Monday, July 15, 2013

The Hustler (1961)

Director: Robert Rossen                                Writers: Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen
Film Score: Kenyon Hopkins                         Cinematography: Eugene Shuftan
Starring: Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott and Jackie Gleason

This is one of the greatest films of the sixties, if not of all time. The Hustler is wonderful, the production design and photography are beautiful, the direction is great, the music is unique, and the acting is brilliant. It’s a heart-wrenching story that never fails to move, and yet there is a glimmer of hope at the end that has made this an enduring classic. The story began as a novel by Walter Tevis, about a pool hustler named Fast Eddie Felson and a legendary pool player by the name of Minnesota Fats--a fictional name that was later appropriated by Rudolf Wanderone in the seventies. The film was nominated for nine Oscars and though it won only two, for production design and cinematography, it has remained one of the most popular films to this day while others from that year have not. It's so good that it spawned a sequel twenty-five years later, The Color of Money, that won Paul Newman an Academy Award.

The movie begins with Newman and the great Frank Craven going into a bar and hustling the bartender, Vincent Gardenia, out of some cash. The purpose has been to get enough cash together to play Jackie Gleason as the legendary Minnesota Fats. In the pool hall watching is Michael Constantine, and in a small role the actual greatest pool player of all time, Willie Mosconi. Starting slowly, a hundred dollars a game, Eddie does well, then ups it to one thousand a game and wins almost twenty thousand dollars before spiraling into drunkenness and losing it all. After that he abandons Craven and hooks up with Piper Laurie and finds love. Later, stake horse George C. Scott takes him under his wing and things begin to go great until . . . the loser in him comes out again, but this time with disastrous consequences.

There is so much to praise in this film. Robert Rossen was incredibly inspired, creating a believable pool playing and gambling underworld. And with the genius of Eugene Shuftan--who developed a special effect technique that was named after him--behind the camera the results are stunning. But the acting is what really makes the film. Newman is electric as Felson, emotionally mercurial and unable to control his talent. Laurie is also magnificent as his girl, a drunk who comes to life with Newman but wants a more normal relationship that he’s unable to give her. George C. Scott is deceptively good, with insight into all the characters and using that knowledge against them. Jackie Gleason in his most famous role is magnetizing on the screen as Fats. But there are even more great cameos. Charles Dierkop shows up in a barroom scene, William Duell as a fellow hustler, Murray Hamilton as a mark, and boxer Jake LaMotta as a bartender.

It’s a lengthy film, but every second is necessary, whether building character or creating suspense or delivering drama. Aided in that effort is one of the most famous aspects of the film: the score by Kenyon Hopkins. There had been jazz influenced scores before, and orchestrated jazz film music, but this score used a small combo to deliver continuous jazz featuring the also sax and makes the pool scenes come alive with music that is so wedded to the images that it creates an unforgettable atmosphere. The Hustler is one of the greatest films of all time, a wonderful character study and an incredibly dramatic story. It’s a satisfying film on every level and a must for everyone’s film collection.

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