Pool Movies--let's get some ratings

sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Of these, the only one I saw from start to finish was "The Baltimore Bullet" which was fun because of how many top players of that period had appearances. Though of marginal quality, it's worth a watch. It had credible stars in it in James Coburn and Omar Sharif, but they couldn't do for this film what Gleason and Newman had done for "The Hustler" or what Cruise and Newman had done for "The Color of Money."

Many of the pool playing stars of that time (1980) were in the film. According to IMBD.com, Butera, Crane, Florence, Hopkins, Margo, Martin, Mataya, Mizerak, Rempe, and Sigel all appeared. Most of these were PPPA pros and I remember that there had been high hopes that this movie would give pro pool a boost, but it's hard to argue that this is what happened.
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
measureman said:
The Hustler was a pool movie masterpiece.
The Color Of Money was a disaster.
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... and yet both were nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. Both, consequently, generated a lot of interest in pool.

Both were excellent films, and The Color of Money is the better pool movie, while The Hustler is the better movie, because pool is the backdrop for an examination of life, principles, sacrifices, heartbreak and redemption.
 
Maniac

Maniac

2manyQ's
Silver Member
While the ratings were not very good for this movie, I thought Walkaway Joe had a good story line. It was lacking in the actual pool scenes though. I didn't regret watching it.
 
Fatboy

Fatboy

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The fundamental problem with the COM is it was predicated on the dump. That’s just a bad image for pool, not that we have the best image anyways.

It was a boost for pool, at what cost? Probably not much.

Hustler was a much better movie.

Fatboy<———seen both over 100X
 
L.S. Dennis

L.S. Dennis

Well-known member
sjm said:
Of these, the only one I saw from start to finish was "The Baltimore Bullet" which was fun because of how many top players of that period had appearances. Though of marginal quality, it's worth a watch. It had credible stars in it in James Coburn and Omar Sharif, but they couldn't do for this film what Gleason and Newman had done for "The Hustler" or what Cruise and Newman had done for "The Color of Money."

Many of the pool playing stars of that time (1980) were in the film. According to IMBD.com, Butera, Crane, Florence, Hopkins, Margo, Martin, Mataya, Mizerak, Rempe, and Sigel all appeared. Most of these were PPPA pros and I remember that there had been high hopes that this movie would give pro pool a boost, but it's hard to argue that this is what happened.
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I watched Baltimore Bullet this afternoon, I agree it was worth a watch, but no academy award winner to be sure. It was certainly better than Pool Hall Junkiies that’s for sure.
 
dardusm

dardusm

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
benjaminwah said:
Trouble Man (1972), not a “pool movie” but has some cool pool scenes and a lot takes place at a pool hall.

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Pretty cool never seen that one before. The player from Texas was legit.

After watching the clip, I did a search and found out that the player from Texas was a professional named James "Youngblood" Brown. Small world here is a little more info from a past thread https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/james-youngblood-brown.223595/

I enjoy seeing who are the technical advisors are for pool in films and commercials. I know that Joey A. did that for a movie and even had a part. I think that would be pretty cool to do.
 
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