Best and Worst Pool Movies...

rackmsuckr · Nov 25, 2005

Judging by the trailer in Kisses and Caroms, that pool table sees more action than most tables!

SnakePool · Nov 25, 2005

I heard about the Twilight episode "A Game of Pool" years ago. I was at a half price books with my mom, while waiting for her to buy some romance novels I spotted a few twilight zone videos on the shelf. I thought to my self, what if one had that episode, sure enough the first one I picked up had it. The other episode on the tape is about a cyborg boxer.

Mick56 · Nov 25, 2005

Here are a few more obscure movies that I have in my collection:

Billy The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire (English musical)

Bye Bye Baby (another sex romp)

The Understudy (Vampire plays in a pool movie)

Bad Boy (from 1935, about a pool hustler trying to go straight to get the girl)

The Desperate Prodigal (Japanese)

A one minute long trailer from The Player

Mick56 · Nov 25, 2005

The champion in The Player was Jack Colavita.

Donovan · Nov 26, 2005

The List part 2: thanks Mick56

Billy The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire (English musical)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088807/

Bye Bye Baby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094820/

The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096335/

Bad Boy
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026093/

Equals Against Devils (The Desperate Prodigal) (Japanese but has English subtitles)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165222/#comment

hemicudas · Nov 26, 2005

You da-man

Mick56 said:
The champion in The Player was Jack Colavita.

You gotta be da-man, Mick56. That's him. Is there any way you can convert the one minute trailer to digital, if it' not, and post it some where? It really would be interesting.

Mick56 · Nov 26, 2005

I bought the trailer on 16mm film, and had it transferred to dvd, but would have no idea how to post it.

Donovan · Nov 30, 2005

Donovan · Dec 20, 2005

Latest List

We do have a new one to add to the list thanks to Mick56. It is a Spanish movie coming from Mexico. El Embustero

I have yet to see the ones with the * in front of them and the ones with ** are not released yet.

Bad Boy (51 min.)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026093/

The Baltimore Bullet
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080412/

The Baron and The Kid
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086937/

Behind the Nine
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317135/
http://www.behindthenine.com/

Billy The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire (English musical)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088807/

Bye Bye Baby
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094820/

Chalk
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115859/
http://www.chalkfilm.org/index.shtml

The Colour of Money
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090863/

* Destiny Stalled
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238148/

* El Embustero
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0322164/

Equals Against Devils (The Desperate Prodigal) (Japanese but has English subtitles)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165222/#comment

Hard Knukle
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0148256/

The Hustler
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054997/

Kiss Shot
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097671/

** Kisses And Caroms
(This may not be a pool movie, but it takes place in a billiard pro shop)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381341/
http://www.kissesandcaroms.com/

* Lemon Tree Billiards House
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269471/

* Pakners (Efren Reyes)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0365609/

* The Player (No web information as of yet.)

Pool Hall Junkies
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0273982/

The Pool Hustlers (Io, Chiara e lo scuro)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084151/

* Pool Sharks (WC Fields, 10-15 min., silent)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0005910/

* Running Out
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302991/

** The Shooting Gallery
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0339526/

Snooker (Hagiga B'Snuker)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152492/

Stickmen
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251415/
http://www.stickmen.co.nz/

The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096335/

Up Against The 8 Ball
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372007/
http://www.upagainstthe8ball.com/

Jack Madden · Dec 20, 2005

I was an extra in Kiss Shot. Was in the pool room scenes (red shirt). Was in CA looking for work as an electrician and they were shooting the scenes at the pool room (home away from home for me). Dennis Franz and Dorian Harewood were good guys! Franz asked me to go play golf - really wished I had. Didn't have a copy of the movie, but a very good AZBer, CheffJeff, sent me his own copy. Thank you Jeff.
jack
www.johnmaddencues.com

DJKeys · Dec 20, 2005

Movies

Number 1-The Hustler. Not only is this the best pool movie ever made, it is one of the best films ever made. If West Side Story had not come out the same year, it would have won even more awards.

2. Color Of Money-

3. Stickmen-This is about some blue-collar Australian guys who get involved in a big time tournament run by some kind of local crime boss. Definitely worth watching, entertaining as hell.

4. PHJ-Horrible film, Christopher Walken's Cameo the only redemption for me.

5. Baltimore Bullet-Haven't ever seen this end to end. Someone want to lend it to me?

sjm · Dec 20, 2005

This post is adapted from a previous post of mine on this subject, and I apologize to those that have read it before.

Like most, I think best pool movie comes down to The Hustler vs The Color of Money. In my case, I love both of them. I think those that argue that the Hustler is more firmly grounded in plausibility make a good point, but I don't think it makes much difference.

Using a very contrived character as a vehicle to offer a panoramic view of an aspect of his society was not beneath the dignity of Charles Dickens and in no way detracted from the quality of the pictures of Victorian society that Dickens painted through the written word. I believe that The Color of Money's use of the admittedly implausible Vincent is similarly effective.

