ElSapo
11-14-2003, 11:58 AM
I’m huge fans of both these movies, and the books that spawned them, so I thought I’d post some thoughts on them considering the comments in another thread about them right now.
First off, if you like the movie(s) for the reasons most people here seem to enjoy them then I would highly recommend picking up both books. The Hustler was written in 1959, and the movie pretty accurately follows the book. I actually like the book better; for anyone who plays any game, gambles on anything, or simply aspires to greatness in any field, I think it’s an excellent book to read. Walter Tevis spends a lot of time talking about character and what it takes to win and succeed. I think there’s an entire philosophy in the book about success and winning.
A quote from The Hustler, Bert talking about winning -–
“Unless you’re in a game with a sap or a drunk, when you’re playing for the large money you play the man himself more than you ever play the game. Like in poker, in a really worth-while poker game, everybody knows how it stands with filling straights and flushes, with figuring the pot and counting the cards — I knew all that when I was fifteen. But the man who wins the games is the man who watches for the big money and pulls his guts together and gives himself character enough to stare down five other men and make the bet that nobody else would think of making and follow through with it. It’s not luck — there’s probably no such thing as luck, and if there is you can’t depend on it. All you can do is play the percentages, play your best game, and when the critical bet comes — in every game there is always a critical bet — you hold your stomach tight and push hard. That’s the clutch. And that’s where your born loser loses.”
It’s a great book. I can’t stress that enough.
The Color of Money, the sequel, was written much later, I think early 80s, and the movie does not reflect it at all. The book starts with a rematch of sorts, a televised series of matches between Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats, before moving into Eddie’s return to playing pool and learning to play against a younger generation of players. But Jackie Gleason (who, coincidentally, did all his own shooting in The Hustler) died before the movie was made and so another script was put together.
Essentially, TCOM is a different book from movie, though both are excellent. The book is very much a continuation of The Hustler. But both, really, are about the same thing – character and people. The movies could have been about pool, poker, dominos or horseshoes. The truly great thing about the two movies, and the books, but maybe most of all The Hustler, is that the game of pool is almost irrelevant.
Paul Newman ended up getting the Oscar for Best Actor for TCOM, in what some saw as making up for snubbing him the first time around.
Greatest line from TCOM… “Is that metal on your jacket? [censored].”
It’s just the way he says it…
Read the books.
Tevis also write "The Queens Gambit," about competitive chess, and oddly some science fiction I haven't read. TQG was a pretty good book, but nothing like The Hustler or TCOM.
Just my thoughts...
First off, if you like the movie(s) for the reasons most people here seem to enjoy them then I would highly recommend picking up both books. The Hustler was written in 1959, and the movie pretty accurately follows the book. I actually like the book better; for anyone who plays any game, gambles on anything, or simply aspires to greatness in any field, I think it’s an excellent book to read. Walter Tevis spends a lot of time talking about character and what it takes to win and succeed. I think there’s an entire philosophy in the book about success and winning.
A quote from The Hustler, Bert talking about winning -–
“Unless you’re in a game with a sap or a drunk, when you’re playing for the large money you play the man himself more than you ever play the game. Like in poker, in a really worth-while poker game, everybody knows how it stands with filling straights and flushes, with figuring the pot and counting the cards — I knew all that when I was fifteen. But the man who wins the games is the man who watches for the big money and pulls his guts together and gives himself character enough to stare down five other men and make the bet that nobody else would think of making and follow through with it. It’s not luck — there’s probably no such thing as luck, and if there is you can’t depend on it. All you can do is play the percentages, play your best game, and when the critical bet comes — in every game there is always a critical bet — you hold your stomach tight and push hard. That’s the clutch. And that’s where your born loser loses.”
It’s a great book. I can’t stress that enough.
The Color of Money, the sequel, was written much later, I think early 80s, and the movie does not reflect it at all. The book starts with a rematch of sorts, a televised series of matches between Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats, before moving into Eddie’s return to playing pool and learning to play against a younger generation of players. But Jackie Gleason (who, coincidentally, did all his own shooting in The Hustler) died before the movie was made and so another script was put together.
Essentially, TCOM is a different book from movie, though both are excellent. The book is very much a continuation of The Hustler. But both, really, are about the same thing – character and people. The movies could have been about pool, poker, dominos or horseshoes. The truly great thing about the two movies, and the books, but maybe most of all The Hustler, is that the game of pool is almost irrelevant.
Paul Newman ended up getting the Oscar for Best Actor for TCOM, in what some saw as making up for snubbing him the first time around.
Greatest line from TCOM… “Is that metal on your jacket? [censored].”
It’s just the way he says it…
Read the books.
Tevis also write "The Queens Gambit," about competitive chess, and oddly some science fiction I haven't read. TQG was a pretty good book, but nothing like The Hustler or TCOM.
Just my thoughts...