Favorite Pool Movie

What's Your Favorite Pool Movie?

  • Hustler

    Votes: 34 53.1%
  • Color of Money

    Votes: 19 29.7%
  • Baltimore Bullet

    Votes: 2 3.1%
  • Poolhall Junkies

    Votes: 9 14.1%
  • Stickmen

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    64
  • Poll closed .
Rickw said:
I didn't either Mathew. I think they were probably just trying to figure out how to end the movie and they just started throwing in lines. That quote, "about that other stuff..." sounds like a line from some of Paul's other movies. It's a shame too because that movie really had some great possibilities. I heard the book is great and I'm going to make it a point to read it soon.


The book is excellent. However, it's not entirely comprable to the movie. In the book the character Vincent embodies more of a protaganist. Where Eddie wants to get back into professional pool.
 
chefjeff said:
Vincent got mad when Eddie quit because of the "father figure" stuff (remember the hug in the restaurant?)---and the fact that Eddie was reneging on his commitment---and Vince gave up his job to go with Eddie, not to go it alone---and Vince was scared.

The "stings like a bitch" means that being on the other end of a hustle hurts. Remember the punch in the face Vince received earlier? All that kinda stuff.

"They're even but not done" has to do with them being even on money, but not on playing ability, which had never been tested by a match between the two. Thus, the ending where the match begins and Scorsese (sp?) leaves that up to the audience.

The biggest problem I had with TCOM was the sound---some scenes were almost inaudible and others waaaaay too loud...ride gain for gawd's sake, Marty!

Keep repeating to yourself: "It's only a movie, it's only a movie..."

Jeff Livingston

What I couldn't figure out, did Eddie cheat or hustle Vincent somehow? The movie really should have been about 30 minutes longer. It left to many loose ends.
 
matthew said:
What I couldn't figure out, did Eddie cheat or hustle Vincent somehow? The movie really should have been about 30 minutes longer. It left to many loose ends.

Eddie lied to Vincent to get him to go out on the road. Eddie told Vincent that he was losing his girlfriend and that going on the road was the answer to save the relationship ("she will spend the next few years catching her breath.") He then set it up so it looked like she was thinking of leaving (having her go out of the bar to get the cigarettes, when they sold cigarettes at the bar). It was right after that, that Vincent told Eddie he would go, because he was worried that Eddie was right.

There was also the incident at the restaurant, where he was betting Vincent on whether the guy would leave in 30 seconds and that he would leave with the girl in less than a minute.

He hustled Vincent into going on the road and quitting his job. That is what I thought he meant when he said he wasn't proud of "all of that other stuff."
 
JDB said:
Eddie lied to Vincent to get him to go out on the road. Eddie told Vincent that he was losing his girlfriend and that going on the road was the answer to save the relationship ("she will spend the next few years catching her breath.") He then set it up so it looked like she was thinking of leaving (having her go out of the bar to get the cigarettes, when they sold cigarettes at the bar). It was right after that, that Vincent told Eddie he would go, because he was worried that Eddie was right.

There was also the incident at the restaurant, where he was betting Vincent on whether the guy would leave in 30 seconds and that he would leave with the girl in less than a minute.

He hustled Vincent into going on the road and quitting his job. That is what I thought he meant when he said he wasn't proud of "all of that other stuff."

That makes alot of sense.
 
My 2 cents worth about The Color of Money:

In order to survive, Eddie has become what he despises. He becomes ,ironically, just like Bert Gordon. He becomes someone who doesn't appreciate talent, but uses it for his own gain. Think about how Eddie watches Fats play in The Hustler and marvels at his grace and ability at the table. Twenty years down the road, he has lost that appreciation for talent.

The movie is really about his redemption as a pool player. When he first sees Vincent play, he only sees a way to make money. However, it also awakens his old feelings about how pool should be played and how a great player can be like an artist at the table.

He gets the itch to play again. And personally, I think Eddie loses on purpose on the road as an excuse to get out of the deal they have made.

What hurts Eddie about the hustle Vincent puts on him at the tournament is that Eddie wanted Vincent's best game. He wanted to prove to himself that he was still capable of the excellence he once had. He also realizes what he has done to Vincent, how he has corrupted his talent in the same way Bert corrupted his.