In The Color of Money, through the eyes of Vincent, we get to see:

small time barbox betting
bigtime barbox betting
players good enough to make it on the road
players not good enough to make it on the road
the hustling scene and its underlying morality
trashtalking and gamesmanship
dumping and its implications
mentor/student tension
the pre-tournament scene
the tournament scene
the tournament side action scene

and much, much more. Guess what I'm saying is that I don't feel that Vincent's implausibility as a character in any way detracts from the film.

Is it likely that a booze chugging driving range pro that rarely competed could rebound to the point of being in contention to win on the seventy second hole of the US Open golf tournament in his first try? Not really, but the very contrived Roy MacEvoy, played by Kevin Costner in "Tin Cup," still provided a wonderful panoramic view of the golf scene.

To those that dismiss The Color of Money as inferior to The Hustler just because Vincent is an example of artistic license, I ask you to reconsider. I think that because its treatment of pool's landscape is so much more comprehensive than that of The Hustler, it rates as the better of the two.

The Color of Money ---- simply the best pool movie ever!

Sarcastro · Dec 20, 2005

For the first two-thirds of it, The Color of Money can be considered as good if not better than The Hustler. Scorsese really makes an effort to focus on the all characters and their relationships to one another. Then Forest Whitaker comes along and inexplicably hustles Fast Eddie, the most self-aware and knowledgable character in the film, for no apparent reason other than to establish a turning point.

It's here where The Color of Money loses steam and enters implausibility. At this point, the rest of the movie is pretty by the numbers and should take the logical step and have a climactic battle between Vincent and Fast Eddie. Scorsese, for some odd reason, decides to set up a sequel by ending the film right when Fast Eddie breaks the first rack. This might be the most annoying aspect of the movie for me, slightly moreso than Fast Eddie getting hustled, because another ten minutes of footage of Vincent and Fast Eddie duking it out isn't going to cost that much more and might even redeem the film for the cliched final third. I still think The Color of Money was a great movie and that Newman was more than worthy of his Oscar, but Scorsese could've put it up there with classics like The Hustler if he just didn't stumble to the finish line.

EDRJR · Dec 23, 2005

Shooting Gallery

I received my copy of Shooting Gallery today. Great surprise for Xmas. I liked it a lot, but I liked Pool Hall Junkies, too.

Not The Color of Money or The Hustler, but any pool movie is better than a non-pool movie. I got mine from DigitalEyes.com. I'm not connected to them but they have the best prices for the few times I bought DVD's online. I paid $16.95 plus shipping. Their shipping date was supposed to be 12/17 so I was very happy to get it today.

Donovan · Dec 23, 2005

EDRJR said:
I received my copy of Shooting Gallery today. Great surprise for Xmas. I liked it a lot, but I liked Pool Hall Junkies, too. Not The Color of Money or The Hustler, but any pool movie is better than a non-pool movie. I got mine from DigitalEyes.com. I'm not connected to them but they have the best prices for the few times I bought DVD's online. I paid $16.95 plus shipping. Their shipping date was supposed to be 12/17 so I was very happy to get it today.

Hey thanks for the info. Hmmm. The release date isn't until the 26th.

I wonder how legal that is? Oh well, at least you got your movie.

EDRJR · Dec 23, 2005

Oops

I meant to say their shipping date was supposed to be the 27th, not the 17th.

Donovan · Dec 23, 2005

EDRJR said:
I meant to say their shipping date was supposed to be the 27th, not the 17th.

AHHH! I understand now!

OldHasBeen · Dec 24, 2005

(imo) - No Doubts

moosepool said:
Like one of the posters in the other thread said there will probably will never be a movie made exactly the way "pool players" want to see it. Let's see what you guys have to say.

The Hustler was and is the best Pool movie ever made. For so many reasons, I could go on for pages and pages.

I guess the only one that even comes close (according to other people, not me) is TCOM.
Think about it - A young totally un-known pool player goes to the DCC in a couple of weeks and can beat Efren and all the other top players. Not very realistic is it? This was the whole premise and base story line.

The Hustler was not only realistic and possible but really did happen. A young Gipsy Pool player from Oklahoma who gets real good playing in California and hears about a great player in NY named Fats. He goes On The Road and hustles his way to NY.

The movie The Hustler changed my life so I guess I am a little prejudiced but I really don't think there ever will be another Pool Movie that can even compare.

TY & GL

ironman · Dec 24, 2005

The Color of Money

If Walter Tevis had lived to see what Hollywood did to his book, he would have been a very unhappy man. They just butchered it.
The Hustler was far more realistic.
Then after the COM Mike comes out and says that after 4 weeks of training that Cruise is ready for the pro tour. He's got the 7 for life!

Donovan · Dec 24, 2005

The Baltimore Bullet

Hardly anyone ever mentions The Baltimore Bullet. Any thoughts on this one?

Best and Worst Pool Movies...

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