The Hustler -- opening scene bank shot

Bob Jewett

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Edit: see the better clip below.

Here is the opening shot from The Hustler. I've seen this cut out of the movie when shown on TV, presumably to make it shorter. This YouTube channel has other short clips

 
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When I was a kid in Detroit, Paul Bruesloff showed me it was a foul shot. He cleaned the cue ball then breathed on it heavily, then made the shot…..showed me about seven chalk marks on whitey.
That also happens frequently when you're jacked up over a ball and can only hit the top of the cue ball. Nobody calls the foul, though. The table forces the cue ball to go back into the tip.
 
I never noticed until now when Eddie shot it the second time, the OB jumped the table. It looks like it climbed the money and jumped the rail. Then Eddie turns around and bends down to pick it up. That gives him the perfect opportunity to look at the crowd laughing at him. Do you guys think that was scripted? Or it just happened and he went with it and they kept the camera's rolling?
 
I remember it well. I don't remember it being cut out.
Yeah, I've seen it both ways. I remember the movie starting out on one broadcast where they go up to Ames looking for Fats, and I thought, "What? That's no good."
 
That also happens frequently when you're jacked up over a ball and can only hit the top of the cue ball. Nobody calls the foul, though. The table forces the cue ball to go back into the tip.
Similar with those ultra close jump shots where players are practically cueing straight down on the cue ball... cueball goes airborn and then goes forward off the shaft of the cue.
 
IMO - a truly great opening scene choice to set the stage for this great movie- go forward to the great western The Magnificent Seven - where there were several opening scenes, that also set the stage for a great movie, esp. James Coburn as the knife throwing cowboy.
 
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