So when they play at the end of the movie, it doesn't really matter who wins the game. The whole point is that Eddie has regained his love and desire for pool. Think about the last line of the film- "I'm back!"

Well, maybe that was about 5 cents worth.
 
thebigdog said:
Those are good points for the The Color of Money. What I want to know is, who are the people that voted for Pool Hall Junkies? That movie was a real piece of shit!
Hey i might be worng becuase im a little new but, i dont know how you think Pool Hall Junkies is a bad moive its just Color of Money but better and way funnier but thats just my opinion and The Hustler is just plan boring but that becuase it old and im 12 + iv only played 1 year or so
 
Funk Master said:
SEASONS!!! Am I the only loser who has seen it 50 times...jeeeez...
If you guys liked any of those movies you would love the book "Cornbread Red" Im not the type of person who can normaly sit down and read a book. But I didnt put that one down until I was finished.
 
matthew said:
The book is excellent. However, it's not entirely comprable to the movie. In the book the character Vincent embodies more of a protaganist. Where Eddie wants to get back into professional pool.


Antagonist, not protagonist. You think as a man who's graduating college in a few weeks. I would be able to use words correctly. Oh well.
 
matthew said:
Antagonist, not protagonist. You think as a man who's graduating college in a few weeks. I would be able to use words correctly. Oh well.


The only words you'll have to worry about and use correctly from here on out are: "Hey boss....I need a raise"! and if you get married: "What do you mean you have a headache again"?
 
drivermaker said:
The only words you'll have to worry about and use correctly from here on out are: "Hey boss....I need a raise"! and if you get married: "What do you mean you have a headache again"?


Forget about getting married. I like money, freedom, beer, and pool too much. I get married, all four of those go down the drain in a spiral of humiliation and servitude.
 
matthew said:
Forget about getting married. I like money, freedom, beer, and pool too much. I get married, all four of those go down the drain in a spiral of humiliation and servitude.


LMAO...Your current wisdom, which is far beyond your years, will only fall victim to the primary brain located in your crank. Can I save this post and make you recite it 100 times on the night before the dirty deed will be performed in front of a massive crowd of giggling sadists?
 
drivermaker said:
LMAO...Your current wisdom, which is far beyond your years, will only fall victim to the primary brain located in your crank. Can I save this post and make you recite it 100 times on the night before the dirty deed will be performed in front of a massive crowd of giggling sadists?

Yeah, what the hell. The day I say "I do", will be right up there with going to the Circus anyway.
 
ajrack said:
I have been trying to get another copy of the movie for about 15 years...know where there is one?

Bert Kinister sells this video, along with all of the old Legends of Billiards tapes. Sorry I don't know his contact info.
 
ajrack

If you do a search on Bert's name in Google, I'm pretty sure you'll find him.


Williebetmore said:
Bert Kinister sells this video, along with all of the old Legends of Billiards tapes. Sorry I don't know his contact info.
 
I'm reading TCOM book by Tevis and I can't understand how they could name the movie the same title. I haven't found hardly anything in the story of the book that relates to the movie. Let me try; he got glasses, he's got a girlfriend, he plays pool again, one of the characters said, "I didn't deserve that", and another said, "It's your worst nightmare", and I think that's about it. That's what I call dramatic license!

So far, I like the book a lot. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie too I guess I'm just flabberghasted that the story in the movie is so different than the one in the book.
 
Marriage

Mathew,

This coming March, my wife and I will have been married 30 years. I play my fair share of pool too and yet when my wife and I are together, we're always touching. I wouldn't trade my marriage for nothing! Just wanted to represent the other side and let you know that you can have everything and be married too.




matthew said:
Yeah, what the hell. The day I say "I do", will be right up there with going to the Circus anyway.
 
This has been a really good thread, and all but a few feel that it comes down to The Hustler vs The Color of Money. In my case, I love both of them. I think those who have argued that the Hustler is more firmly grounded in plausibility have made their case convincingly.

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 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 just because Vincent is an example of artistic license, I ask you to reconsider.
 
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