Review: The Hustler

There is no lonelier American movie than The Hustler, and no better a flawed hero than “Fast” Eddie Felson.

The Hustler
Photo: 20th Century Fox

Robert Rossen’s The Hustler begins with a great hustle. Eddie Felson, brilliantly played by a young and gorgeous Paul Newman, leans low over a barroom pool table, inspecting the cue ball and another ball pinned together on the side rail less than a foot from the end pockets. An impossible shot, and to add to the fun, Felson’s drunk. Good thing no one told him. Stumbling over to the facing side, he lines up and drains the ball. His partner in this con game is a pudgy fellow named Charlie (Myron McCormick), who has the perfect look of a man so well-acquainted with losing he can see it coming a mile down the pipe and who lays a bet against his boy repeating the magic shot. Eddie tries and misses. Within seconds he has the whole pool hall betting on his chances at his third go-round.

It’s a divine trick, the kind of first-scene con that quickly sets up a great many con movies. The difference here is that it’s a hustle on the audience as much as the drunks who fall for it. While Felson looks like a polished, controlled villain, he has no control. He loses more than one match on his hot-headed emotions. He alienates Charlie, his only friend, and escapes his humiliations by going home with a woman, Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), he meets in the bus station. And when she admits that she loves him, he cannot return the favor. The only thing that he cares about is the poetry of his chosen game, and the chance at being the best there is.

In this way, there’s no lonelier American movie than The Hustler, and no better a flawed hero than “Fast” Eddie Felson. Newman’s a force of energy on screen—a guy you should never love, but cannot help siding with. Adding George C. Scott’s marvelous turn as the professional gambler Bert Gordon, who hires Felson and slowly moves in between him and Sarah, the film’s story becomes part Cinderella and a whole lot more Faust. In short, this is the purest examination of an athlete’s internal struggle ever mounted for the screen.

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Score: 
 Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, Michael Constantine, Stefan Gierasch, Cliff Pellow  Director: Robert Rossen  Screenwriter: Sydney Carroll, Robert Rossen  Distributor: 20th Century Fox  Running Time: 135 min  Rating: NR  Year: 1961  Buy: Video

Arthur Ryel-Lindsey

Arthur Ryel-Lindsey is a Chicago native who comes correct with an Eagle Scout badge and Ohio State University Marching Band street cred. His writing has appeared in Esquire and The American Interest.

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