The Hustler

Ralph Kramden

Ralph Kramden

BOOM!.. ZOOM!.. MOON!
Silver Member
The movie HUSTLER shows Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie Felson playing straight pool for hours on end.

Eddie is winning big and wants Fats to play him for $1000 a game.

Fats tells the Preacher to get him some whiskey. Eddie does the same.

Are they both drinking whiskey? Or is this Fats Hustle?

Fats - "Preach! Go down and get me some White Tavern whiskey, a glass and some ice."

Eddie - "Preacher! Go on down and get me some bourbon, J.T.S. Brown. No ice. No glass."

The "White Tavern whiskey" may have been known by Preacher as a bottle containing either little or no alcohol.

Eddie was drinking straight bourbon from the bottle. Eddie got smashed and lost all his winnings and then some.

Were both Fats and Eddie drinking whiskey? Fats was sober. Was this FATS HUSTLE?
 
I think it was to show Eddie that he's ready to go. Eddie was just trying to keep up which is what I think Fats also wanted. You'll also notice that Fats didn't drink a whole lot before that part.
 
Fats drank alright. The diffrence was he knew how much he could drink.
It was part of the "character" he had that Eddie did not.

So what beat me?

Character.

Yeah, sure, sure.

You're damn right
I'm sure.

Everybody's got talent.
I got talent.

You can't play poker
for hours on talent.

Minnesota Fats
isn't the best

just because
he's got talent.

Minnesota Fats has
more character than you.

I got drunk.

He drank as much
as you did.

Maybe he knows
how to drink.

You think that's a talent,
too?
 
It was to show Eddie's true character (or lack there of) and that he wasnt ready to win it all. He was scared and confident on both sides but playing a guy like Fats you cant have a shread of doubt :cool:
 
RunoutJJ said:
Actually it was a novel first but im pretty sure you already knew that :wink:

Read the novel its way better...
Click to expand...

Actually he was speaking of the movie.

It actually wasnt a novel first, it was a short story that appeared in Playboy 1957. I have several copies, and it makes a great art work display in gameroom.

Dont mess with an old fanatic...:rolleyes:

Ken
 
Ken_4fun said:
Actually he was speaking of the movie.

It actually wasnt a novel first, it was a short story that appeared in Playboy 1957. I have several copies, and it makes a great art work display in gameroom.

Dont mess with an old fanatic...:rolleyes:

Ken
Click to expand...

Well in that case don't forget this bad boy the next time your playing......


























































Wheelchair.jpg
:lol:
 
ok, ok, just to add fuel to the conspiracy fire....how about when Fats says "get it a Johnny's"?

did Johnny give him a bottle of apple juice to extend mystique of the hustle? lol

bah..ignore me, i've had too much wine at this point.

Happy hols all :grin::grin::grin:
 
Product Description
When it was first published in 1959, The Hustler was the first—and the best—novel written about billiards in the 400-year history of the game. The book quickly won a respected readership and later an audience for the movie with the same name starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. The Hustler is about the victories and losses of one "Fast" Eddie Felson, a poolroom hustler who travels from town to town conning strangers into thinking they could beat him at the game when in fact, he is a skillful player who has never lost a game. Until he meets his match in Minnesota Fats, the true king of the poolroom, causing his life to change drastically. This is a classic tale of a man’s struggle with his soul and his self-esteem.
 
Pool players think it is a story about pool.

Women, I am told, think it is a Romeo and Juliet love story.

I just think, guys who play billiards instead of pool may be light in the loafers.....:wink:

Ken
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Ralph Kramden said:
The movie HUSTLER shows Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie Felson playing straight pool for hours on end.

OK Guys. The character in the movie is NOT named Minnesota Fats, never referenced once as Minnesota Fats, and the author of the novel advised he never heard of Minnesota Fats, and was named after a character I believe was known as New York Fats. Mr. Wanderone (M/Fats) took the name and used the movie to further establish himself, but that is what he did best. He was a great self promoter and he saw an opportunity and ran with it. One of the many reasons he will be inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame this year at DCC.
Click to expand...

At work from memory,
Fats walks up to Eddie shooting says "you shoot a good stick mister, is your name Felson? Eddie Felson? I hear you've been looking for me. Eddie says You're Minnesota Fats aren't you.

Also the guy walks up to him and asks if he's here to play Minnesota Fats.
That name was used quite a bit in the movie
Click to expand...
 
Exile said:
ok, ok, just to add fuel to the conspiracy fire....how about when Fats says "get it a Johnny's"?

did Johnny give him a bottle of apple juice to extend mystique of the hustle? lol

bah..ignore me, i've had too much wine at this point.

Happy hols all :grin::grin::grin:
Click to expand...


Fats told him to get it at Johnny's because that was where his backer was at.............it was his way of getting the word to him.............:cool:
 
Andrew Henson said:
ChicagoRJ said:
At work from memory,
Fats walks up to Eddie shooting says "you shoot a good stick mister, is your name Felson? Eddie Felson? I hear you've been looking for me. Eddie says You're Minnesota Fats aren't you.

Also the guy walks up to him and asks if he's here to play Minnesota Fats.
That name was used quite a bit in the movie
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking, as well. Particularly when Eddie and his Partner first went in the pool hall and the stranger asked if he was there to play Minnesota Fats. He then told him to go home that Fats didn't need his money.
Click to expand...
 
Ken_4fun said:
Pool players think it is a story about pool.
Women, I am told, think it is a Romeo and Juliet love story.
I just think, guys who play billiards instead of pool may be light in the loafers.....:wink:
Click to expand...

I always thought it was a story about addiction. Eddy is addicted to the adrenaline rush of playing big-time and sacrifices his love to his vice. It could be pool, poker or any other addictive game.

Funny how a good, subtle movie such as the Hustler gives everyone what they want to find in it.

Speaking of good pool movies, I'd like to recommend this one: The Shooting Gallery. It's the sort of movie that kinda looks crappy the first time you watch it, but when you watch it a second time, you see the subleties in the plot, pay attention to the great soundtrack and the strange ambiance of the film. A really good, underrated flick!
 
ChicagoRJ said:
OK Guys. The character in the movie is NOT named Minnesota Fats, never referenced once as Minnesota Fats, and the author of the novel advised he never heard of Minnesota Fats, and was named after a character I believe was known as New York Fats. Mr. Wanderone (M/Fats) took the name and used the movie to further establish himself, but that is what he did best. He was a great self promoter and he saw an opportunity and ran with it. One of the many reasons he will be inducted into the One Pocket Hall of Fame this year at DCC.
Click to expand...
You sir are a bit confused.

The character in the movie was most certainly named Minnesota Fats.

Rudolf Wanderone (also known as Triple Smart Fats, New York Fats, or just Fats) took the name Minnesota Fats because he wanted to promote himself as the inspiration for the movie.

Though the author Walter Tevis denied ever knowing or meeting Wanderone, I for one believe that Wanderone was at least one of the inspirations for Minnesota Fats. Maybe not in character but just from the idea of a large high profile pool player.

Fred
 
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