'The Color of Money' ...it's a perplexing title. I finally got it:

Hi Scott,

I agree that we disagree! :) And not to speak for the NY Times, but as professional film critics I guess they'd say the same. Thanks for your input to the thread.

Best.

Scott Lee said:
Balabushka...All that shows, is that the reviewer/writer didn't know what the heck he was talking about. Eddie was never jealous of Vincent, or his skill ( Eddie knew that he had been better in his own prime...after all he wiped the floor with Minnesota Fats, who was the king at the time). Watch the movie again...Eddie decided on his own (and was feeling pretty 'sporty') about going out and playing a little. For whatever reason (mostly his poor eyesight, and he wasn't drinking at ALL during this part of the movie), he got beat by a few locals, and one hustler (Forrest Whitaker)...and THAT pissed him off. It had nothing to do with Vincent. That's when he told them they didn't need him any more, and he had nothing left to teach them. Obviously the movie reviewer was NOT a poolplayer, and knew nothing about pool...gee, big surprise!:D Interesting to note that although he mentions that Newman was nominated (as was George C. Scott and Piper Laurie), he makes no mention that the movie itself won best picture...again, imo, an omission of ignorance. He did get the last line correct. Eddie & Vincent pair off in the end, with bragging rights (and $8K in an envelope) at stake. Not as good as the original, but imo, a fine remake!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Scott Lee said:
Interesting to note that although he mentions that Newman was nominated (as was George C. Scott and Piper Laurie), he makes no mention that the movie itself won best picture...again, imo, an omission of ignorance.
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Hey Scott, West Side Story won Best Picture that year, not The Hustler. The Hustler won two awards, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Harry Horner Gene Callahan; and Best Cinematography : http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0054997/awards
 
Bill...Oh yeah...I forgot about West Side Story. I knew The Hustler won some awards, but forgot which one(s)! Call it "some-timer's disease"! :D If not for that, The Hustler would have swept all the awards that year!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

BillPorter said:
Hey Scott, West Side Story won Best Picture that year, not The Hustler. The Hustler won two awards, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White
Harry Horner Gene Callahan; and Best Cinematography : http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0054997/awards
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Balabushka...That's what makes this a great site. We can AGREE to disagree, without anybody getting their panties in a bind! :eek: :D Nice discussion...however I still stand behind my "scholarly" take on the movie TCOM! :D :D :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

Balabushka said:
Hi Scott,

I agree that we disagree! :) And not to speak for the NY Times, but as professional film critics I guess they'd say the same. Thanks for your input to the thread.

Best.
Click to expand...
 
Scott Lee said:
Balabushka...That's what makes this a great site. We can AGREE to disagree, without anybody getting their panties in a bind! :eek: :D Nice discussion...however I still stand behind my "scholarly" take on the movie TCOM! :D :D :D

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
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Here here, great discussion. Scorsese would be amused and intrigued I am sure. I am in the film biz and have a buddy who is friends with him and his daughter. I would love to have him ask Marty about this subject.

PS here's a quote from the Turner Classic Movie web review:

"Vexed by his charge's stubbornness, and perhaps slightly jealous of his skill, Eddie begins to play again for distraction. This leads to a bottoming-out when he scrapes up a game with a hulking, portly kid who rambles on about his shock therapy. As the night winds on, the supposed mark (Forest Whitaker, who nearly walks off with the picture in this early role) winds up taking Felson for a small fortune, as a bemused Vince and Carmen look on. The humiliated Felson pulls the plug on the entire venture, leaving the kids to make their way to AC on their own, as he attempts to find some measure of redemption for himself."

Not a slam dunk about my opinion, but it lends towards it..... I KNOW I KNOW, you disagree! :p ;)
 
Overthinking - or: Ockham called, he wants his razor back

Balabushka said:
'The Color of Money' ...it's a perplexing title. I finally got it:

Of course the movie is about hustling and winning money, but the color of money is: Green. Fast Eddie is imeadiately jealous (green with envy) of Vincent at hearing his first "sledghammer" break. The green envy continues and Felson uses it to come out of hiding and try to become great again.

Also, Felson uses Vincent's insane JEALOUSY of his girlfriend to good measure also. In fact, John Turturro as Julian, is very jealous of Vincent's talents, and the fact that Felson is stake horsing him.



Ahhhhhh haaaaaaaaa!:D
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Cloth, envy, dollar bills... not really the least bit perplexing

The title actually comes from a phrase that was very common in Tevis'
formative years<40s - 50s> among gamblers. Or, at least. pop culture
reprensentations of gamblers.

When negoations and discussions got to the point where it was time to
'put up or shut up' one party would often say something like:

"Show me the color of your money" after which action would ensue.

Typically these private, man to man bets had nothing whatsoever to do with pool, or green cloth, or complection change due to envy.

Dale
 
I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan one way or the other, but on a pool forum there shouldn't be an issue. The guy helped pool, whether he meant to or not, more than any poster here, professionals inculded.

Am I wrong?
 
Could it be that vince was "green" when it came to hustling. as in he was new to it. Or maybe the color of the cloth or like the title actually said. It was about what color the money is, plain and simple. No underlying meaning.
 
pdcue said:
Cloth, envy, dollar bills... not really the least bit perplexing

The title actually comes from a phrase that was very common in Tevis'
formative years<40s - 50s> among gamblers. Or, at least. pop culture
reprensentations of gamblers.

When negoations and discussions got to the point where it was time to
'put up or shut up' one party would often say something like:

"Show me the color of your money" after which action would ensue.

Typically these private, man to man bets had nothing whatsoever to do with pool, or green cloth, or complection change due to envy.

Dale
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Spot on. That's what I always automatically assumed the title referred to and had never even thought about any other possibility until reading this thread.

The expression was (and still is in places) very common, especially in Uk, where the only difference of course would be the spelling of "colour":)
 
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