If not for The Color of Money.....

[BRKNRUN]

I believe the "Balabushka" referred to in the Movie was JOSS!:wink:

:grin:

Interesting that Joss made the cue...but.... in the movie the cue was referred to as a Blabushka....That must have meant that the Balabushka was already a popular name that the audience could identify.

So the real question of this thread should be....Did the movie do anything to increase the value/popularity of JOSS????

 

[ridinda9]

it ain't a sequel . . .

Two points about TCOM

1) it's not really a sequel . the BOOK was , because it followed a plausible progression of the characters . In the movie , however , you have the fatal flaw . The Hustler ends with Fast Eddie finally discovering and getting in touch with his inner character . Fast Eddie has also come to despise Burt Gordon , and all that he represents .
Given this , Eddie would NEVER have become a stakehorse , and CERTAINLY NOT for the reason stated ("you've reminded me that money won is twice as sweet as money earned") because The Hustler's Fast Eddie wouldn't have considered it earned .

2) The movies big prediction still hasn't come true : great video game reflexes aren't enough to get you into West Point (thank god !)


The big question is , what effect did TCOM have on STALKER earnings ? :rotflmao1::lol::rotflmao::rotflmao1:

 

[CocoboloCowboy]

Interesting that Joss made the cue...but.... in the movie the cue was referred to as a Blabushka....That must have meant that the Balabushka was already a popular name that the audience could identify.

So the real question of this thread should be....Did the movie do anything to increase the value/popularity of JOSS????

I am sure most who went to see Color of Money would not know a Balabushka from a Joss, and BECAUSE in Movie Making they like Multiples of Everything like Props they choose a Joss because they could have 6 or 7 that all looked alike for the price of one Balabushka.

Props go missing, get broke, damaged, and you need not stop production, and pay a CREWS & ACTORS to sit around because of a DAMAGED PROP.

Both color of Money & The Hustler did great things to spark excitement in the GAME of Pool, but these FAD driven movies fans moved on t the NEXT FAD.

Pool is not growing IMHO because Pool is living in the past, and there are too many POOL PEOPLE TRYING to be a BIG FISH in many LITTLE PONDS, rather than having on Worldwide Pool Governing Origination, & Set of Rules like the PGA is too Golf. JMHO

 

[Zbotiman]

a thought on this subject

Would an original Balabushka be worth near as much as it is because of that movie? How much do you think that movie increased the value?

I sold my personal, Balabushka, playing cue, in July of 85 for $1250. to a friend, pool room owner, and traveling companion. My cue had 2 original Buska shafts, 2 shafts made by Billy Stroud, and 2 shafts made by Gus Szamboti, along with a letter of authenticity from Mr. Szamboti. After the movie came out 7 months later the cue was re-sold for $7250. In 1990 it was re-sold again, to a Japanese collector, for $25,000,00!
"What do you think, that movie have any effect on the perceived value of that cue?" :yeah:

 

[macguy]

Two points about TCOM

1) it's not really a sequel . the BOOK was , because it followed a plausible progression of the characters . In the movie , however , you have the fatal flaw . The Hustler ends with Fast Eddie finally discovering and getting in touch with his inner character . Fast Eddie has also come to despise Burt Gordon , and all that he represents .
Given this , Eddie would NEVER have become a stakehorse , and CERTAINLY NOT for the reason stated ("you've reminded me that money won is twice as sweet as money earned") because The Hustler's Fast Eddie wouldn't have considered it earned .

2) The movies big prediction still hasn't come true : great video game reflexes aren't enough to get you into West Point (thank god !)


The big question is , what effect did TCOM have on STALKER earnings ? :rotflmao1::lol::rotflmao::rotflmao1:

I haven't read it in years but if I remember right in the book The Hustler the girl doesn't die and Eddie and Burt Gordon go off together in the end and are friends.

 

[Johnny9]

Back in the early '80s, in my area, in the northeast, Szambotis were the cue being talked about, before "The Color of Money". The name "Balabushka" rolls off the tongue, and sounds impressive, perfect for the movie. I agree with another poster who said that it may have possibly helped Joss more than Balabushka. I agree, in terms of sales, and the fact that Joss is still making cues. Exponentially, however, the Balabushka name, I believe, has profited more, in a variety of ways. There is no name, arguably, more revered.

 

[beerpressure]

TCOM ending really disappointed me. I was left saying "That's it?!"

 

[Johnny9]

TCOM ending really disappointed me. I was left saying "That's it?!"

Hi, yes, the match between them at the end should have been the focal point. Showing just how far "Fast Eddie" had come back, and how unexperienced "Vince" was. I would love to have seen some serious pool to end the movie, with Eddie winning, just to teach Vince his final lesson. Just like "The Hustler".

 

[ridinda9]

I haven't read it in years but if I remember right in the book The Hustler the girl doesn't die and Eddie and Burt Gordon go off together in the end and are friends.

