The Color of Money - Movie vs Book

BC21

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
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Here's a great little thrift store find that I consider false advertising.

Anyone who sees this cover will think this is the movie story of the same title, starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. But it's not.

This Walter Tevis book is actually the real sequel to the Hustler, which is a completely different story than the movie advertised on the cover. Lol

Anyway, if you've read The Color of Money, what did you think about it? Which story did you like more as a good sequel to the Hustler, the movie version or the actual book that Tevis wrote?
 

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I liked the COM book. The Hustler was the better film but the book was relatively short. I think he expanded a sort story. I agree that the book version of COM would not have adapted well. I don’t think the COM - book or movie- was a true sequel to the book The Hustler IIRC the end of the book.
 
I feel they are such different works that it almost doesn't make sense to compare them. One was a movie that told the story of hotshot players and hustles. Another was a story about growing older and the growth that comes from it. This is just a one sentence take of course, my point is that if they didn't share the same title and characters I wouldn't have ever connected that they were connected in any way.

I enjoyed both of course. I saw the movie when I was very young and it was very exciting to see players running tables, throwing money around, and out playing each other on and off the table.

I didn't read the book until much later, and I found it very rich. So many scenes I enjoyed. Eddie reuniting with Fats and once again having his tender spots exposed, the 8 ball money match that echoed of the Finley 3 cushion game in some ways, his attempts to retool himself to compete with the 9 ball youngsters, and even the sideline about his struggles trying to run a retail store and manage his life and relationship. It was a deeply enjoyable read, one I might have to revisit someday.

So being a pool purist, a Tevis fan, and a book snob, I vote for the book on this one.
 
Tin Man said:
I feel they are such different works that it almost doesn't make sense to compare them. One was a movie that told the story of hotshot players and hustles. Another was a story about growing older and the growth that comes from it. This is just a one sentence take of course, my point is that if they didn't share the same title and characters I wouldn't have ever connected that they were connected in any way.

I enjoyed both of course. I saw the movie when I was very young and it was very exciting to see players running tables, throwing money around, and out playing each other on and off the table.

I didn't read the book until much later, and I found it very rich. So many scenes I enjoyed. Eddie reuniting with Fats and once again having his tender spots exposed, the 8 ball money match that echoed of the Finley 3 cushion game in some ways, his attempts to retool himself to compete with the 9 ball youngsters, and even the sideline about his struggles trying to run a retail store and manage his life and relationship. It was a deeply enjoyable read, one I might have to revisit someday.

So being a pool purist, a Tevis fan, and a book snob, I vote for the book on this one.
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My thoughts exactly. Fact is, I have zero interest in watching the movie again. Watched it once a few decades ago, and it was cool, but that was enough for me. I've watched the Hustler several times, and also read the book twice. I've read the COM book twice over the years, and I know I'll read it again. It's a more genuine story, a more realistic story, compared to the movie that shares the same title.
 
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JPB2 said:
Somebody said this was true of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Probably correctly.
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The difference here is that, at least with Ken kesey's book, the movie was the same story. The COM book and COM movie are two completely different stories.
 
I have read The Hustler, the short story recently. This was expanded into a book and then a movie made from that. Very little to relate story to movie and I understand the novel is the same, little in common with the hustler movie. Hollywood has a way of claiming something was based on a book when they have little or nothing in common. Don Quixote USA was hilarious, Bananas was supposed to take place after the book. Compared to the book it was awful!

As a general rule I try to see movies first. That way I can judge the movie without trying to compare it to a great book and the movie falling short. There was a great film noir to be made from the hustler short story. Haven't read the book but I have heard it is good. The hustler movie escaped film noir and is a great movie that can stand on it's own without the pool angle. Of course the pool angle is what I saw first. If I were directing I would have given Jackie another ten or fifteen minutes and he would have completely stolen the movie. He was perfect for the role.

Hu
 
Preferred the Hustler movie…..the book ending was depressing …Fast Eddy caved.
t
The Color of Money book was better IMO…there were nuances that the movie missed….like when Fast Eddy warmed up at the tournament….they didn’t know who the old guy was but he could obviously play…then when he cream-puffs his first break and one of the watchers says “Straight pool player.”…it made me think that Tevis understood the subtleness of the game.
 
Regarding COM read the book a couple of times and saw the movie a couple of times. Neither one was a knock out although they fared better than 'The Baltimore Bullet' and way way way better thaN 'Pool Hall Junkies' which was a complete joke of a movie if you could even call it that.

In the COM book there was a character toward the end by the name of Earl Borchard I believe who was obviously based on Strickland.
The Hustler movie and book stand on their own as being untouchable.
 
pt109 said:
Preferred the Hustler movie…..the book ending was depressing …Fast Eddy caved.
t
The Color of Money book was better IMO…there were nuances that the movie missed….like when Fast Eddy warmed up at the tournament….they didn’t know who the old guy was but he could obviously play…then when he cream-puffs his first break and one of the watchers says “Straight pool player.”…it made me think that Tevis understood the subtleness of the game.
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Pick up your phone a hole 😆
 
Back when COM came out, a pool playing friend of mine remarked that the more you liked and understood pool the less you would enjoy it. The less you knew about pool, the more you would like it.
 
And, yes, the book COM and the movie COM share almost no genetic material.

Also, there is a term for works of fiction which are caught in the gap between a short story and a novel. It‘s “novella.” No, I don’t know what Karl Boyes would call it.
 
Tobermory said:
And, yes, the book COM and the movie COM share almost no genetic material.

Also, there is a term for works of fiction which are caught in the gap between a short story and a novel. It‘s “novella.” No, I don’t know what Karl Boyes would call it.
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If one of the players go broke….it‘s called a short story. 😎
 
ShootingArts said:
I have read The Hustler, the short story recently. This was expanded into a book and then a movie made from that. Very little to relate story to movie and I understand the novel is the same, little in common with the hustler movie. Hollywood has a way of claiming something was based on a book when they have little or nothing in common. Don Quixote USA was hilarious, Bananas was supposed to take place after the book. Compared to the book it was awful!

As a general rule I try to see movies first. That way I can judge the movie without trying to compare it to a great book and the movie falling short. There was a great film noir to be made from the hustler short story. Haven't read the book but I have heard it is good. The hustler movie escaped film noir and is a great movie that can stand on it's own without the pool angle. Of course the pool angle is what I saw first. If I were directing I would have given Jackie another ten or fifteen minutes and he would have completely stolen the movie. He was perfect for the role.

Hu
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Not sure what Hustler story you read. With The Hustler book, by Tevis, the movie is goes along with the book quite well, with the exception that Eddie's girl doesn't die. In the book, she just leaves leaves him. Besides that, there isn't any major difference between the book and the movie.
 
pt109 said:
Preferred the Hustler movie…..the book ending was depressing …Fast Eddy caved.
t
The Color of Money book was better IMO…there were nuances that the movie missed….like when Fast Eddy warmed up at the tournament….they didn’t know who the old guy was but he could obviously play…then when he cream-puffs his first break and one of the watchers says “Straight pool player.”…it made me think that Tevis understood the subtleness of the game.
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Tevis was a player, not a great player, but he loved to play and wasn't bad. He also loved chess, which is why he wrote The Queen's Gambit, and that was eventually turned into a limited Netflix series.
 
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