Pool Hall Junkies is now on Netflix

I never liked the plot point on the main character being a carpenter being approached by his boss to "hustle in pool." That one point didn't introduce the protagonist dilemma well and that is working a career he does not enjoy. And of course he goes against his own decision in order to help his wife/girlfriend.

I did like how the younger brother and his friends all copy the protagonist. There was room to expand on that idea earlier, like how the brother and the friends sacrifice other choices for playing pool, instead of the pawn shop robbery maybe skipping classes at school, ditching work for playing pool or stealing money from people to gamble at the pool hall.

When I think a great pool scene I want to see more of the dilemma and emotion felt from a tough table situation translated on screen by choices or location. Tough shots at the table feel like there is no way out, they make it easier to "take a chance" then to think about a way out, or sometimes they can make you doubt your own shooting abilities.

"The Hustler" shows the motivation for a character to win and why he wants to win (motivation to win is when other people tell him who to beat, he wants to win after he losses his college hottie to get revenge on the backer). "Poolhall Junkies" shows the motivation for why amateurs might not become pros and what it might take for one to go pro.
 
"Confessions of a Pool Hustler"

Hey playas, let me give y'all a little insight about the movie as I was there for the entire filming and also when the script was first being written. First the movie got started because of all of the stories that I told Mars and Chris Corso while hanging around the H.A.C. The movie was re-written many times because when companies opted the script out they wanted to add this and omit that, so the movie was way different than when it was first written. Mars was only 19 when he started writing the script. Not a bad job for a kid. He got Walken, Palminteri, Steiger, Schroeder, Allison Eastwood and others to do this movie with him for a really good price which is another great acomplishment. I had a total of 1 hour to try to teach Schroeder how to play, which was really hard cause he had never picked up a cue before. I saw things while the movie was being filmed that I would have liked to change right when they were filming but if Walken nailed his part in the scene I couldn't say "Cut do it over cause Schroeder was holding the cue wrong ". Mars was on a super tight budget so we just had to keep on rolling the film. Of course we would have liked to had more money to do a few things different or better but when the auditor is there watching the budget when the money runs out the movie is ended weather its finished or not. All in all the movie was fun to do and we all had a good time, I agree there will never be another "Hustler". Although I hope and wish the best of luck to any body who does any pool movie, it can only help the sport no matter how good or bad it is.
 
Watched The Hustler for the umpteenth time tonight. I was struck once again by how realistic the scenes were. Even the way Paul Newman chalked the cue looked authentic. I could have sworn I saw Willie Mosconi appear in a couple of cameo shots. I know he provided technical assistance to the actors.
 
OneIron said:
Watched The Hustler for the umpteenth time tonight. I was struck once again by how realistic the scenes were. Even the way Paul Newman chalked the cue looked authentic. I could have sworn I saw Willie Mosconi appear in a couple of cameo shots. I know he provided technical assistance to the actors.
Click to expand...

Willie did quite a few shots in the beginning sraight pool scene. In fact he holds the money :)
 
I agree its a poor betrayal of pool and so called acting.. but it does bring recognition to our sport and for that it deserves atleast one thumb up
 
Am I the only one who has ever noticed the inconsistency of one of the first scenes?

The camera pans around a pool room, filled with I think all black men, excluding Johnny. He is talking trash, using the "n" word improperly, and insults the patrons. He seems to know "Chico", but clearly not very well, only in gambling.

After a trip to the restroom where Joe gives him a pep talk, Johnny goes to the bar, has a drink, and finds out from Jay Helfert that Joe never gave him the invite to the pro event when he was 15.

He then walks back into the pool room, shouting "Bet 20 thousand!" or something. He quickly plays Chico, and while Chico is on the hill, pots the 9 with his stick, forfeiting the game, and the 20 thousand.

Then there is talk about how Johnny and Chico knew each other from way back, and how all the trash talk and money flashing was a "sign" to Chico that Johnny was there to burn Joe.

How is this possible though, if Johnny didn't find out about Joe's betrayal until AFTER he had walked into the pool room, talked a lot of trash, and disrespected Chico and Charles?

Blinding inconsistency. That, plus the HORRIBLE cast of "Keno" from TMNT, the Jewish kid, and the virgin, made the movie so awful. It had nothing to do with budget, I don't think, because everything else in the movie was enjoyable. Had they decided to ditch lame teenage jokes about floating boobs and pop rocks, it would have been a pretty damn awesome movie.
 
Jmo

About the only thing I did not like about the movie was dumping the backer. Now the fact is that you could not pick Joe out of a barrel of A$$Holes but dumping a backer to me is just wrong.
 

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