Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12687 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Dutch
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Martin Scorcese handles directing duties in this 1986 sequel to the classic 1961 film The Hustler, which marks the return of Paul Newman to the role of pool shark Fast Eddie Felson. Anxious to break into the big time again, Eddie finds a talented protégé (Tom Cruise) to groom; but with the addition of the latter's manipulative girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and the wild streak in Cruise's character, the trio make for a fascinating portrait in group psychology. The cast is brilliant, the script by Richard Price (Clockers) is a paragon of tightly controlled character study and drama (at least in the film's first half), and Scorcese and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus make an ornate show of the collision and flight of pool balls through space--something of a metaphor for the dynamics among the three principals. The film is generally regarded as weaker in its second half, and rightly so, as everything that was interesting in the first place disappears. Still, Newman won a deserved Oscar for his performance. --Tom Keogh

Special Features
English
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Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
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Synopsis
Martin Scorsese's THE COLOR OF MONEY picks up where Robert Rossen's 1961 film THE HUSTLER left off. Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), now middle-aged, finds the image of his youthful self in a pool hustler named Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise). Trying to relive his past days of glory through the cocky but inexperienced youngster, Fast Eddie takes on the role of Vincent's manager and mentor. But Fast Eddie didn't count on having to contend with Vincent's smart, sexy, and extremely ambitious girlfriend. The three characters become engaged in an emotionally complicated power struggle as they make their way to Atlantic City, where Vincent plans to compete in his first pool tournament.
Scorsese's, as well as Newman's, love for the character of Fast Eddie shines through in every frame of this sequel, something that didn't go unnoticed by the academy (earning Newman the Best Actor Oscar). Playing the young upstart, Cruise steps up to Newman's challenge, delivering an energetic performance that cemented his place at the top of the young Hollywood elite. Robbie Robertson's bluesy score reflects the smoky interiors of the various pool halls that Fast Eddie and Vincent haunt, adding another layer of moodiness to the already stylish proceedings.

Customer Reviews

A Pool Players Classic
Following on from "The Hustler" 1961, Paul Newman re-creates his role as "Fast" Eddie Felson, who now appears to be a successful Liquor salesmen after being forced to give up active playing in the first movie. He know is found hanging around Pool Halls staking talented players rather than playing, by all accounts comfortable in terms of earnings and career.

Tom Cruise, playing shark Vincent Lauria, is scouted by Newman and they hit the road as he re-discovers his lost love of both Pool and hustling, gambling their way around the state towards the big tournament at Atlantic City. Felson sees himself in Cruises character, and teaches him the ropes on being a pool pro. One of the criticisms of this movie is that when asked about his pool playing days (I.e. The Hustler) Eddie replies "Actually I was retired. Sometimes you get involved with the wrong people. Way back West, it's dead and buried, I don't even think about it anymore", and that's just about the only link to it! One of the characters in the first movie makes an appearance however.

Creating Lauria into the best player, gives Eddie the platform to test himself against his best game, that is the message of the movie in my opinion. Felson creates his biggest adversary, and the movie explores that perhaps in life the biggest obstacles are ones that we create ourselves.

On a simple level it is good to see Tom Cruise, & Paul Newman in earlier roles.

Money, Luck and Our Lady of the Cue Balls.
In this movie's opening voiceover, director Martin Scorsese explains that nine-ball pool, as you've probably guessed, comes down to one basic rule: You don't win without pocketing the 9. Partially this depends on the balls' spread in the break; i.e. on luck. But, Scorsese concludes with the credo of all high-stakes hustlers from poker to pool and beyond: "For some players, luck itself is an art."

Once, Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) mastered this art; a whiz kid out to beat champion Minnesota Fats, he had to learn some painful lessons instead. But that was 25 years ago - in 1961's "Hustler," to which "The Color of Money" is a belated sequel - and now it's "dead and buried." Now Eddie is a liquor salesman; even if he's still got the hustle down cold: just listen to him philosophizing about a bourbon's color, age and acidic content and I'll lay you any bet you'll be buying a case from him in no time at all.

