I actually think that those two movies are not good for the proper imagine of pool.
They focus way to much on the gambling aspect of pool. Out of those two movies there is only one scene that really shows what it is to play pool well. Its the picnic scene when Eddy has his hands in casts.
I think what is missed in the Huslter is that Eddy didn't care about the money but it was all about being the best, playing the best, just doing something well, not the money.
Color of Money was all about the money, to a point. When Eddy got huslted, the old desire from the Huslter came out, wasn't about the money, was about winning. Not sure if anyone noitced this or was more focused on the money, the huslte or what.
I say these things cause I overheard a conversation recently between a regular player and the room owner. It was all about action, gambling, who lost big, who win big, how to get the weight you want and so on. The tricks used to hustle people and so on.
Nothing about the beauty of the sport. The art of running balls, breaking out clusters, opening up a rack like in 14.1. But then again, they were talking about 9 ball.
Seem to me, there's a belief that if a player doesn't gamble, then they are not pool players. Thing is, thinking this way, you may miss playing some of the best players around, me being one of them. I have yet to understand why money is such a motivating factor in playing someone unless it is because people see these two movies and believe thats the way pool is.
Pool is fortunate in having several version of the game. I think thats a plus not a weakness. By having a variety of games, one can find the game that suits them best.
The best thing would be a film about a young, up and coming player. Something that shows how hard the training is, positive support from family memebers, what it's really like to play in a real tourney, behind the scenes during tourneys and so on. Something that protrays pool in a positive way, that show the good values one learns from playing pool.
FWIW
