Color of Money, Book v Movie...

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Radiophonicus

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So I just read the Color of Money over the past two days and very much enjoyed it. I was pretty suprised at how vast the differences between the book and the movie were though. Outside of the character names and some dialog here and there, they weren't even close. Which did you enjoy more?
 
I always considered them different enough to like both of them. The only thing the same is Eddie, his boredom, and the desire to make a comeback. Oh.... and the Drambuie...... :D . Vincent was pretty much Babes in the book, the smartass "kid" who Eddie used as a measuring stick. But in the end, both the book and the movie were about not letting something die. For Tevis, it was the relationship between him and his father. For Eddie, it was the game.
Ive always wished the movie would have stuck tighter to the books storyline. But it wouldnt have seemed to be as much about pool as it ended up being.
Chuck
 
Radiophonicus said:
So I just read the Color of Money over the past two days and very much enjoyed it. I was pretty suprised at how vast the differences between the book and the movie were though. Outside of the character names and some dialog here and there, they weren't even close. Which did you enjoy more?
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Walter Tevis' book, by far. The only thing they kept was the name.

Scorcese, Newman and Richard Price wrote an entirely new screenplay for the movie.
 
jay helfert said:
Walter Tevis' book, by far. The only thing they kept was the name.

Scorcese, Newman and Richard Price wrote an entirely new screenplay for the movie.
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I believe Walter Tevis would roll over in his grave if he could see what they did to his book. It really sucked.
 
ironman said:
I believe Walter Tevis would roll over in his grave if he could see what they did to his book. It really sucked.
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I saw Walter after the movie came out, and asked him about it. He blew it off, saying they paid good for the rights to the book. If it bothered him, he didn't show it. I don't think he cared much for the whole movie making process.
 
I absolutely loved the book! I think Tevis is a wonderful writer and he knows his pool. Another very very good book of his, The Queen's Gambit.
I could not put it down and I do not even know that much about Chess.

I understand the first screenplay adaption, was much more like the book but Newman wanted to have more of roll like the George C Scott character in the first film and got them to re-write it.

The Tom Cruise character does not even exist in the book...

I think any pool player that likes to read, even occasionally should read both the original Hustler and C.O.M!
 
Amazin has it!

I picked up a vintage PB issue on ebay years ago that I found it is pretty rare...
You will love it, the movie version was much closer to this original but it was still glamed up and the love story made more prominate, which I can understand. The book is much more appealing for pool players!
 
The book was far better IMO,the movie is cool but not the Hustler,the book and movie for the The Hustler were so very close,almost word for word.
 
I loved the book The Hustler (and the movie), but I thought TCOM book sucked. I think I was disappointed with TCOM because I thought The Hustler was actually a great novel--regardless of whether it was about pool or not--whereas TCOM just seemed trashy. I felt a bit shocked that they were written by the same author. TCOM movie though, is great. Not as good as The Hustler, but still great.

I'm really disappointed that I don't have the book The Hustler with me now, as I don't think I will find it here. I'm in Korea and feel a bit starved for books. Too many things to bring with me as it was. I was working in a used bookstore before I came here, and I just payed $12 for The Fountainhead, new. It almost killed me. How do you switch from free books to $12 books (in america new it would probably be maybe...$9, with my discount...$5?)!!!!! ;-)
 
I agree that TCOM the book and TCOM the movie are so vastly different, that I like them both for what they are. TCOM the movie, could've been The Hustler III.

Both were good, even though the only thing they had in common was the title.

Jim
 
Fast Lenny said:
the book and movie for the The Hustler were so very close,almost word for word.
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Really? I am not sure what book you read but there were some huge differences in the book. Just for an example, Sara does not commit suicide in the book. The book also goes much more into the mind of Fast Eddie and his obsession with pool. I felt the movie made pool more of a vehicle or backdrop for the characters. In the book it is everything...at least that was how I remember it.
 
cuechick said:
I absolutely loved the book! I think Tevis is a wonderful writer and he knows his pool. Another very very good book of his, The Queen's Gambit.
I could not put it down and I do not even know that much about Chess.

I understand the first screenplay adaption, was much more like the book but Newman wanted to have more of roll like the George C Scott character in the first film and got them to re-write it.

The Tom Cruise character does not even exist in the book...

