This blog entry is part of my "movie recommendation site suggestions". Read more about that here.
The Hustler
This was one of the most highly recommended movies for me from all three of the different recommendation sites, thus my expectations were incredibly high. Unfortunately they were not met, but fortunately it was still a good movie certainly worth seeing.
The acting is the great thing here. Paul Newman, George C. Scott, Piper Laurie, and Jackie Gleason are the big names and all fairly compelling. Scott is my favorite here. He usually is. The actual pool playing was pretty cool too although sometimes a little disconnected. I guess it's the reality of the game that what really counts is endurance. But you don't really get the sense of intensity that each shot really counts that much except in a few cases.
What turned me off a bit was what I think of as a Tennessee Williams kind of low class couple drama. Specifically, the relationship between Eddie Felson and Sarah Packard had a Streetcar Named Desire type feel to it. Young poor couples in a dirty urban apartment in their wife beaters and crude talk. These aren't my favorite kind of people to watch on screen. At least I get sick of them pretty quickly. Actually I've seen a few pictures and descriptions of Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof also with Paul Newman, and it sounds like it's right along these lines as well. It's playing at the movies in the park at Grant Park this year in Chicago. I don't plan on going. Anyways, I thought this was going to be a bit more noirish for some reason, but it wasn't and that was kind of a disappointment.
My brain is mush right now. I wish I could conjure up more to say about this famous movie right now, but I've got nothing else.
Rating: 8/10