[2] The Hustler (1961)

The Hustler (1961)

This brings me onto The Hustler. Well 6 years after killers kiss this movie is the real deal. Eons ahead of its time and umcompromisingly raw, it features an excellent cast and subperb writing. And you know what? It's not about pool!

It's about depression, loneliness and the fear of success encapsulated brilliantly into a road movie (of sorts) where the main protagonist is so flawed that he almost becomes the villain.

The girl played by Piper Laurie is so untypical that this movie must have really challenged its 'then' audience. She plays an alcoholic, manic depressive -not averse to carnal pleasure- college girl [stroke] writer. The relationship between her and Newman is like a bolstered up version of the relationship between the main two characters in Killer's Kiss. An unhealthy symbiosis materializes that ultimately leads them into very darks places. And this is why the Hustler is so good. The kind of desperation and emptiness expressed by these two characters is still very relevant toady.

If you haven’t seen this film, go get it. It's so good that it even made it into my top 10 of all time (to be posted soon); just in front of the 'Exorcist' and just behind 'A Clockwork Orange'.

Needless to say all the pool shots are handled excellently (possibly even better than Scorseses sequel in that it's only very late into the movie that overly flashy shots come into play) something which potentially could've lost the movie lots of plausibility. It's a bit of mystery why Scorsese ignored the rich source material here in a favor of the more traditional approach with the sequel and looking back it's a real shame too. It's just the kind of thing Scorsese would have excelled at and the original is so good that it deserved a loyal continuation rather the somewhat archetypal picture Scorsese produced although this is possibly the only time I've had a real problem with Mr. S.