The inside story of the greatest pool movie ever

Great video! Thanks for posting. The movie and Willie as a pro were major influences on my interest in the game.

There are many AZB threads on what pool needs to revitalize it. Perhaps we need more gangsters and racketeers.

Greg
 
Last edited:
im down with that, only if the gangsters get to wear nice clothes. Im to old to be a gangster with baggy pants and my boxers showing everytime i get down to shoot.
 
americanfighter said:
Hey guys the Hustler is my favorite movie ever not just because it has allot of pool in it but because of the lessons in it. I found this youtube video on the inside story of the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1MOCyfpAV8&feature=related
Click to expand...

thanks for posting this
frank sinatra as the 1st choice as fast eddie ?? :eek:
glad they went with paul newman
as my avatar pic suggests

always heard the story that minnesota fats (rudolf wanderone) wasnt "minnesota fats" until after the movie release .
seems to be the truth here
 
The Hustler

A little bacground --- In the movie The Hustler
The score keeper ----
Some of you may know him as Tom Cosmo
Or Tom Crazy Cue Cosmo he did a show that consisted of biliards dancing and comedy. I met him in the 70s in NYC and he coached me for a couple of years . I did not know him in his prime i beleive he played at the Johnston city event and played against some of the best.
As a coach/teacher he had a good mind for the game and especially one pocket.
He was quite a character he wore these large round eye glasses and could hustle a good game . I remember one time at time square Billiards in NYC this guy comes in and says he is A champ from Cuba and wins the first game of one pocket vs. Tom,
Tom comes over to me and asks for some cash with a smile on his face, he cleans the guy out. You would ask Tom how you doing?
Ans. half and half --- half scotch half soda..
MCP
 
thanks very much for the post.....i don't even know how many times i have seen this movie and learned a couple of things from your post. i started playing about 1964 so this movie was "it" for me in those days and have watched it as recently as a year ago. thanks again,,,,kudos for you!
 
MCP said:
A little bacground --- In the movie The Hustler
The score keeper ----
Some of you may know him as Tom Cosmo
Or Tom Crazy Cue Cosmo he did a show that consisted of biliards dancing and comedy. I met him in the 70s in NYC and he coached me for a couple of years . I did not know him in his prime i beleive he played at the Johnston city event and played against some of the best.
As a coach/teacher he had a good mind for the game and especially one pocket.
He was quite a character he wore these large round eye glasses and could hustle a good game . I remember one time at time square Billiards in NYC this guy comes in and says he is A champ from Cuba and wins the first game of one pocket vs. Tom,
Tom comes over to me and asks for some cash with a smile on his face, he cleans the guy out. You would ask Tom how you doing?
Ans. half and half --- half scotch half soda..
MCP
Click to expand...

Thanx for this post..I either didn't know it or forgot it...:confused:
Tommy Cosmo has a niche in this game...the term 'cosmo' is used by
people who have never heard of him.
A 'cosmo' is an easy pattern to run the table at 9-ball. Tommy set up
this pattern for exhibitions where every shot was a stop shot..and he
did a ballet impersonation while he did it.
Tommy could play a little...straight pool was his best game..Jimmy
Moore told me Tommy beat him in a tournament match to 150 once
when Jimmy was in his prime.

But exhibitions and comedy were his forte.
 
The industry could use another pool movie to assist in popularity of the sport. Seems the big three are "The Hustler", "The Color of Money" and "Pool Hall Junkies". Did anyone see "9-Ball"?
 
Wasn't this on one of the DVDs? Seems to me I heard of Mike doing some commentary like this as an extra on one of them, it may be on the one I have before the Blu-Ray version. Not sure.

Edit: Nope, guess not, it was good though, real good!
 
Last edited:
If you watch Willie Jopling's trick shot tape/dvd, he has a segment where he runs all 15 balls using just stop shots. Not difficult at all, once you get the setup correct. For anyone interested, this video is from the remastered, re-released digital version of The Hustler, which was released as a 40th anniversary special edition. I didn't know it had been released to You-Tube. Great video!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

pt109 said:
Thanx for this post..I either didn't know it or forgot it...:confused:
Tommy Cosmo has a niche in this game...the term 'cosmo' is used by
people who have never heard of him.
A 'cosmo' is an easy pattern to run the table at 9-ball. Tommy set up
this pattern for exhibitions where every shot was a stop shot..and he
did a ballet impersonation while he did it.
Tommy could play a little...straight pool was his best game..Jimmy
Moore told me Tommy beat him in a tournament match to 150 once
when Jimmy was in his prime.

But exhibitions and comedy were his forte.
Click to expand...
 
Scott Lee said:
If you watch Willie Jopling's trick shot tape/dvd, he has a segment where he runs all 15 balls using just stop shots. Not difficult at all, once you get the setup correct. For anyone interested, this video is from the remastered, re-released digital version of The Hustler, which was released as a 40th anniversary special edition. I didn't know it had been released to You-Tube. Great video!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
Click to expand...

I thought I'd heard of or seen it before. Thanks, Scott.
 
MCP said:
A little bacground --- In the movie The Hustler
The score keeper ----
Some of you may know him as Tom Cosmo
Or Tom Crazy Cue Cosmo he did a show that consisted of biliards dancing and comedy. I met him in the 70s in NYC and he coached me for a couple of years . I did not know him in his prime i beleive he played at the Johnston city event and played against some of the best.
As a coach/teacher he had a good mind for the game and especially one pocket.
He was quite a character he wore these large round eye glasses and could hustle a good game . I remember one time at time square Billiards in NYC this guy comes in and says he is A champ from Cuba and wins the first game of one pocket vs. Tom,
Tom comes over to me and asks for some cash with a smile on his face, he cleans the guy out. You would ask Tom how you doing?
Ans. half and half --- half scotch half soda..
MCP
Click to expand...

IMDB credits the role of scorekeeper to one Alexander Rose, who also wrote a novel upon which the 1962 Dean Martin movie Who's Got The Action? was based. Are Alexander Rose and Cosmo the same guy?
 
Tom Cosmo / Alexander Rose

Tom Cosmo the score keeper, must have used the name
Alexander Rose as a pseudonym and it's a coincidence with the other A. Rose
Tom Cosmo mentioned that they would not let him wear his round framed glasses in the film which was the signature piece of his identiity.
So it's possible he needed to use a pseudonym.
MCP.
 
BHQ said:
thanks for posting this
frank sinatra as the 1st choice as fast eddie ?? :eek:
glad they went with paul newman
as my avatar pic suggests

always heard the story that minnesota fats (rudolf wanderone) wasnt "minnesota fats" until after the movie release .
seems to be the truth here
Click to expand...

I think they said that it was a suggestion by Mosconi about Sinatra. I doubt they wanted him he was sort of on the skids doing a lot of TV guest spots at that time plus he was too old. It wasn't until Oceans 11 he made it back on anyone's radar. The guy they wanted was Jack Lemmon who was fresh off "Some Like it Hot" and the "Apartment" and the hottest thing around, plus Lemmon could play pool.

When they couldn't get Lemmon Newman came into the picture. I heard Jack Lemmon do an interview where he said he was sorry he didn't do the Hustler instead he signed to do The Wackiest "Ship in the Army" with Rickey Nelson although pretty successful at the time, somewhat forgettable. But like he said, a different actor changes the final product and maybe Newman was meant to play the part.
Paul Newman became Fast Eddie and it is hard to see anyone else playing the part now.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top