For a MOVIE to have a SEQUEL , there must be CONTINUITY from the first movie to the second.
Using your example , perhaps TCOM could have started with Sarah calling Fast Eddie on the telephone to rekindle their long - lost love ? THAT would have confused a few moviegowers !

 

[book collector]

If not for color of money

How much would they sell for if no Blue Book Of Cues?
I have to give the people who wrote the book about collectible billiards items a compliment .
3 months after the book comes out , they start selling their collection, which just happens to have all the stuff in the book in it.
Now thats genius, I don't care where you're from.

 

[pdcue]

As I always understood it, both Fast Eddie's and Minnesota Fats' cues were Rambows that Willie Mosconi lent them (and then gave them) for the movie.

I just finished both the Hustler and Color of Money novels, don't recall Balabushka mentioned in either...might have missed it. Although the COM movie had a good storyline (in my opinion), I wish they'd done the book instead...Jackie Gleason was reportedly ticked off that he wasn't brought back for the COM (he died very soon after). Pretty depressing story, may not have generated as much interest among the non-fanatics, though.

I agree with everyone else, it's time for another movie to reinvigorate the pool rooms...I've been through the pre and post COM scene and remember the explosion very well--and my father saw the post Hustler boom and remembers it well. Pool needs new blood to come in and thin out us a little...more tournaments, more action, more fun!!

I'm still waiting for promoters to come up with a formula that would resemble the snooker scene in the UK...I just spent three years in London and spent nearly every spare minute watching the endless action on the TV there. Every player has a back story, personality, controversy, etc. Everything that the movies generate in the public interest is there in the tournament coverage. Perhaps if we had ONE GOVERNING BODY, culminating in the U.S. Open and then a real World Championship, instead of the hundreds of regional tours. The small tours are great fun for those of us that try them out, but for getting the TV coverage, you need one big invitational tournament series that can capture the drama, highlight/create legends and backstories, maybe linking it to the 1940s era of Greenleaf v. Mosconi, complete with dress codes.

Sorry, the story about Willie giving away cues is a myth. There is a
good reason for it, but that is for another day...

Herman made new cues for the shoot - there was a story many years ago
in Billiards Digest, I think. It might even have been the predessor,
Bowling and Billiards Journal. Herman recalls the story of people
associated with "The Hustler" comming to him and wanting two cues made
double fast - he even mentions they wanted 'a piece of ivory' in one of
them. He told with some pride how he got $275 for the two cues, which
was close to tripple the normal price...

George Fels might recall when the article ran.

As for Snooker-esque coverage, that is a wet dream pool fans
have been indulging in since the 70s.

The short version is: this isn't England, nor anything close.
The brutal truth is Pool is not a popular spectator sport. Even pool players
don't watch pool, and the mainstream TV audience has zero interest
in watching pool on TV. Plus, sponsors won't touch it with a
hundred-and-10-foot-pole.

Dale

 

[ctyhntr]

Sarah (Piper Laurie's character) committed suicide in The Hustler, after Bert raped her. Unlike Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible movies, its going to be hard to explain her coming back to life.

In the Color of Money, when Fast Eddie took over Bert's role as the Backer, he merely jostled and warned Carmen, Vincent's girlfriend not to prance around in her underwear. Another example that he was consciously different from Bert.


I'm going to throw my proposal out there which combines Pool Hall Junkies and The Color of Money.

Johnny, Mars Callahan's character from PHJ, after seeing there is no money has given up professional pool in order to play poker. He wears a hood and dark sunglasses. He satisfy his passion for pool by playing in his brother's 8-ball bar league team. They have made it into the Las Vegas Nationals five years running, and always made it into the money round. This year, he has been warned by league officials of complaints coming in from other team captains, and was told don't be surprised if he got bumped up to a 6.

A new big money poker tournament is coming up and Vincent needs Johnny to play in the tournament. Vincent offers to stakeorse Johnny, gives Eddie's old Balabushka as an incentive. Later when Johnny is down on his luck, he'll try to pawn the Balabushka. He walks into Rick Harrison's Pawn Shop in Las Vegas while they're filming Pawn Stars and try to sell the Balabushka only to discover it was Joss N-7 tribute cue. The producers of Pawn Stars pays Johnny for appearing on the show, so he use that as his stake money to enter a poker tournament against Vincent.

For a MOVIE to have a SEQUEL , there must be CONTINUITY from the first movie to the second.
Using your example , perhaps TCOM could have started with Sarah calling Fast Eddie on the telephone to rekindle their long - lost love ? THAT would have confused a few moviegowers !

 

[SuzieQ]

Balabushka is the Color of Money

I beleive "The Color of Money" did for balabushka the same as the movie "Dirty Harry" did for the Smith & Wesson Model 29 44. magnum; drove the price out of sight! Everyone wants to have the same equipment and in their minds eye be like the hero. Ergo, right equipment, skill not required. This is not to down play the beauty or pride of ownership of either.