The Hustler: Cut Scenes, etc.

[Biloxi Boy]

I am researching the pool scenes/games in "The Hustler", and I ran into the following in Wikipedia:

"Rossen filmed The Hustler over six weeks, entirely in New York City. Much of the action was filmed at two now-defunct pool halls, McGirr's and Ames Billiard Academy . . . Willie Mosconi served as technical advisor on the film and shot a number of the trick shots in place of the actors. All of Gleason's shots were his own; they were filmed in wide-angle to emphasize having the actor and the shot in the same frames. Rossen, in pursuit of the style he termed "neo-neo-realistic", hired actual street thugs, enrolled them in the Screen Actors Guild and used them as extras. Scenes that were included in the shooting script but did not make it into the final film include a scene at Ames pool hall establishing that Eddie is on his way to town (originally slated to be the first scene of the film) and a longer scene of Preacher talking to Bert at Johnny's Bar which establishes Preacher is a junkie."

Which got me to thinking -- Why is there no Director's Cut, or collection of outtakes/cut scenes? As much interest as there is in the movie, I would think that it would have been done long ago. But, as I have often proven, just because I think it, don't make it so. (In an old AZB thread, someone mentioned there was a DVD of the movie that also had additional scenes. Anyone know the details of this?)

I am still working on this, so if you can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BilliardsAbout]

I cannot remember if this greatest of all pool film resources has the details on Hustler outtakes: https://www.billiardsmovies.com

 

[L.S. Dennis]

I am researching the pool scenes/games in "The Hustler", and I ran into the following in Wikipedia:

"Rossen filmed The Hustler over six weeks, entirely in New York City. Much of the action was filmed at two now-defunct pool halls, McGirr's and Ames Billiard Academy . . . Willie Mosconi served as technical advisor on the film and shot a number of the trick shots in place of the actors. All of Gleason's shots were his own; they were filmed in wide-angle to emphasize having the actor and the shot in the same frames. Rossen, in pursuit of the style he termed "neo-neo-realistic", hired actual street thugs, enrolled them in the Screen Actors Guild and used them as extras. Scenes that were included in the shooting script but did not make it into the final film include a scene at Ames pool hall establishing that Eddie is on his way to town (originally slated to be the first scene of the film) and a longer scene of Preacher talking to Bert at Johnny's Bar which establishes Preacher is a junkie."

Which got me to thinking -- Why is there no Director's Cut, or collection of outtakes/cut scenes? As much interest as there is in the movie, I would think that it would have been done long ago. But, as I have often proven, just because I think it, don't make it so. (In an old AZB thread, someone mentioned there was a DVD of the movie that also had additional scenes. Anyone know the details of this?)

I am still working on this, so if you can help, it would be greatly appreciated.

This is the only scene I have that wasn't in the film that we saw in the theaters

 

[Biloxi Boy]

I'd be interested in seeing this:

According to editor Dede Allen, an entire scene from this film was omitted after much deliberation between Allen and her director Robert Rossen. Even though both agreed that the scene, an impassioned speech by Eddie in the pool room, was possibly the best part of his entire performance, they had to throw it out because "...it didn't move the story." Paul Newman, though Oscar-nominated, later claimed that the deleted scene most likely cost him the Academy Award

The Hustler (1961) - TV Tropes

Billing Displacement: Jackie Gleason gets second billing yet has twenty minutes worth of screentime. Cast the Expert: Robert Rossen hired real street thugs and enrolled them in the Screen Actors Guild so that they could be used as extras. The …

tvtropes.org