THE HUSTLER

Robert Rossen was never really a prolific director and for most of his career his ambitions seemed greater than his ability to deliver. In 1949 his film "All the King's Men" won him an Oscar for Best Picture though, tellingly, he lost the Best Director Oscar to Joseph L Mankiewicz for the far superior "A Letter to Three Wives". However, "All the King's Men" had on its side a certain seriousness as well as a political theme inspired by the career of Louisiana governor Huey Long. While Rossen's films before and after"All the King's Men" weren't necessarily 'bad' they lacked that vital spark which might have made them great. Then suddenly, as if out of nowhere, in 1961 he made "The Hustler", his penultimate film and the first of his two masterpieces, (the other, his final film, was "Lilith").

"The Hustler" was adapted by Rossen and co-writer Sidney Carroll from a book by Walter Tevis but it was an intensely cinematic work, magnificently shot in widescreen black and white by Eugen Schufftan and in which all the elements that make up a film, (music, editing, production design as well as cinematography, writing, direction and acting), were in perfect sync. It's a film about pool which can be the least interesting of sports to anyone not hooked on the World Snooker Championships and it's played out in a series of dingy apartments, hotel rooms and, mostly, pool rooms but it is extraordinary, exciting and powerful.

It's the story of 'Fast' Eddie Felson, (Paul Newman in a career-defining performance), and of the lengths he will go to beat Minnesota Fats, the greatest pool player in the country, (a superb Jackie Gleason, returning to movies after a successful career in television and on Broadway). His journey also takes in Sarah, a lonely drinker, (Piper Laurie, finally getting a part worthy of her talents), and the malevolent Bert Gordon, his manager and bank-roller, (George C Scott in the performance that should have won him his first Oscar).

It's a redemptive journey for Eddie and it's so beautifully delineated it's a journey and a film, once seen, won't be easily forgotten. Newman lost the Oscar to Maxamilian Schell in "Judgement at Nuremberg"but ironically was to finally win the Academy Award for reprising his role as Fast Eddie in Martin Scorsese's less successful follow-up "The Color of Money". That was a good movie but "The Hustler" is the real McCoy and one of the greatest of all American films.