YouHeart I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

TheNabOwnzz The Hustler is such a solid movie that in which i have trouble seeing any weakness in conventional cinema rating aspects ( Acting, screenplay, cinematography, music etc ) resulting in a near flawless film that is further enhanced by its amazing casting.What could have been a movie about merely playing pool has turned into a study on 'character' and capitalism. 'Fast' Eddie Felson ( Paul Newman ) seems to hopelessly want to be the best, and doesn't know when to quit even when ahead a significant amount, because he needs to have the satisfaction in his mind of beating Minnesota Fats ( Jackie Gleason ) until he quits. Charlie ( Myron McCormick ), his partner, symbolizes the sane and logical part of Eddie, that one should quit when ahead, and not continue to lose it all again. When Eddie eventually dismisses Charlie, his last hold on controlling his self destructive nature disappears, and it is only later when met with Bert Gordon ( George C. Scott ) that this 'hold' returns to Eddie. It is a great character study on how Eddie, the arrogant talented 'born loser' turns into the epitome of a 'winner' through a long series of relatable and emotional events that occur. Newman is simply incredible as usual, and he seems to understand his character like no other. His entire monologue about being called a born loser with Sarah, his fantastic facial acting, his desperate drunken mannerisms, it all sums up in that he IS basically Eddie Felson. Jackie Gleason is great as Minnesota Fats, and Piper Laurie as Sarah Packard. But apart from Newman the other true star has to be George C. Scott, whose character symbolizes greed as the true capitalist that seeks only money and doesn't seem to care about anything at all along the way. ( As Eddie says to him, 'You're dead inside' ) Scott's energetic acting, head up tilting mannerisms to show how much above everyone else he feels he is, fast manner of speaking and this arrogant kind of self control result in a phenomenal performance and everytime these actors come on the screen it results in fantastic scenes.The acting is further enhanced by a fantastic screenplay so the dialogue said by these great actors never go to waste. As stated before the dialogue between Eddie & Sarah is so key to understanding his character perfectly for the audience, and it delivered in such an absorbing way by Newman. The dialogue in the final scene, and generally any scene in which Newman and Scott speak to eachother. The cinematography is world class and captures the 60s feel of the film like no other, which is also due to the fantastic Jazz score by Kenyon Hopkins. The pool games themselves are set up great with a lot of innovative shots of the audience's reactions pictured over the pool shots themselves, and a lot of the shots were apparantly made by Gleason and Newman themselves, with the occasional intervention of Willie Mosconi ( Reportedly one of the greatest pool players of all time ). It all results in a masterpiece of character development, that seems to be near flawless and covers all the angles of the aspects that make a movie great.

Lee Eisenberg One of Paul Newman's all-time great roles was that of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson in "The Hustler". It's a seedy world of pool halls and high-stakes gambling. Eddie's aim to be the best leads to some self-destructive actions, but he perseveres. Fine support comes from Piper Laurie - later known as the fanatical mom in "Carrie" - as a woman who gets Eddie to realize his full potential amid his damaged lifestyle, as well as George C. Scott, Murray Hamilton (Mr. Robinson in "The Graduate" and the mayor in "Jaws") and Michael Constantine (the patriarch in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"). I guess that we in the 21st century will be less inclined to admire Jackie Gleason's performance, given what we now know about him,* but it's still an intense role.The movie is not just about pool and the specific effects that it has on Eddie. There's the issue of what it means to be human: a tragedy forces Eddie to attain self-awareness. Another thing is that director Robert Rossen used the movie as a sort of confession. Much like how he named names to HUAC, Eddie figuratively sells his soul for prestige. It was one of the first movies to take this sort of an unvarnished look at ego-affirmation. One of the many movies that represented the new direction that cinema was taking in the 1960s.All in all, a true masterpiece. Maybe not Newman's greatest ever, but one that any movie buff owes it to himself/herself to watch.*In the book "Riders on the Storm", John Densmore recalls a time when Jim Morrison got charged with indecency. Jackie Gleason testified against him, as did Anita Bryant.

aubrimmer This film genuinely surprised me. I watched it out of curiosity since it appeared to be about a man playing pool and conning his opponents, but it turned out to be more than that. The cast all gave great performances and it was realistic in that it was believable. Newman gave a superb performance as a guy who was talented but too arrogant and not to bright in a way.This film had a pretty simple plot but the cast really brought it to life and gave great performances that saved the film. At first glance, "The Hustler" would appear to be about a man hustling pool with aid of a mentor and his girl. But the film was able to portray a story of a man conflicted on a much deeper level than one expects. Newman shows how morals are challenged and on a level, what it means to be a man. The film is more than meets the eye.The director gives us a pretty depressing story, but it was a great "noir drama". The film had the dark lighting and conflicted main male character with his femme fatale diverting him off his course. This film was able to capture much more than a movie of pool and I was not disappointed watching it. I would recommend this film. It was in a way your typical noir film, while being very different from typical.

Michael_Elliott The Hustler (1961) **** (out of 4) 'Fast' Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) shows up to play the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in a game of pool and soon the hotshot realizes that there's more to winning than just talent. After some time off the hustler winds up with a woman (Piper Laurie) who suffers from alcohol abuse but even worse is when he teams up with a gambler (George C. Scott).Robert Rossen's THE HUSTLER is without question one of the greatest films of its type. Most people are connected to it because of its story of a hustler and the gambling aspect but there are some of the greatest performances you're ever going to see on display here as well as a pretty depressing look at losers. Throughout the movie Felson is constantly called a loser, which is a term that fits the majority of the characters in this rather grim, dark and depressing film.For me the greatest thing here are the performances with Newman easily leading the way. It's easy to see why this is the film that turned Newman into a superstar. Up until this point he had played a fair share of troubled rebels but everything in him just came together for this role. He's certainly very believable as this young guy who can't seem to stay out of his own way when it comes to trouble. This is a very troubled character and the actor perfectly nails every aspect of it. Gleason will always be known as a comedic actor but he could nail drama when he needed and this is the perfect example. It certainly doesn't hurt that the two actors were also great pool players and this brings a real nature to the film.Laurie is rather heart-breaking in her role as the drunk and then you've got Scott playing one of the biggest snakes in film history. There's no question that his Burt character is one of the great villains in film history. Myron McCormick is excellent in his small role and then you've got a young Murray Hamilton. THE HUSTLER also benefits from some wonderful cinematography that perfectly captures this pool world. I mean, has there ever been a better example of why B&W is so great? Add in the terrific score and you've really got something special.THE HUSTLER is a classic film that constantly gets better each time you view it.