Review By: Andrea Tuccillo
AndreaTuccillo@TheCinemaSource.com

“Fast” Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) and his pool hustling partner Charlie (Myron McCormick) step into a silent, empty pool hall and have a look around. Charlie observes to Eddie, “It’s quiet.” Eddie replies with a twinkle in his eye, “Yeah, like a church.”

If the pool hall is a church, then Eddie Felson thinks he’s God. This self-assured, over-confident young man is a hustler—gambling on pool games to make a living and taking unsuspecting amateur pool players for their money in the process. But on this day, he isn’t after the amateurs; he’s got his eye on the big-time. Not only does he want to take on the greatest pool player in the country, Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), but he’s arrogantly sure he can beat him, too.

So begins Robert Rossen’s 1961 marvelous drama, The Hustler, a classic that stands the test of time on an all-new Collector’s Edition two-disc set. The pool game with Fats doesn’t go exactly as Eddie planned and after an exhausting 36-hour match he’s left broke and beat. Eddie is sidelined from pool for a while, leaving his partner and beginning a volatile, closed-door relationship with a troubled woman named Sarah (Piper Laurie).

After the two spend their first night together Sarah warns in her throaty voice, “I’ve got troubles and I think maybe you’ve got troubles. Maybe it would be better if we just leave each other alone.” But neither one of them do. As Sarah falls in love with Eddie, Eddie’s passion for pool returns and his fierce determination to take on Minnesota Fats resurfaces. Things get more complicated when a ruthless gambler named Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) appoints himself Eddie’s manager and goes head to head with Sarah in a battle for Eddie’s loyalty. Sarah tragically falls victim to Bert’s sinister ways and Eddie realizes the cruel price of winning. He goes back to face Minnesota Fats one last time as a changed man in the film’s powerful and poignant ending.

The Hustler is ultimately not a movie about pool, but a character driven piece. (For someone who is not a pool player, this movie is one of my all-time favorites.) Perhaps what makes it so interesting is that it does not focus on winners or heroes. The film is essentially about losers; damaged, flawed individuals who struggle with life.

Paul Newman in particular gives one of the greatest performances of his career as Fast Eddie Felson. With his smoldering, boyish good looks and mischievous grin, Newman creates the perfect anti-hero. There’s much to dislike about Eddie—he’s bold, he’s brash, he lies, he tosses people aside—but yet you find yourself relating to him and rooting for him in a very genuine way.

The supporting characters all give career-best performances as well. Piper Laurie’s raw, emotional portrayal of the crippled Sarah is one of them. There is a quiet sadness to her performance as Eddie’s self-destructive lover who wants desperately for Eddie to love ...