The Color of Money

In order to have fresh content for this blog, I have to consume a lot of media. I always have 2-3 books going at any given time, watch at least two hours of primetime TV series (on DVD right now) per day, and try to take in at least half of a movie every day so I can have materials to review. Every once in a while, get tired of taking notes while I watch TV or movies, so I kick back with an old favorite, grab a bowl of popcorn, and just enjoy the show. Recently, I had a chance to watch The Color of Money again — one of my favorite movies of the 1980s.

The Color of Money is more or less the sequel to the 1961 film The Hustler. Paul Newman reprises his role as “Fast” Eddie Felson, a remarkable pool player who made a living by hustling games at different pool halls around the country. After he became well known, it was impossible for him to hustle anymore, so he gets out of the game. But then he meets Vincent (played by Tom Cruise), a young, obnoxious hotshot who spins and twirls his pool cue after running the table on his opponents.

Eddie sees a lot of himself in Vincent, and decides that together, the two of them can make a lot of money. He then starts teaching Vincent how to hustle, how to dump games in order to set up his opponent for a big payoff.

After some initial objections, Vincent eventually embraces Eddie’s methods, and the two do indeed start cleaning up. But then Eddie and Vincent start seeing things differently and have a bit of a fallout, which sets up their meeting at a big Atlantic City pool tournament.

I won’t give away the ending, but instead recommend that you see the film for yourself. No, it’s not one of Scorsese’s best films; however, it’s a lot of fun and there is definitely some great pool action in it.