Have you ever watched the movie "Poolhall Junkies"?

JoeyInCali said:
I guess you have not seen Efren's Pakners.
Filipino Action Musical Pool movie baby.
They were probably going to do a sequel but the other pakner, FPJ, died.
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You're correct. I have not seen it.
 
I thought Poolhall Junkies had some entertaining parts, but the bank shots got kinda old. And at the end when Nick tells Johnny how to play a two-way safety during the climactic match...was a little cheezy. The only pool related movie worse than Shooting Gallery is Up Against the 8. Now that movie was REALLY horrible.

Southpaw
 
I thought PHJ was ok,i mean it was something i could get non pool people watching and they thought it was entertaining.The COM and The Hustler are my favorites,The Hustler being #1 of course but my least favorite movie on pool is Stickmen,worst pool movie ever! :eek:
 
The worst would have to be Kisses and Caroms.... I'm not even sure it had a plot other than hot chick poolplayer works at store.
At least the Baron and the Kid had a plot...
And Kiss Shot.... Whoopie Goldberg as a poolhustler. 'Nuff said.

Can I be one of the cool kids now,too!!!?
 
midnightpulp said:
Is he any good?

In his IMDB profile, it states he's an "accomplished" pool player.

"I am not a real accomplished player, but I play one in film..."

S.
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I enjoy it from time to time, but it takes a backseat to the Hustler and CoM at my house. I like Christopher Walken's speech about being a Lion. It's on YouTube. The script was a little too deliberate - either that or it wasn't acted well. :p
 
Well, for the record, not ONE actor in that movie (including Mars) could pass for a professional pool player. If they had hired someone like Randyg or myself, as a consultant, at least they would have LOOKED the part. Rick Schroeder was the worst, but Mars wasn't any good either. Either Bob LeBlanc couldn't do the job...or Mars didn't care.:rolleyes:

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

CrownCityCorey said:
I saw Mars Callahan, the writer/director/star of that movie, at Hollywood Billiards last week.
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jay helfert said:
I thought they picked the worst name possible, Pool Hall Junkies. UGH!
And who was that stupid Toupee Jay character? What a dork! :)

I actually had people who thought that was me on the screen. I explained to them that the part was played by Richard Portnoy, a fairly well known character actor.

Way too much profanity for me, especially the F word. Seemed like every other word in the script was F this or F that. The plot was thin, the dialogue was weak, and the acting was mediocre. I give it a D.

To date, I have seen exactly one good pool movie, the first one. THE HUSTLER! Now that was a film! Acting, directing, plot, dialogue, sets, realism, it had it all in spades!
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And The Hustler was supposed to be a love story, right ?
highrun55
 
Up against the 8 lmao, it was like they tried to make a parody of a pool movie (LITERALLY) but they were serious. I couldn't even finish it. Picked it up at mall-wort, so what did I expect?
 
***Spoiler Alert*** (for Pool Hall Junkies)

I am about to give away the end of the movie, so if you haven't seen it and don't want to know, change the channel or somethin'.

The only major problem I had with PHJ was that during the entire movie, starting with the beginning, where the guy throws away the "invitation" to the big tournament, the Mars Callahan character wanted to stop being a hustler and become a "respectable" pool player, a professional. So what happens? At the climax of the film, in the "big game" with Rick Schroeder, he uses the cheapest back alley hustle I have ever seen, because he can't win on his own merit.

Sheesh! That "oh no, I paid for your shot, now it's my shot, made me want to puke.
 
midnightpulp said:
Is he any good?

In his IMDB profile, it states he's an "accomplished" pool player.

As for the film, an entertaining piece of fluff. My criticism is that it failed to capture the atmosphere of pool that was so beautifully rendered in "The Hustler" and to some extent in "The Color of Money."

It was too glossy and clean, obviously seeking the younger demographic. There was no mystique, mystery, danger.

Has anyone here seen Rob Nilsson's "Chalk"? I've yet to see it, but Nilsson is a highly regarded Indie filmmaker, who often casts unprofessionals and shoots improvisationally. Ebert gave it 3 stars.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20001027/REVIEWS/10270303/1023
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Beats me if Mars can actually play any. Never seen him except in the movie. The other night he was just sitting around BS'ng with friends and regulars.

I have a copy of "Chalk" on VHS and the audio quality is sooooooooooooooo crappy that you can not even watch the movie. I really tried, but it sucked.
 
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jay helfert said:
To date, I have seen exactly one good pool movie, the first one. THE HUSTLER! Now that was a film! Acting, directing, plot, dialogue, sets, realism, it had it all in spades!
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as well as several Oscars ;)

The social commentary of the "15 years later" sequence of PHJ
was in my opinion some excellent risk taking on film.

The line "like a night at the Apollo" turned into "at the Elks club",
and then "like a pool hall" wasn't even good the first time.

The song no one came to see played was excellent.

Also the scene with the little brothers' crew in the
end credits was pretty funny stuff.

and ironically the line by Rod Steiger "all days are good days, try not having one"
was to be prophetic as this was the last movie he made prior to his death.

What I have not seen mentioned yet is the Johnny Cash movie, "The Baron and the Kid"

Danny
 
RunoutalloverU said:
Up against the 8 lmao, it was like they tried to make a parody of a pool movie (LITERALLY) but they were serious. I couldn't even finish it. Picked it up at mall-wort, so what did I expect?
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Agreed. I watched Up Against the 8 Ball over the weekend. You can make a drinking game out of it. Drink every time the boom mike is visible. That one rule should test the experienced drinkers. You have to laugh at any movie that has a pimp-with-a-heart character. He makes enough money as a pimp that he's able to fund his own rehab center. You can tell it's a rehabilitation center because there is a banner taped to the side of the building that says "Rehabilitation Center".

I had a mini-marathon over the holidays that included Poolhall Junkies, Shooting Gallery, Baron and the Kid, Kiss Shot, and Stickmen.

Poolhall Junkies is light entertainment. It looked like they had a lot of fun making it and that shows in the final cut. Unfortunately, the pool scenes have that horrible cliche where the main character finishes out crucial runs by making unnecessarily fancy shots. When my game is on, I don't pass up stop shots for 2-rail banks.

Shooting Gallery has good production values, but the plot drove me nuts. I consider myself to have at least average intelligence, but I had no idea what was going on at the end.

Kiss Shot contains the worst cliche of all - anyone can pick up a cue after not playing for 10 years and become one of the best in the world in 2 weeks. Yeah, right.:rolleyes:

Stickmen is entertaining and happens to have some pool in it. There were a hundred subjects they could have used, but they picked pool. It's crude and not for everyone.

Baron and the Kid is a solid pool movie. Nice story, nice production. If you have some pool-playing friends over and don't have a copy of The Hustler or TCOM handy, put this one on.

I don't hate any of these movies though. They're entertainment. None of them ever kept a casual player from enjoying a night out shooting pool, and none of them ever caused a serious player to quit the game...I hope.
 
fdambi said:
Everytime I go into a poolhall and I hear someone ask the question, "have you ever watched the movie 'Poolhall Junkies'?"...I feel like kicking them in the sack. Does this make me a bad person?
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This movie was so bad I returned it the same night to the movie store. lol.. There was no way I was going to get a late fee for that crap. hahaa..
 
p1noy said:
It's definitely alot better than Snakes on a Plane..:eek:
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I've said it before and I'll say it again..........if the movie has a great set of boobs in it, how can it be bad?:D SOAP had a great pair, I give it a B+.
 
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