?? About Scene from "the color of money"

pmata814

pmata814

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
After Forrest Whitaker hustles Paul Newman he says "do you think I need to lose some weight?" I never understood what that scene was trying to say. Only now that I've been reading AZ, I notice the term 'weight' being used quite often. like 'giving up weight in a match' or something to that effect. Was Whitaker implying something pool related with that phrase? If not, why did he ask that? Any ideas on what the director was trying to say to the viewers? I've always wondered about that ??

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I figured the answer to the question "do you think i need to lose some weight?" was supposed to be as obvious as the answer to the question Paul asked "are you a hustler?"


Maybe I got it all wrong.
 
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pmata814 said:
After Forrest Whitaker hustles Paul Newman he says "do you think I need to lose some weight?" I never understood what that scene was trying to say. Only now that I've been reading AZ, I notice the term 'weight' being used quite often. like 'giving up weight in a match' or something to that effect. Was Whitaker implying something pool related with that phrase? If not, why did he ask that? Any ideas on what the director was trying to say to the viewers? I've always wondered about that ??

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I'm voting on 'deflection'.

The action is over, the argument pauses, so you say....
.."How about them Lakers?"
Hopefully it takes people's mind off the current situation.
 
i read this and copied and pasted it here...

it is a reply to a repeated question ("Are you a hustler?") that he gets asked during the match by his opponent, Fast Eddie (Paul Newman). Part of the enjoyment of this film is trying to guess what is going through Eddie's mind at any given moment (Paul Newman won an Oscar for his performance). At this point, Eddie has just started to hustle alone again but he is older now and out of practice (at both the hustle and the game itself). He wins a few matches against some easy marks and then comes across Amos (Forest Whitaker). This is a critical scene in the film for several reasons. Eddie learns pretty quickly that Amos is trying to hustle him but he continues to lay down his money and let Amos run the table, saying: "Do it again". Eddie's pointed question: "Are you a hustler" is meant to intimidate Amos out of his twitchy, talky-guy routine. Eddie most likely thinks he can still outplay his younger, brash and overweight opponent. Amos does not answer Eddie's question until the very end of the match when he finally says the famous line: "Do you think I need to lose some weight?" The answer to both questions is of course: 'Yes'. The reason Amos answers him in this fashion is because a good hustler will always remain in character. Losing the match finally enables Fast Eddie to relinquish his own hustle and become a serious pool player again.
 
Autist said:
I figured the answer to the question "do you think i need to lose some weight?" was supposed to be as obvious as the answer to the question Paul asked "are you a hustler?"


Maybe I got it all wrong.
Click to expand...

This is what I was thinking.
 
pmata814 said:
After Forrest Whitaker hustles Paul Newman he says "do you think I need to lose some weight?" I never understood what that scene was trying to say. Only now that I've been reading AZ, I notice the term 'weight' being used quite often. like 'giving up weight in a match' or something to that effect. Was Whitaker implying something pool related with that phrase? If not, why did he ask that? Any ideas on what the director was trying to say to the viewers? I've always wondered about that ??

Sent from my BlackBerry 9780 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Years ago the term weight was used as an expression like, if there was a match on Thursday night the next day someone might say hey I heard Joe won last night how much did he go out of hear weighing or how much was he lite if he lost. That's what I think Whitaker was doing to
Newman just to bust on him a little bit after he beat him saying you think I need to lose a little weight. I could be wrong but it wouldn't be the first time.
 
Yup. That's it. Can't believe I didn't catch it?! I saw it many years ago though, I'll use that as my excuse :) thx guys! :D

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i don't think amos is in character or any of the other reasons mentioned. i personally think the entire scene along with the question about his weight are a cautionary pool tale of you never know how good someone is by their walk, talk or any other 'clue." i believe amos illustrates this perfectly that someone who may be a little off can be a world beater who carries his cue without a case and will wager any amount. whatever.
 
alstl said:
He was ridiculing the old man, rubbing it in.
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I think you are spot on. I also think it is overthinking this one line
to assume there must be some deeper meaning.
Throughout the match, Forest makes many seemingly off target comments
that don't make much sense - welcome to the world of pool rooms.

There is a legitimate question as to whether he truly is this much of a
flake, or whether he is just doing an act as part of his hustle.

To me, it was pretty obvious, Eddie had been a classic sucker,
overestimating himself while underestimating his opponent.

This "flakey" question servered to underscore that error of judgement.

I felt on first viewing, and still do today, Forest may or may not have
been a total flake, we can't tell for sure, but for certain, he had hustled
Eddie, and was letting him know it.

Dale
 
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When I first saw that movie - many years before I knew any pool lingo, I often wondered why when Amos asks Eddie that, he kinda snickers afterwards.

It wasn't until, of course, I learned about the terms here that I read that line in an entirely different manner.
 
stljohnny said:
When I first saw that movie - many years before I knew any pool lingo, I often wondered why when Amos asks Eddie that, he kinda snickers afterwards.

It wasn't until, of course, I learned about the terms here that I read that line in an entirely different manner.
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Yep.......
 
It was a deflection...

He just lost a lot of money, by deflecting that fact, it's a psychological ploy to make Eddie feel at least good about the fact that he isn't overweight like Amos...

This leaves no hard feelings and the potential to make the score again later.

Jaden
 
In the movie everyone is hustling. Vincent is hustling but needs a stake horse and plays the student role to fatten his bank role. He plays a flake to its fullest for the free ride to bigger riches.

Eddie realizes he still has what it takes and needs a way out of his stake horsing a young kid. He does it in a fashion in that the young kid could become the mark by loosing to a player Vincent knows he could beat.

Amos is allowed back into the game and to win with Vincent present. Amos's line, "Do you think I need to lose some weight?" is simply the hustler in Amos proudly dissing Eddie at how well he hid his true speed from him.
 
thintowin said:
i don't think amos is in character or any of the other reasons mentioned. i personally think the entire scene along with the question about his weight are a cautionary pool tale of you never know how good someone is by their walk, talk or any other 'clue." i believe amos illustrates this perfectly that someone who may be a little off can be a world beater who carries his cue without a case and will wager any amount. whatever.
Click to expand...

My thoughts as well. To me, this is just a "don't judge book by it's cover" comment intended to get under Eddie's skin. Amos obviously felt that Eddie had underestimated him and that obesity may have been one of the reasons.

I found this to be playfully humorous. After all, given Eddie's experiences with Minnesota Fats, nobody would be less likely than Eddie to play a man for a chump just because he was overwieght.
 
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