Why didn't Eddie just drop Vince for Amos?
Amos is clearly a better player, unknown, and already knows the art of hustling. Eddie could have fed Amos a few lines and gotten the best out of him, instead of that headache Vince.
shareFirst Amos wasnt better than Vincent. I agree at that point in the film Amos is a betetr Hustler but its pretty clear Vincent had the best pure pool ability. However by teh end of teh film Vincent had become a good hustler as we
shareWhat makes you think Vince is better than Amos? Amos is pulling off trick shots to sink the 9 ball while Vince is still clearing the table in ball order to win his matches. He'd never get a chance to do that if he played Amos. He'd lose.
shareBecause Amos was black. Ain't got no time for main black characters in a Scorsese film
shareCruise had no trouble running tables for like six games in a row against Julian the coke fiend who was getting $20 at a time from his sugar daddy Eddie. And he was shooting banks, combos, jumps and extreme masse shots occasionally. You don't often have the chance to do more elaborate "trick shots" in a real game. Maybe Vincent was so good he could shoot the balls in order and win as easily as he could doing a combo for nine. We can speculate all day about whether Amos could beat Vincent, but we have more evidence that Vincent can rule the table for longer than Amos. Every shot he missed was on purpose as far as we know. He did not ever lose accidentally or get defeated.
shareVincent shot combinations, banks, and trick shots. He didn't just shoot every ball in order. Stop making things up. Clearly you don't know the movie. But even if Vince did shoot every ball in order in some games, that could be because he knew he was better and more confident player and took his time rather than rush through. I am not sure but he may have shot the balls in order when he played Moselle or someone else. But he didn't do it all the time. Some times maybe he had to because of how the balls spread. You have no evidence that Amos was a better player based on one trick shot and a few minutes of play.
I think Eddie deliberately got drunk to let Amos hustle him - after telling Cruise where he would be playing. It goes back to The Hustler when Eddie got drunk and let Minnesota Fats beat him. He was putting on a show of losing and acting defeating to get rid of Vincent and you see it in his reaction when Vincent storms out and he just calmly picks up the cue stick and leaves. You have to read between the lines. Eddie wanted to dump Vincent and he got the perfect chance. That does not prove that Amos could have beaten Eddie sober or that Amos could beat Vincent. Within the logic of the movie, Eddie is a better judge of pool playing ability than you.
I have long felt that Eddie deliberately got drunk and lost to Amos in front of Vincent. He told him where he was going to play and when he showed up that gave Eddie the perfect opportunity to dump the game and dump Vincent. It goes back to "The Hustler" when he got drunk to have an excuse to lose against Minnesota Fats. We can debate whether he could have won if he was sober and whether he was really putting on an act of being defeated to dump Vincent, but the fact Eddie was drunk and impaired physically and mentally would still remain. I think he was acting by the way he calmly picks up his cue and shoves some money at Carmen after Vincent throws down the cue stick and runs out.
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