- Location: The AFI Silver Theatre
- I'm the best you ever seen, Fats. I'm the best there is. And even if you beat me, I'm still the best.
- When "Fast Eddie" Felson (Paul Newman) is being modest, he's hustling you. Under any other circumstances, he'll gladly tell you how great he is shortly before stepping up to the pool table to prove it. So why does he lose to the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason)? Fats is a top player, to be sure, but high-stakes gambler Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) claims that it's something else. He thinks that Felson is a "born loser" who lost because Minnesota Fats has "more character in one finger" than Felson has in his whole body. As Fast Eddie learns, character can come at a high price.
- When we first meet Felson, he's executing a small-time pool hustle with his aging friend and accomplice, Charlie (Myron McCormick). The two are slowly making their way to Ames Pool Hall ("The Church of a Good Hustler") in New York, where Felson hopes to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats. As legends go, Fats does not disappoint. He's an immaculately dressed, consummate professional who plays pool "like he's playin' the violin." Felson is obviously impressed, but he initially manages to outplay Fats, forcing the veteran to get funding from Gordon. "I beat him all night, and I'm gonna beat him all day," brags Felson. After twenty-four hours of playing, Fats takes a moment to wash up, only to return as fresh as the carnation on his lapel. "Fast Eddie, let's play some pool," he growls. The drunk and depleted Felson doesn't stand a chance.
- In the aftermath of his loss, a despondent Felson parts ways with Charlie and meets Sarah (Piper Laurie), a troubled college student who spends her time at bars or, when the bars are closed, at empty train stations. Although she describes Felson and herself as "two ships that pass in the night," they are more like two unanchored ships that drift into one another. Of course, the one person who would be happy to provide Felson with some direction in life is Gordon, who offers to fund Fast Eddie's comeback. Felson refuses at first, but a bad hustle and the ensuing broken thumbs quickly convince him to reconsider. In the meantime, Sarah worries that she's another in a long series of Felson's hustles. As she accompanies him and Gordon to a Kentucky billiards game against the wealthy Mr. Findley (Murray Hamilton), it's obvious that Sarah has more than just pool on her mind.
- The last act of The Hustler is a fascinating mix of tragedy and victory. As Felson finishes off Findley, Gordon goes to work on Sarah, paying her off like she's some kind of tramp. When Sarah memorably departs the film, she leaves behind three iconic words: "Perverted, twisted, crippled." That's how she felt about herself, but they're the same words she used to describe Gordon's insidious influence. In the final scene, Fast Eddie returns to Ames and defeats Minnesota Fats, who doesn't look quite so beautiful now that he's in Gordon's shadow. Finally, Fast Eddie has beaten the best pool player in the country, but his is no victory speech. "We really stuck the knife in her, didn't we, Bert?" he says. Sometimes winning isn't everything.
- Since I couldn't possibly list everything that makes The Hustler great, I'll settle on a few main points. First, the acting. It is impossible to imagine any of the four main characters being played by anyone else. Piper Laurie and Jackie Gleason are the real surprises here, but the whole cast is amazing. Then, there's the direction and cinematography. This film is one of the great arguments for black and white as an artistic choice. Color was readily available in 1961, but can you imagine what a rainbow of pool balls would have done to the film's bleak tone? Finally, there's the story itself. The Hustler is about playing pool, but it's also about what motivates people to succeed and what compromises they have to make in the process. The final message is not an idealistic one, but it's one that director Robert Rossen must have understood all too well.
- In Twin Peaks, Piper Laurie's (alcoholic) character also had the last name Packard. I'm pretty sure that one of the shots of her leaning back against the bedpost was emulated in that show, too.
- Apparently, Rossen was a pool hustler at one point in his life.
