddie and Minnesota Fats in the Hustler....the dialogue is simply secondary to what is actually going on in the scene. Fantastic. Had they had access to better cameras, better lenses as did Scorcese, the cinematography surrounding the match would've been that much better. Regardless, it's two titanic actors, in titanic rolls, in a great scene.
All this IMO of course. I love those two movies.
The best scene in the movie, IMO.
Loved the line,
"I want you to be real honest with me, do you think I need to lose some weight?"
Newman wanted a chance at playing the George C. Scott role. Scott was amazing in The Hustler. His portrayal of Bert was as real as it gets!
Pretty sure that the real Louie was in TCOM.
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The opening scene in The Hustler where they hustle the greedy bartender is by far the best pool scene ever captured on film. I was hooked after that and had to learn how to make that shot. 
The Hustler was a classic. TCOM was a good film.
I do think, though, that the Hustler would have been even better with some editing. The love story was key to the film, but the part after Eddie gets his thumbs broken and his hanging out with Sarah at her apartment could have been edited down.
I do think, though, that the Hustler would have been even better with some editing. The love story was key to the film, but the part after Eddie gets his thumbs broken and his hanging out with Sarah at her apartment could have been edited down.
Ooh, I'm glad TCOM is on blueray now. When The Hustler came out with a blueray edition, they interviewed a lot of pool peeps, including Mike Massey, about the shots in the movie. I loved it.
TCOM was a godsend to the American pool world. It was filmed in 1985, but it came out in 1986. I remember a bunch of us from our neighborhood pool room drove over to the Avalon movie theater, a real old-timey place, and sat in the back. We were giggling and lauging all the way through, as some of the scenes are a wee bit corny for real pool aficionados like us, but we loved every minute of it.
Pool enjoyed a surge of popularity after TCOM. Not so much the hustling aspect of it, but people wanted to learn how to play pool. Leagues became popular, and the social shooters grew in numbers. Pool was a social game where men and women, girls and boys could have fun together. It was a good way to meet people because you had to speak: "Do you have stripes or solids?" "Do you want to break?" "Let's play partners."
Tom Cruise couldn't play too well, but Paul Newman knew the game. Willie Mosconi, as most know, was the technical director to The Hustler, and Mike Sigel was the technical director for TCOM. Keith McCready did spend some time with Tom Cruise alone, helping him with his stroke a little bit. Keith still gets royalty checks from SAG (Screen Actors Guild), though they're pretty small these days. Maybe this new blueray edition will boost his checks a little.
Martin Scorsese hand-picked Keith to play Grady Seasons after seeing Keith in action. Keith was feeling no pain at the time, as usual, and was barking up a storm. Marty, et al., pullled Keith in the backroom and said they wanted him in the movie. Keith actually wanted the black cowboy part, but Martin Scorsese already knew what part Keith would play.
Months went by after that, and Keith went on being Keith, on the road like a rolling stone, never had a home. The film crew was trying to get in touch him to come to Chicago to sign up. They finally found Keith, and he arrived at the audition spot in Chicago. Rumor had it that they wanted real pool players in the background and were paying $50 a day for stand-ins. There were a line outside going around the building of pool players, hoping to get picked.
When Keith arrived in a limo, he stepped outside and looked at the line. He already had an appointment and was already chosen, so he did not have to stand in line. He looked at his fellow brethren of players and said, "How are you doing, boys?" and proceeded to walk right in ahead of everyone, gloating and chuckling the whole way.
To this day, everywhere Keith goes, people ask him to say his famous line: "It's like a nightmare, isn't it?"
Pool could use another good pool movie to put pool back on the map for mainstream America. I think the theme would be quite different, though. Gone are golden days of the road agents like Fast Eddie, Vincent, and Grady Seasons. Pool has taken on an international flavor.
Though today's young guns still travel the tournament trail around the world, it's like in their blood when it comes to competition in challenge matches; in other words, action. Witness Filler, Klenti, Bergman, and almost all of the Filipino new kids on the block at the Derby City Classic. You can take the pool player out of the action, but you'll never, ever take the action out of the pool player. Oh, the impossible dream!:wink:
"Rack 'em, Sausage" from The Hustler is my favorite line, and, of course, "It's like a nightmare, isn't it?" from TCOM.
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Yes, indeedy, Louie Roberts was. If memory serves me right, he is in the scenes in Atlantic City at the big tournament towards the end of the movie.
Other pool peeps in it were Jimmmy Mataya, Mike Sigel, Grady Mathews, Howard Vickery, and Mark Jarvis. Who am I forgetting?