With Paul Newman’s death, his last film role in one of Pixar’s great animated films (Cars), reflecting upon his career has a lot of highs and an equal amount of lows. But all the lows seem to go away and all the highs remain with us. When all is said and done Newman ought to be remembered for two separate portrayals of the same character for two very different directors: Eddie Felson.
Two legendary directors of different eras crafted two different but powerful versions of the man. Robert Rossen brought the character, originally crafted in the novel “The Hustler” by Walter Tevis, to life as a young man hungry for fame and success. Newman was a young actor then, established and already with an Oscar nomination, and The Hustler marked his first major run as an actor where everything he did was good and he was good in it. Contrast this with his role in The Color of Money. Martin Scorsese gave us Felson as a warrior long since retired, attempting to pass on what he knew to a younger man with more talent than he ever had.
Starring Tom Cruise, who was just coming into his own as an actor, it was almost biographical for the two men as Cruise would reach heights as an actor Newman never did. Newman was a big star, one of the biggest of his era, but Cruise set a standard as a leading man and box office draw that Newman never did. Newman’s career transformed from leading man to more of a supporting role, still a presence but enough to know that he wasn’t the man anymore. The Verdict may have been his last great leading role but The Color of Money cemented his spot as a great character actor with a veteran presence. Considering he’d starred in some of the great films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, he ended up paving the way for actors like Michael Caine to seamlessly make the same transition later on.
In many ways Eddie Felson is iconic because we were allowed to see an actor tackle a character in two different ways at different points in his life while simultaneously tackling a different point in his own career. Thus it’s interesting to look back at Rossen’s interpretation of the character alongside a young Paul Newman.
Felson is a small time pool hustler, traveling from town to town hustling people out of their money. He has an interesting life going for him, visiting local pool halls, when he comes upon the man he’s been looking for: Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason), the best player in the country. After a 36 hour marathon match with the man, Eddie is left defeated and broken. From there it’s a further descent down, as Eddie falls into a further cycle of gambling and alcoholism.
It’s a brilliant story-telling from a master of it, as Robert Rossen has crafted a story about a man’s descent from the top and further into the depths of his soul, as Rossen turned out perhaps his most important (and his best) work in a career that wasn’t as acclaimed when he was making films as it was when he passed. Rossen, who had been blackballed from the industry due to the “Red Scare” of the McCarthy era of American politics, never really got his due and still doesn’t despite a handful of Oscar nominations and a handful of classic films including The Hustler and the original All the King’s Men.
It’s a brilliant character study featuring an actor at perhaps his absolute peak. Newman may have been early in his career, as this was the film that made him a star, but it’s hard to argue he was better at any point in his career. Felson is the sort of character only Newman could play; he’s a classic anti-hero with enough redeeming qualities to make him iconic. Newman would never match the sort of heights he crafted in The Hustler, nominated for an Academy Award for the character but winning the award for Scorsese’s interpretation and not this one. Which is a shame really, as this is easily the better performance and the better film in comparison to Scorsese’s The Color of Money.
There isn’t much of an improvement from the original special edition DVD to the Blu-ray, mainly because the film is in black & white and there is no margin for a massive uptick in a/v quality. It looks good and sounds better, mainly because Blu-Ray has a better capacity for audio, but this isn’t an enormous step up in terms of quality.
These features are new to the Blu-ray edition:
Paul Newman at Fox is a piece about Newman’s career at Fox during the old studio system, and his romance with Joanne Woodward that wound up being controversial for the time, as it looks back upon the system itself. It’s a fascinating look back at the way Hollywood used to be during the last days of the studio system and the way film-making changed during his primary years working with Twentieth Century Fox.
Jackie Gleeson: The Big Man is a piece about Gleeson doing the film. Newman thought that Gleeson upstaged him as Gleeson seemed too elegant for the film, as he actually was a great pool player. This was Gleeson’s big dramatic role after years on The Honeymooners and the Smokey and the Bandit films.
The Real Hustler: Walter Tevis is a profile of the film’s author and his thought processes that went into his writing the novel.
A number of extras are included from the original special edition DVD:
Life in the Fast Lane: Fast Eddie Felson and The Search for Greatness follows the tale of Newman’s iconic Eddie Felson through history’s perspective via the remaining members of the cast. Featuring an interview with Newman, he got lucky in getting the part. Having another film fall through, he was mailed the script by Rossen and told him halfway through reading it that he wanted the part no matter what. It’s fascinating to hear members of the cast discuss Newman’s presence at such an early stage in his career, as this film was the one that launched him into superstardom.
Milestones in Cinema History: The Hustler is a feature looking back at the historical aspects of the film. Tracking everyone from their place in time when they were picked for the film, through the film, and their career afterwards, it’s a fascinating look at one of the more influential films of our time.
Swimming with Sharks: The Art of the Hustle is a quick instructional guide from several professional players on how pool hustling actually works, as well as some quick anecdotes about it as well.
The Hustler: The Inside Story is more of a historical perspective on where the film’s motivations came from in the post McCarthy era of U.S history. Interjecting facts about the three main stars, Scott, Newman and Gleason, it’s interesting to hear how Gleason could’ve been a professional at the sport and Newman had never played until he made the film. The feature looks at a variety of topics with lots of interesting trivia scattered throughout it.
Paul Newman: Hollywood’s Cool Hand is a feature from A&E’s Biography series about the star of the film. Featuring a lot about his past, and going through his life through cinema, it’s an interesting look at one of the great stars of our time.
How to Make the Shot is a tutorial on how to make all of the famous shots from the film.
Also included are some Theatrical Trailers and a Still Gallery as well as a listing of The Films of Paul Newman. Also there’s a Commentary featuring Newman, Rossen, Dede Allen, Stefan Gierasch, Ulu Grosbard, Richard Schickel and Jeff Young and an interactive Trick Shot Analysis.
The Hustler is a great film but the Blu-ray edition feels extremely close to being a glorified double dip from Twentieth Century Fox. It has just enough extras to make it feel like a new edition but generally brings most of the extras from the prior edition over in a new format. If you already own the special edition DVD this isn’t a worthwhile investment.
Twentieth Century Fox presents The Hustler . Written and Directed by Robert Rossen based off the novel “The Hustler” by Walter Tevis. Starring Jackie Gleeson, Paul Newman, George C. Scott. Running time 128 minutes. Not Rated. Released on DVD May 17, 2011.
