Flutterby™! : The Hustler

The local flick arthouse has a program where they ask locals of note to recommend a film that was important to their artistic development, find a print of that film, and then have a little intro and Q&A following about why it was an important film. Michael Ondaatje(of The English Patient fame, among other works) suggested The Hustler, saying that it was the film that made him aware that movies were crafted and didn't just fall from the sky.

We got off our lazy butts last night to head into San Rafael to see it.

It's one of Paul Newman's early roles, and he's backed up by a great cast. Newman plays Eddie Felson, a cocky young poolhall hustler who takes on the great Minnesota Fats(played by Jackie Gleason, and the name predates the real life pool player), and loses. The movie explores comfortable routine against ego and that drive to win, and demands more from its audience (and actors) than modern day films do: understanding the nuance means keeping track of dollar amounts from scene to scene, and there's a lot that happens in long reaction head shots with no dialog.

Ondaatje commented that Walter Tevis, the author of the original book, said that all of his novels were about alcoholism. Addiction is a big part of the story, but it isn't a morality play, which is refreshing in these days of heavy-handed scripts.

I hadn't seen it before, but several people in the audience mentioned that seeing it on film in its full width (I think it was 2.40 Panavision) was a completely different experience than the video. The print was really nicely restored, although since seeing a few films on DLP I'm now totally conscious of gate weave on films that use a lot of static shots, and I'd imagine that any letterboxed version on a home theater would miss some of the detail that comes out in the film.

Anyway, recommended, especially if you can catch it on film. And now we have to rent The Color of Money, and probably track down both books too.