Film

The Hustler

Name: The Hustler
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 1961
Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick

A smoky, black-and-white study of talent curdling into self-destruction, following pool shark Fast Eddie Felson as pride nearly finishes him before anyone else can. It's less about the game itself than about what winning costs a man who needs to prove something to a room, and to himself. Slow, moody, morally serious - for people who prefer character studies to sports drama, and can sit with an unlikable man for two hours.

TMDb rating

7.7

If you liked this

The Color of Money1986

Scorsese picks up Fast Eddie twenty-five years later, older, sharper, still hustling; Newman's Oscar-winning return gives the character a genuine second act instead of a cash-in sequel.

But Glossier and poppier than the original's smoky noir; Tom Cruise's cockiness plays broader than Eddie's quiet dread ever did.

Raging Bull1980

Same fascination with a gifted man wrecking his own life, filmed with even more ferocity; De Niro's transformation and Scorsese's brutal black-and-white set a new bar for self-destruction on screen.

But Far more violent and unpleasant company than Eddie Felson; La Motta offers little of Newman's charm to hold onto.

Cool Hand Luke1967

Newman again, another stubborn man who won't bend even when bending would save him; funnier and warmer than The Hustler but cut from the same defiant cloth.

But Looser, more episodic prison-drama pacing, without the tight two-man duel structure that drives The Hustler.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Whiplash2014

Both films ask what a talented man will let a manipulative older figure do to him in exchange for greatness, and neither gives a comfortable answer.

A young jazz drummer gets torn apart by a mentor who believes cruelty is the price of greatness - the same bargain Eddie strikes with Bert Gordon, just moved from pool halls to a conservatory practice room.

But Punishingly tense and occasionally sadistic to sit through; if Bert was hard to stomach, Fletcher is worse.

The Cincinnati Kid1965no page yet

Nearly the same story beat for beat, poker instead of pool - a cocky young gun chasing the reigning legend, with Edward G. Robinson doing the Minnesota Fats role.

But Plays more like a glossy remake than something with its own voice, and is far less interested in Eddie's moral rot.

Rounders1998

Underground poker instead of pool halls, but the same addiction to the game over the person; Matt Damon's Mike McDermott is Eddie Felson with a law degree he keeps ignoring.

But Nineties gloss and a tidier redemption arc than The Hustler ever offers - less bleak, more crowd-pleasing.

California Split1974no page yet

Altman's shaggy, loose take on compulsive gambling, following two men chasing the next score with no plan past it; funnier, sadder and stranger than the usual gambling picture.

But Meandering, deliberately plotless structure that plenty of viewers find frustrating rather than freeing.

Days of Wine and Roses1963

Same era, same black-and-white honesty about addiction, just alcohol instead of the table; Jack Lemmon's performance is devastating in exactly the way Newman's is.

But No game, no tension of competition - a quieter, sadder domestic tragedy with nowhere to hide.

Body and Soul1947

A boxing version of the same fable - talent, corruption, a woman who sees through the bravado - shot with real noir style well before The Hustler existed.

But Dated in places, and its ending resolves more neatly and hopefully than The Hustler allows itself.

Barfly1987

Mickey Rourke as a barroom brawler-poet who'd rather lose spectacularly than win quietly; a scuzzier, funnier cousin to Eddie's self-sabotage from a very different social rung.

But Rougher and uglier, closer to squalor than to smoky glamour, with none of the original's careful visual elegance.

The Set-Up1949

The Hustler's central scene - a talented man pressured to betray his own skill for someone else's money - is essentially this film's entire plot, a decade earlier and in a different sport.

A boxing noir made twelve years before The Hustler, told almost in real time, about a fighter asked to throw a fight he still believes he can win - same moral trap, same claustrophobic dread, done first.

But Short, stagey and unmistakably a product of its era's censorship and pacing; less psychologically layered than Eddie's story.

Kingpin1996

Strip away the tone and it's the exact same hustler-versus-legend plot machinery, proof the story's bones work whether played for tragedy or for laughs.

The same skeleton - washed-up hustler, raw prodigy, corrupt rival, one big high-stakes match - rebuilt as a broad, filthy bowling comedy, with Bill Murray's toupee doing a lot of heavy lifting.

But Gross-out, juvenile and proudly stupid where The Hustler is careful and grim; a completely different appetite.