The Hustler (1961)

An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.

Director:

Robert Rossen

Writers:

Sidney Carroll (screenplay), Robert Rossen (screenplay),

Stars:

Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie

Top 250 #194 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 15 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Paul Newman	...	Eddie Felson
Jackie Gleason	...	Minnesota Fats
Piper Laurie	...	Sarah Packard
George C. Scott	...	Bert Gordon
Myron McCormick	...	Charlie Burns
Murray Hamilton	...	Findley
Michael Constantine	...	Big John
Stefan Gierasch	...	Preacher
Clifford A. Pellow	...	Turk (as Cliff Pellow)
Jake LaMotta	...	Bartender
Gordon B. Clarke	...	Cashier
Alexander Rose	...	Score Keeper
Carolyn Coates	...	Waitress
Carl York	...	Young Hustler
Vincent Gardenia	...	Bartender

Storyline

"Fast" Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary "Minnesota Fats" to a high-stakes match, but he loses in a heartbreaking marathon. Now broke and without his long-time manager, Felson faces an uphill battle to regain his confidence and his game. It isn't until he hits rock bottom that he agrees to join up with ruthless and cutthroat manager Bert Gordon. Gordon agrees to take him on the road to learn the ropes. But Felson soon realizes that making it to the top could cost him his soul, and perhaps his girlfriend. Will he decide that this is too steep a price to pay in time to save himself?

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Plot Keywords:

manager | partner | pool hustler | pool hall | hustler | 

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Taglines:

They called him "Fast Eddie"... He was a winner... He was a loser... He was a hustler.

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 1961 (USA)

Also Known As:

Robert Rossen's The Hustler

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rossen Films, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When George C. Scott lost the Best Supporting Actor Oscar to George Chakiris in West Side Story, it essentially started the actor's longstanding feud with the Academy over the fact that political decisions were involved in the choice of who won. This ultimately led to Scott rejecting the Oscar he won in 1970 for his performance in Patton.

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Goofs

During the last pool match, second game, Minnesota Fats has taken his jacket off, loosened his tie and unbuttoned his vest, but one subsequent shot shows him with his tie tightened and wearing a buttoned vest and jacket.

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Quotes

Fast Eddie: Fats, you can't run out on me!
Minnesota Fats: You watch me.

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Connections

Spoofed in Kingpin (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Hustler Theme"
(1961) (uncredited)
Music by Kenyon Hopkins

User Reviews

Superb film by a great director.

Because of his tragically erratic, often interrupted career, Robert Rossen is rarely put into the pantheon of great Hollywood directors. However, he produced three films which deserve a permanent place among the classics, All the Kings Men( probably the best film about American politics), Lilith( one of the greatest films about mental illness) and this, a movie which DESERVES to be ranked with the hundred greatest, and possibly the fifty greatest, American films. It is superbly acted, brilliantly photographed and edited, and directed with clarity and assurance. In a just world ( if there is such a place), an special Oscar would have been bestowed on Newman, Laurie, Scott, and Gleason AS A GROUP. Piper Laurie was unforgettably poignant, Scott unforgettably sleazy, and Gleason... well, Gleason simply IS Minnesota Fats. Paul Newman almost certainly deserved the Oscar.It was an amusing irony, perhaps a little joke by God, that the bartender in the movie was played by none other than Jake LaMotta.