Color of Money, The

The Color of Money 1986 Movie Poster

"The Hustler isn't what he used to be.  But he has the next best ting.  A kid who is."  Starring Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson and Tom Cruise as Vincent Lauria, the Color of Money was a Martin Scorsese film released in 1986.  This movie, based on a novel by Walter Tevis, was actually a sequel to a 1961 movie called "The Hustler," which also starred Newman as Eddie Felson.  The film was well liked by some critics, while others did not think it lived up to its predecessor (such as Siskel and Ebert).  Regardless of the mixed reviews, Newman still won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance, and the film was a financial success.

The movie takes up 20 years after the events of the 1961 movie, where we find Fast Eddie (Newman) retired from the pool shark circuit and instead selling liquor.  One evening, Eddie meets and takes a talented pool shark named Vincent (Cruise) under his wings, and convinces him to travel to a big money pool tournament in Atlantic City.  While they work their way up in various pool halls in the area, Eddie gets beaten by another player.  After Eddie gets some new glasses, he begins re-honing his sharking skills in order to be a true contender in the tournament.  Vincent does very well in the tournament, but takes a dive in his first match up with Eddie in order to win a bet.  Eddie does not like this idea of not actually winning, so eventually, Eddie and Vincent end up in a private match where Eddie exclaims that “he’s back!”