Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason are the runaway stars of this film. I really don't know anything about the world of competitive pool so it was very informative. The thing I found that was a little weird at first was how they have these marathon pool sessions and even if you beat somebody safe for 20 straight hours if they come back and win everything in the last five hours that you still lose the game. Can't imagine football or baseball work in the same way but alas it is explained in the movie why it works like that. Really this movie tried to tackle a lot of different very heavy themes and does a good enough job doing it. Competitive pool, gambling addiction, alcohol Addiction, suicide, the obsession that comes with the need to be the best at something. It does a decent enough job tackling these heavy issues with very good performances from the leads so worth a watch one time
Review of The Hustler
