Possible spoliers below***
In Walter Tevis's novel The Color of Money (set in the year 1983), Bert Gordon is revealed to have died ten years earlier - having lost his power and status in the world of pool management after Fast Eddie stood up to him in 1960.
The world of hustling and of management (where the real money lies) has long since moved on from Bert Gordon's day. In the novel, the pool scene of the eighties has acquired a professionalism and a corporate gloss that the sleazy fifties/sixties quasi-gangters such as Bert Gordon could never have envisaged.
Minnesota Fats appears in the early chapters of the novel, joining Eddie for a friendly playing tour of the pool circuit. The elderly Fats (whose real name is revealed to be Paul Egerman) dies of a heart attack in the middle of his and Eddie's comeback tour. For Eddie this marks the end of an era, and the true end to his own 'youth' as he faces a lonely middle-age.
The movie version dispenses with all this. It really is an adaptation in name only. There is no Vincent or Carmen in the novel, they were characters invented by the screen writer. The novel is focused solely on a middle-aged Eddie making a comeback tour on the circuit, and finding love again in a relationship with a Kentucky art dealer.
Walter Tevis's novel is infinitely better than the movie which shares its name, and ties in much more directly with the novel and movie The Hustler. Very few people seem to have actually read it. It answers a lot of questions about Eddie's past, and about what happened to him between the two novels.
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balboa76
10 years ago
I didn't know that The Hustler and The Color of Money were both adapted from novels, am going to check them out, thanks so much.
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maturity
9 years ago
I found all the female characters in The Hustler and TCoM were very shallow, empty or depressing. They have no depth or appeal. Piper Laurie was at least plausible, there are people like that, but who wants to be around them or watch their empty lives? Carmen seems like an appendage just written in to sit in bars holding Vincent's coat and money, drinking, smoking, going to the bathroom and watching him play pool or video games. She is rather pathetic, and as flat as a cardboard cut-out. I can't see any woman relating to Carmen or Eddie's girlfriend. They have no qualities most women or men could relate to.
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maturity
9 years ago
To a large extent, I think this movie is targeted to the white male demographic. It has no interesting women and only a couple of black males of any significance. Only white men have any significant dialogue / screen time. The rest are superficial and marginal at best and exist only to support the main characters or get beaten by them and make them look good. Even when Eddie gets hustled by Amos, I have the feeling it was an act. Eddie told Vincent where he was going to play and he got drunk. Only when Vincent arrived did Amos do the hustle on him. I think Eddie used alcohol as an excuse to dump the game with Amos and dump Vincent and Carmen at the same time. "The Hustler" supports this, but I saw "TCoM" first and still thought that Eddie was deliberately throwing the game or getting drunk. That tends to happen when you stand around a pool hall all day ordering shot after shot.
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reggie182
9 years ago
I think this movie is targeted to the white male demographic. It has no interesting women and only a couple of black males of any significance. Only white men have any significant dialogue / screen time.
Are you suggesting that a movie with an interesting woman or a black male of significance is thereby
not targeted to a white male demographic?
I'd also be curious to know if you think that movies where the predominant screentime goes to white males are only appreciated by that demographic?
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maturity
8 years ago
I think a movie can be interesting and have male and female characters of all skin colors whose actions and words drive the story. No, I'm not saying the people are only interested in seeing their sex or skin color, but the fact is birds of a feather tend to flock together and the movies like this reinforce that. New movies and shows especially have more diversity and strong women. The fact is, this doesn't and it's not just that but the females don't seem very appealing or relevant even. I can't see a woman sitting in a bar watching a guy play pool and video games. And before he met Eddie he wasn't even any good at hustling people, just beating a coke head loser's ass and scaring off everyone else in the bar.
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maturity
8 years ago
Do you think there is not racism and sexism in movies? Women get paid less in movies than men to this day. In television too, according to actress Judy Greer. There is this test to demonstrate gender bias. Do two named females have a conversation about something besides a man (or men in general)? A surprising number of hit movies fail this test like Indiana Jones, Star Wars 4-6, and Harry Potter. Males are the central characters and drive the whole story. Men talk to each other about lots of things besides women in most movies and shows, but often women are in a vacuum and just connect to the story like they are tacked on. See: Bechdel Test.
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jmrex
8 years ago
You're all over this board whining about the female characters. Pretend you're a writer. Give Carmen some additional involvement. I'm listening.
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