tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post574299672652789925..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: Overshadowed: A Sport Enjoyed by Allbill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-77444135450200900512009-05-12T15:33:00.000-04:002009-05-12T15:33:00.000-04:00Thanks very much, Brian, I really appreciate that....Thanks very much, Brian, I really appreciate that. <br /><br />Gleason is fantastic in the film. He says so little, but man do you ever believe that he's The Guy. As I said, he's his own man in the novel, not part of Bert's stable, and frankly it makes sense to me that he wouldn't need a guy like Bert. But even so, I like the way the relationship is handled in the film, and the way, at the end, Gleason delivers the line, "You better pay him, Eddie." Gleason shows that, in the film, Fats may live well and command respect, but he feels a fair amount of guilt about how he got there.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-17168241367852949042009-05-12T15:25:00.000-04:002009-05-12T15:25:00.000-04:00Beautiful post, Bill-- it's been a good long while...Beautiful post, Bill-- it's been a good long while since I've seen THE HUSTLER, but your rich descriptions and smooth flow are a real pleasure to read.<br /><br />I think Newman is very good in the film, but Gleason is the star for me-- he's so underrated as a dramatic actor, and the moment when he walks to the bathroom, cools down, and calmly walks back into the room-- ready to destroy Newman-- is so chillingly underplayed.Brian Doanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17903729233401672600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-68072269720210232852009-05-12T10:43:00.000-04:002009-05-12T10:43:00.000-04:00Thanks, Marilyn. I know this film is a big part o...Thanks, Marilyn. I know this film is a big part of why I got into pool (and, for the record, even though I used to play a lot, I never got better than "okay", and that's "okay" in the amateur sense, which is very different from being "okay" in the hustler sense), but it still seems odd. I mean, obviously it worked on me, and I get it, since the game just looks so wonderful when played by Newman and Gleason, but the film pretty heavily damns the whole culture, and Eddie is kind of an asshole. How odd that people would latch on anyway...bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-47381050423423489882009-05-12T10:30:00.000-04:002009-05-12T10:30:00.000-04:00Wonderful post, Bill. It has been a very long time...Wonderful post, Bill. It has been a very long time since I saw <I>The Hustler</I> - I barely remember some of the scenes you describe, but you're so right about the cachet of pool and what this film did for it (repeated again when <I>The Color of Money</I> was released).Marilynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15730000155687661753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-74614737064046180982009-05-12T10:26:00.000-04:002009-05-12T10:26:00.000-04:00And watching Scott is what I like best about the w...<I>And watching Scott is what I like best about the whole thing because he is so wonderful</I>...<br /><br />And often it's the little things. I love when he tells Newman that the cut will be 75% and 25%, and Newman says, "Who's the 75 for?" and Scott says, "For me." Just the casual way he says it. I can't describe it, really, but it's one of my favorite moments in the whole film.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-35795072338723024112009-05-12T09:59:00.000-04:002009-05-12T09:59:00.000-04:00a lot of his best films were done in the 60s. Oh h...<I>a lot of his best films were done in the 60s. </I>Oh he did so many great films in the sixties I agree, and instead of saying the seventies I should have said starting in 1967 with <B>Cool Hand Luke</B> which is where he really takes off as an actor I think. His performances in things like <B>The Sting, Slapshot</B> and <B>Absence of Malice</B> have a more restrained maturity to them, a cool ease that he now has with himself that wasn't there as much before. <br /><br />And watching Scott is what I like best about the whole thing because he is so wonderful. But I do think Newman is very good as well, just not as good as Scott who I agree was an all-time great actor.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730146625671701859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-52699777532787984322009-05-12T08:45:00.000-04:002009-05-12T08:45:00.000-04:00But in 1961 he was still employing a lot of the Br...<I>But in 1961 he was still employing a lot of the Brando/Clift/Dean poses that so many young actors used at that time. Oh and he was good at it, don't get me wrong, but watching it again recently (ironically enough) I found of the whole cast he was the one I could notice acting</I>...<br /><br />I don't disagree about the poses, really, but I still think he was pretty amazing in the film. I think that first scene, when he's hustling with Charlie, is just about perfect, and he's a big part of it. His anger -- which is fake, but still -- at Vincent Gardenia, the smile when he's setting up to make the shot, his cockiness. I don't know, I just think he's superb, really, even though I know what you're talking about.<br /><br />I'd be curious, though, what other films from the 70s and 80s you'd rank as having his best performances, since it's generally believed that, outside of <B>The Verdict</B> and <B>Nobody's Fool</B> a lot of his best films were done in the 60s. <br /><br />I also think Laurie's not that great. She has her moments, but she overdoes the drunk act. But Scott was a force of nature. It's impossible to take your eyes off that guy. One of the all-time greats, in the Brando/De Niro/Pacino realm as far as I'm concerned.<br /><br />And I love watching Gleason shoot pool in the movie, because in those shots, he's clearly just shooting pool. I'm sure you know that he was a great player in real life, and you can tell by the way he's looking at the table, and moving around it, that he's not acting.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-18759464216029635912009-05-11T22:38:00.000-04:002009-05-11T22:38:00.000-04:00(George C. Scott, to my mind every bit as good her...<I>(George C. Scott, to my mind every bit as good here as Newman, though no one ever seems to talk about him).</I>...<br /><br />Well then you've never talked to me about it. I think Paul Newman was a solid, good, dependable actor until the seventies when, with age and then later tragedy, he began to transform into a great actor. By the time of <B>The Verdict</B> audiences were witnessing an actor in awe-inspiring control of his craft (seriously, <B>The Verdict</B> is one of the great performances out there). <br /><br />But in 1961 he was still employing a lot of the Brando/Clift/Dean poses that so many young actors used at that time. Oh and he was good at it, don't get me wrong, but watching it again recently (ironically enough) I found of the whole cast he was the one I could notice acting. <br /><br />George C. Scott on the other hand - he was a formidable actor from the beginning. I mean, really, from <B>Anatomy of a Murder</B> on that son of a bitch commanded the screen when he was on it. It's Scott and Gleason that truly impress me with their performances in that film, then Newman and then Laurie who doesn't quite work that well in it for me. <br /><br />Still a great film. And Murray Hamilton was really good in his small role too. I haven't read the book but it sounds like they have the same problem for me and that problem is the middle section with Sarah which doesn't engage me in the story. Part of it is I don't find her and Eddie very convincing together and that may not be the case in the book. But Piper Laurie leaves me cold in the film and that definitely brings that whole section down for me.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05730146625671701859noreply@blogger.com