Watch for Forest Whittaker and Iggy Pop in colorful bit roles. The film also boasts two bravura performances-from Newman, who finally-andĭeservedly-won an Oscar for Best Actor, and Cruise, who is a joy to behold. One of Scorsese's most commercial undertakings, THE COLOR OF MONEY relinquishes none of his unique style and vision, using a swooping, gliding camera and countless trick shots to maximum impact. There the pupil surprises his rehabilitated teacher with how well he's learned his lessons.Īpproached by Newman, who felt that 'Fast Eddie' was due for renewed exploration, director Martin Scorsese and novelist-screenwriter Richard Price (The Wanderers) came up with a richly nuanced film that retains little more than the title and Eddie Felsen's character from novelist Walter Tevis's Trouble learning to lose, Eddie begins to yearn to play again himself, and they part ways, only to meet again in a big tournament in Atlantic City. He takes young hotshot Vincent (Tom Cruise) and his coolheaded girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) on the road, teaching his flamboyant, flaky protege how to 'dump,' i.e., lose deliberately in order to set up the suckers for the big score ('Sometimes if you lose, you win'). Eddie, who no longer plays the game, now peddles whiskey and bankrolls talented pool hustlers for a percentage. Both the original Hustler and The Color of Money were based on novels by Walter Tevis.Twenty-five years after being banned from big-time pool, THE HUSTLER's 'Fast Eddie' Felsen (Paul Newman) resurfaces-older, wiser, and much more cynical-in THE COLOR OF MONEY. It is inevitable from this point onward that the younger and the older player will square off in a game for the biggest stakes of all: Fast Eddie Felson's self-respect.

He tells Cruise to get lost, and vows to make an honest comeback. As Cruise becomes successful on these terms, Felson seethes with jealousy, hitting the bottle and carelessly allowing himself to fall victim to another hustler. Cruise learns not only the refinements of the game, but also the dirty trickery that will help him lure in the suckers. His latest client is arrogant young Tom Cruise, who is goaded into accepting Felson's patronage by his avaricious girl friend Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Scott was in the 1961 film: a front man for younger hustlers, claiming the lion's share of the winnings. In the intervening years, he has become what the despicable George C. The Hustler, The Color of Money is not quite in the same league, lacking the dramatic nuance and power of the earlier film. At the end of The Hustler, Felson was banned for life from playing the game professionally. Oscar-nominated in 1961 for his performance as pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler, Paul Newman won that award a quarter century later when he reprised the role in The Color of Money.

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