Review of The Hustler (1961) by Zack C — 01 Jul 2011

OK, maybe not one of the best I've seen from Paul Newman, but my God, this film is pretty much a powerhouse of depression. If you think watching your childhood burst into flames is proof that you need medication, try watching this - everything you wanted to know about the glory days of pool is pretty much either consider quack or just plain delusional.

I'm not saying that this is the most realistic portrayal of life as it happens, but it did introduce ideas that would central for a lot of the New French Extremity and New Hollywood films to come later in the future: the idea that humans have to accept the unrelenting and sometimes needlessly cruel nature of reality and a lot of stylistic cues from the then-maligned genre of film noir. You can see sort of a template for John Cassavetes and Gaspar Noe here - this whole nightmarish look into a world once romanticized by all these tall tales and somehow torn down by people who knew better than to actually propagate all this happy surreality that was going through films at this time.

Also, the whole pool story was kind of neat. Unlike others who thought it was kind of boring because it comprises of people hitting balls with sticks, I think it gives a kind of dark look at one of college's favorite pastimes.

I probably wouldn't want to watch it again anytime soon.