I think any pool player that likes to read, even occasionally should read both the original Hustler and C.O.M!
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Thanks for mentioning this. Most people don't know that Walter Tevis also wrote "The Man Who Fell To Earth", a great story. And not a bad movie either starring David Bowie.
 
arsenius said:
I loved the book The Hustler (and the movie), but I thought TCOM book sucked. I think I was disappointed with TCOM because I thought The Hustler was actually a great novel--regardless of whether it was about pool or not--whereas TCOM just seemed trashy.
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I am surprised you felt that way. I really loved the book and perhaps you were expected something more like the movie? It was written about 20 years after the original and does reflect a more contemporary time, but trashy? I do think it is more frank in it's descriptions and probably had the Hustler been written at the same time, it probably would have had more sex as well.
To me it was a compelling portrait of an over the hill hustler trying to come to terms with what his life had become.
 
I enjoyed both the movie and the book. Although, I'm a bit upset with the publisher of The Color of Money. When I received my copy of the Hustler, it was a really nice hardback version, with gold lettering, crisp acid-free paper, and a nice typeface. When I ordered The Color of Money, all I could find was this cheap mass market paperback, with a bent spine, yellow pages, and a crappy typeface.

I know I can be a book nazi, but I seriously expected something better.
 
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cuechick said:
Really? I am not sure what book you read but there were some huge differences in the book. Just for an example, Sara does not commit suicide in the book. The book also goes much more into the mind of Fast Eddie and his obsession with pool. I felt the movie made pool more of a vehicle or backdrop for the characters. In the book it is everything...at least that was how I remember it.
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Your right about the suicide of Sarah and in the book he just leaves her,also its set in Chicago in the book but in the Hustler its set in NY.As for the rest of it the names of the people and the dialog is near verbatim,i meaa the script to the movie was copied straight from the book.Huge differences i think not,the suicide of Sarah is about it,either way in the book or the movie she was dead to Eddie.
 
Fast Lenny said:
Your right about the suicide of Sarah and in the book he just leaves her,also its set in Chicago in the book but in the Hustler its set in NY.As for the rest of it the names of the people and the dialog is near verbatim,i meaa the script to the movie was copied straight from the book.Huge differences i think not,the suicide of Sarah is about it,either way in the book or the movie she was dead to Eddie.
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I agree it was a much closer adaption but I think they downplayed the pool and beefed up the love story to make it more universally appealing. Which makes a lot of sense from a Hollywood business perspective.

I am not sure had they stuck closer to Tevis's COM would they have had as big a hit with the movie... but I far prefer the book(s), personally.
 
cuechick said:
I agree it was a much closer adaption but I think they downplayed the pool and beefed up the love story to make it more universally appealing. Which makes a lot of sense from a Hollywood business perspective.

I am not sure had they stuck closer to Tevis's COM would they have had as big a hit with the movie... but I far prefer the book(s), personally.
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I agree,Hollywood did the right thing by making the love story aspect in The Hustler more prevelant,TCOM is what it is,fast action with some good characters,but it wasnt an artistic movie in my opinion like The Hustler is.
 
The book The Hustler has a very important difference from the movie in it's final ending. (Unlike some others in this thread I won't detail this in case anyone has not read it.) Other than that it is close to the movie, especially in a lot of the dialogue.

I really liked the book of TCOM but it's pace would simply not have made a very good movie. Additionally (and again I don't want to spoil it too much for anyone who has not read it yet) it features more matches between Eddie and Minnesota Fats, and if Newman was to play Eddie again it would not have been right if Jackie Gleason was not playing Minnesota Fats, which I believe he was too sick to do at the end of his life. (He died in 87 and TCOM was made in 86)

Instead of criticizing Scorsese for changing the book so much I have to give him kudos for creating a believable and memorable script with so little input from the original author. Of course it is also the excellent direction and acting performances that make a movie not matter how good the script is, and TCOM had both of these.
 
Hustler Movie

Speaking of the movies, does anyone know if The Hustler is available on DVD. I have tried to find it on the web but only found it on a website called Movies Unlimited but I don't know about the legality of the dvd they are selling. I'm not sure the dvd ever released. The VHS version seems to be hard to find.

Any ideas on where to get a good version of it? Thanks.

Stephen
 
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