The Color of Money (1986) on Netflix
Fast Eddie Felson gave up professional pool and now sells liquor in Chicago. He spots hustler Vincent Lauria and proposes taking him on the road toward a nine-ball tournament in Atlantic City.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.0/10102,725 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes87%
Trailer
Plot summary
In Chicago, Eddie Felson sells liquor and puts money behind pool players. One of them, the hustler Julian, is outmatched at nine-ball by Vincent Lauria, a young player with obvious talent, whose girlfriend Carmen has little luck drawing opponents in. Eddie sees what the pair could earn and offers to take Vincent on a six-week road trip of pool halls that ends at a nine-ball tournament in Atlantic City. He gives Vincent a Balabushka cue and plays on Vincent's worries about Carmen to get his answer. Eddie's sudden exit leaves Julian and Eddie's girlfriend Janelle unhappy, and on the road Eddie collects most of the winnings while trying to teach Vincent how a hustle works.
Cast
- Robert Aginsas Earl at Chalkie's
Show all 20 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Color of Money (1986)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- A line in the film spoken by Tom Cruise - "In here? Doom" - inspired the title of the popular 1993 video game Doom.
- Walter Tevis wrote a sequel to his novel The Hustler, called The Color of Money, and died the same day producer Irving Axelrad received galley proofs of the book.
- Martin Scorsese said Jackie Gleason was presented with a draft of the script that had Fats worked into the narrative, but after reading it Gleason declined to reprise the role because he felt the character seemed to have been added as "an afterthought".
- Tom Cruise performed most of his own pool shots; the exception was a jump shot over two balls to pot another, which Martin Scorsese believed Cruise could learn but would take too long, so professional player Mike Sigel performed it for him.
- Martin Scorsese considered shooting the film in black and white, and cited the 1947 Powell-Pressburger film Black Narcissus, saying the extreme closeups of Tom Cruise around the pool table were inspired by those of the nuns in that film.
- Paul Newman received the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Color of Money, his first Academy Award and his seventh nomination.
- The 1996 nine-ball challenge match between Efren Reyes and Earl Strickland was named "The Color of Money" in honor of the film, and a second challenge in 2001 was titled "The Color of Money II".