Yet, Eddie keeps hanging around pool halls, and one day the inevitable happens: He runs into Vincent (Tom Cruise), almost a reincarnation of his younger self; a guy with a sledgehammer break and an "incredible flake," as Eddie opines less than charitably, cocky beyond belief but apparently unaware of his potential, preferring to perfect his video game reflexes on the theory that this might get him into West Point, instead of focusing on his greatest and, more importantly, only financially viable area of expertise: pool. Now, if Eddie has learned one thing it's that whatever your field, it *all* comes down to money; and the guy who's got the most of it is the best. But to get there, you have to be more than just excellent at what you do: You have to be a student of psychology, learn to take advantage of others, understand when to lose is actually to win; and if you're a "natural character" like Vincent, you have to learn to "flake on and flake off" - to be yourself, but on purpose. In short, it takes the right proportion of both brains and b*lls to win big at pool. All this, Eddie is determined to teach Vince, even if it takes some support from his girlfriend Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) to get him going. But eventually they do set out on the road, for a six-week high-intensity training in hustles and cons, with their eyes set on a high-stakes nine-ball tournament in Atlantic City at the end. And Eddie, once exploited by a ruthless promoter himself, dispenses tough love; all to drive home one crucial lesson: "Nice guys finish last;" and mercy towards *any* opponent is downright unprofessional.

Vincent, Carmen and Eddie make an unequal trio; they collide as often and as hard as cue balls, and it's a sheer joy to see these outstanding actors go up against each other: Cruise as the cocky kid who refuses to drop his ego trips, Mastrantonio as his tough-talking girlfriend, and Newman as the seasoned pro who suddenly gets goose-bumpy again when entering a pool room (even if to his shame he finds the place now used for furniture storage), rediscovers that money won is "twice as sweet" as money earned, and at last gets hungry enough to get back into the game himself, albeit at the price of first being hustled by a kid with a dumb-fat-underdog routine (brilliantly played by Forest Whitaker). For Tom Cruise, who left a lasting impression with 1983's "Risky Business" but otherwise only had a few middling movies under his belt at this point, this was a great opportunity to show his chops opposite one of the business's all-time greats, and he was more than up to the task. (Although he shot to superstardom the same year with "Top Gun," even here virtually all of his trademark mannerisms and voice inflections - particularly when playing cocky - are already fully present.) Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio earned Oscar- and Golden-Globe-nominations for her portrayal of Carmen, who clues into Eddie's "pool is business" lessons quicker than Vince and, after a first-hand education on the use of "that thing," finds ways through Vincent's cockiness where Eddie doesn't have access. Paul Newman finally netted his long-overdue Academy Award; thus belatedly making up for the undeserved pass for "The Hustler," after the Academy had summarily sugarcoated a total of seven unfulfilled nominations - and numerous award-worthy appearances that didn't even earn that kind of nod - with a lifetime achievement award the year before. (Newman accepted, but wasn't present at either ceremony.)

What makes this movie stand out, however, is not merely its tremendous cast, from the central trio to Helen Shaver (Eddie's girlfriend Janelle), John Turturro (Julian, the "stake horse" Vincent replaces in Eddie's favor), Scorsese's dog Zoe (credited as "dog walkby"!), Iggy Pop, and several top pool players, e.g. Steve "The Miz" Mizerak, Jimmy "Pretty Boy Floyd" Mataya (together with wife Eva also technical advisor) and Keith McCready (Vincent's nemesis Grady Seasons). Moreover, nobody could have captured the pool halls' dingy allure, a trick shot's swift precision and the balls' movement over the table quite like Michael Ballhaus - there's a reason they call him "Hollywood's Eye." And then there's the score, by the "Band's" ringleader Robbie Robertson; featuring contributions from a virtual who-is-who of rock and blues's all time greatest, including Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Don Henley, Warren Zevon, Phil Collins, Robert Palmer and Percy Sledge; pointedly framing all key scenes and doubling the edge of the cue balls' and characters' collisions alike.

The movie's ending may appear anticlimactic, as the story seems to build up to a showdown which we never get to see. But for Eddie, it's ultimately about going up against Vince's best game - and the only thing that matters is that he's back, and there to stay for the duration this time. And no question: back he is.

Excellent Film
Great film which looks at Pool in the traditional way, before focusing on the modern game at the end. Excellent performance by Newman and Cruise, although you do kind of wish there was a bit more to it and the ending is slightly muddled. A MUST for Pool enthusiasts.