The Color of Money (1986)

The Color of Money (1986)

The reputation of this films rides partly on its director, a mainstream Martin Scorsese, and on the previous film it bounces off of (and makes vague reference to), The Hustler. Key to both films is the astonishing Paul Newman, who holds his end of the stick and then some. The rest of the cast is purely in canned and competent support roles, or in semi-star roles by two young actors with some screen presence but no great subtle skill to match Newman's.

I'm speaking not only of Mary Elizabeth Mastrontonio, who is forced to play the slightly tough, slightly sexy, generally submissive girlfriend, but also of Tom Cruise, who is brilliant at being "flakey" partly because he is in real life, from all accounts. You give Scorsese credit here for using the young actor in a role that matches his natural persona, in contrast to others, including Spielberg, who seem to make more of the actor than there is, and a certain falseness gets in the way. But this film uses the awkwardness and naive, boyish qualities of Cruise as a sudden pool shark really well.

What holds it all back? I think basically plot. I mean, it's fun to see the big hustle at play, and to get stung once or twice when things aren't what they seem. But we sort of know going in that that's the general plan, and then it happens. And it takes a long time happening...there are no (no) complications here, beyond pool and hustling. The romances, for what they are worth, a completely thin, and didn't have to be. The settings, all these great (great) poolhalls and small town joints are terrific, populated a little too perfectly by locals of all different stripes. The camera-work makes some fairly cinema verite footage make sense in the scenes, but not with either edge or lyricism.

This all sounds a little like I'm working hard to point out the flaws, and I must go back to where I started about Newman, and the basic strength of the aging pool player facing a change in his personal scenery. It's a canned affair overall. Well done, sure, but without the richness of the best of Scorsese's work, or the best of Hollywood, for that matter, including the preceding The Hustler, which you might see in a pairing with this one.

Fmovies: 25 years after casting his magic in The Hustler, Paul Newman returns again as Fast Eddie Felson, and the results are almost as good as the 1961 offering. Here he is older and wiser and carrying around a cue case full of cynicism, tho no longer involved in the game of pool he has his hunger for the game and the money it makes, rekindled by a meeting with dynamite hot shot Vincent and his beautiful girlfriend Carmen.

The story involves the three of them going on the road hustling and aiming for the big pay off that Vincent's talent can ultimately bring them, naturally it's not all sweetness and light tho.

It's a fine film when looking at it now, and I was amazed that it didn't feel like an 80s film as such, and this is down to the cracking direction of Martin Scorsese, it may be one of his most mainstream commercial offerings but his fine work is there for all to see. The camera glides around as if on air to create joyous results, shots that put the pool action right into the conscious of the viewer, it's a great effort. The film is further boosted by two wonderful performances from the leading men, Newman deserved his Oscar for putting such verve and honesty into the now grizzled Felson, there is a scene with Forest Whitaker that is Newman gold without him hardly having to say anything . Then there is Cruise, all big hair and a ball of adrenaline, a great ebullient show that is great fun to watch. I read somewhere that Newman praised Cruise for capturing the essence of a young Eddie Felson, well you can't say fairer than that. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio more than holds her own with the boys and fleshes out a smart and entertaining film that seems to get better with age, just like Felson funnily enough.

Oh he's back alright, 9/10.

Near excellent sequel to "The Hustler" which returns Paul Newman (finally in an Oscar-winning role) as the old wise former hustler who decides to take young jerk Tom Cruise and his hot, but shady girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in her Oscar-nominated role) on the road to take advantage of all pool table challengers. Newman's reprise of his greatest role is truly something to experience. He is at the top of his career in this one, playing a quiet and complicated role of a man who has been tortured by time, loss and missed dreams of total success. Martin Scorsese's subtle and focused direction stays on task throughout and he lets his three outstanding leads do the bulk of the work. Not quite as good as "The Hustler" due to a weaker screenplay and less suspense, but still a very memorable cinematic experience. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The Color of Money fmovies. Pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) discovers a cocky, young pool player Vincent (Tom Cruise) in a local bar. Along with Vincent's girl Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), he tries to teach the youngster all that he knows about the hustle.

Tom Cruise overplays the cocky arrogant characters. At times, he plays him like a cartoon character. Luckily Paul Newman could bring the acting chops to this movie. When Paul's character loses to Amos (Forest Whitaker), you see a history of the man's failures. You felt his defeat emotionally. Martin Scorsese directs this. I wonder if Martin Scorsese held back a little. The violence and grittiness for which he's known for isn't all there. They're traveling the darkest and lowest pool halls, but it could have been much worst.

Although a lot of this plot is taken from the Richard Widmark rodeo film When the Legends Die, The Color of Money is still a worthy film and a good successor to the early Paul Newman classic, The Hustler.

I imagine that players like Paul Newman who create classic characters like Fast Eddie Felson must be bombarded with scripts or story ideas for sequels. Paul Newman is one of the most discriminating of players and up to this point he had only reprised his role in Harper with The Drowning Pool.

When he decided to do The Color of Money there was no need to age Newman twenty five years with makeup. Time had done a better job than any makeup man could have done. Time had also honed his acting abilities so that he could realistically recreate one of his classic characters in an older generation.

One thing about The Color of Money is that can and does stand independently of The Hustler. You do not have to have seen the earlier film to know what's happening here. Nevertheless in that earlier film, promising new pool player Eddie Felson does not take direction from mobsters who effectively end his career before he gets it firmly on track.

Fast forward from 1961 to 1986 and Paul Newman is now a liquor salesman who hangs around poolrooms in tank towns and dreams what might have been. A young kid with a 'sledgehammer break' gets Newman's attention and its Tom Cruise. He's got a girlfriend, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio with him and the three sort of adopt each other.

It's a complicated relationship between all three of them and all three of them manage to convey the many ups and downs of this triangle. Newman teaches Cruise the tricks of the trade including how to tank a game occasionally to bring up the betting odds. In many ways Cruise learns too well and Newman hanging around with him makes him realize just how much he's missed because of the gangland blackball.

Reportedly Newman and Cruise got along splendidly during the making of The Color of Money. Their joint interest in auto racing cemented a very good working relationship.

Paul Newman was also nominated during the eighties for Absence of Malice and The Verdict which are two of my favorites with him. Unfortunately in the first he was up against Henry Fonda who had been similarly snubbed for years by the Academy and was dying during the Oscar voting. The second time Ben Kingsley portrayal of the title role in the massive blockbuster Gandhi obscured what I think is Newman's finest performance in The Verdict.

Though the Oscar was an Oscar for lifetime of work, The Color of Money is a worthy sequel to The Hustler. Martin Scorsese got great performances out of the whole cast. And Paul Newman finally got a matching Oscar to go with the one Joanne Woodward won for The Three Faces of Eve for their mantelpiece.

"The Color Of Money" continues the story of pool player/hustler 'Fast Eddie' Felson (Paul Newman). He's 25 years old, and 25 years wiser as he's spent that time watching pool hustles and schemes and selling wine after his 'early' retirement from pool playing in the original.

But now he's got a new excitement and energy to the game, as he meets Vincent (Tom Cruise), a young, cocky but talented fresh player who's not well known around the low-level pool rooms Eddie has been frequenting. Eddie and Vincent's girlfriend, Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) see Vincent as a cash cow. Indeed, everybody uses everyone, and we're never quite sure the relationship between the three. That's the beauty of it.

Scorsese's never been more refined yet quietly flashy, dealing with a traditional 'old' Hollywood tale of a mentor and protege as small time hustlers playing each other and getting played. The film is an underrated gem, truly downplayed in Scorsese's overall filmography.

Definitely recommended.