The Color of Money

Starring: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver, John Turturro, Bill Cobbs
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Sport
1986

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: "Fast" Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) has long since gotten out of the competitive pool. Unexpectedly, Eddie discovers a young, brash, but extremely talented pool player (Tom Cruise) and his girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). He decides to take them on the road to hustle pool, while preparing for a lucrative pool championship.

Review:

Tim: I was a huge fan of 1961's The Hustler, not just perhaps the greatest pool movie of all time, but one of the all-time great character studies. It was an amazing movie. So, I was thoroughly excited to see the continuation of the story, 25 years later. While The Color of Money is not as good as the first film, it is a worth successor, and a great movie in its own right.

If you have to find a director to take over duties from Robert Rossen, Martin Scorsese is probably about as good a choice as you will find. Scorsese definitely creates his own movie while, while paying homage to the movie that came before this one. While the original film was primarily a character study, and a pool movie secondarily, this film is much more a movie about pool. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I was impressed with some of the inventive pool shots, although I have to admit that Scorsese went a little overboard with a few of the sequences. They are cool, but not always necessary.

The cast is very impressive. I absolutely loved seeing Paul Newman back as Fast Eddie Felson. I can't remember off the top of my head too many actors playing the same character 25 years apart, so there is also a bit of novelty here. Newman is once again excellent in the role. It is amazing to see how a quarter century will change a man, and Newman puts himself on display here. His energy has dropped and he is a bit slower, but he is still every bit as impressive as he was in the early 1960s. After his amazing performance in The Hustler, Newman was nominated for a well deserved Academy Award for Best Actor. But, he did not win. This time, he was nominated again- but walked away with the top acting prize. Newman deserved his Oscar here.

The supporting cast is terrific as well. If you had to pick a young, talented actor to pair with the experienced, masterful Newman, Tom Cruise is an excellent choice. He doesn't give as good of a performance as I would have liked (no Academy Award nod, and I agree with that), but he is still quite good. I really enjoyed his performance here, and there is something fun about seeing George C. Scott mentoring Paul Newman, who now mentors Tom Cruise. I also really enjoyed Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. She is a talented actress, and gave an impressive performance here. I really like when the Academy recognizes an actor for a powerful, yet not flashy role. It would be easy to overlook the critical role Mastrantonio plays in this film. While Newman and Cruise get top billing, Mastrantonio is so important to the success of this film.

The Color of Money is a worthy successor to one of the all-time classics. I really enjoyed this movie. I admit part of my enjoyment might be a little bit of built-up goodwill carried over from the original film, but it is deserving. This is a terrific movie, and extremely entertaining.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Hustler, Cocktail, Top Gun, All the Right Moves