Description: Legendary actor Paul Newman (MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE) and Academy Award(R)-nominee Tom Cruise (Best Actor, 1997, JERRY MAGUIRE) ignite the screen in this powerful drama. Brilliantly directed by Martin Scorsese (BRINGING OUT THE DEAD), Newman re-creates one of his most memorable roles from THE HUSTLER. As Fast Eddie Felson, he still believes that "money won is twice as sweet as money earned." To prove his point, he forms a profitable yet volatile partnership with Vince (Cruise), a young pool hustler with a sexy, tough-talking girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, THE PERFECT STORM). But when Vince's flashy arrogance leads to more than a few lost matches, all bets are off between Eddie and him. THE COLOR OF MONEY will electrify you with its suspenseful story, dazzling cinematography, and dynamic performances.
Amazon.com essential video: Martin Scorsese 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 Scorsese 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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - 9-Ball, Corner Pocket
Just as a note--my review comes shortly after the death of Paul Newman, and in a sense this is my way to pay tribute to one of the greatest actors of all time. He will be sorely missed.
Rating: - Damn good! (But doesn't entirely fulfill its promise)
There's an admirable economy in the set-up. We see right away that Fast Eddie (Newman, in a reprise of his role from 1961's The Hustler) is still hustling, now off-brand liquor instead of pool, from which ... Read More
Rating: - Great movie, Poor DVD
The movie itself is great. However, the DVD is of poor quality. It does not have any "extras" either.
Rating: - Great Product
The movie I bought was in fantasic shape I would buy from this shipper again.
Rating: - A great sequel
A sequel of sorts of Newman's 1960 THE HUSTLER, and a great one. Newman, long out of the pool game now, but still unable to forget it, finds Tom Cruise shooting the daylights out of the game one night and talks ... Read More
- 9-Ball, Corner Pocket
- Damn good! (But doesn't entirely fulfill its promise)
- Great movie, Poor DVD