{"id":36496,"date":"2016-11-20T22:43:48","date_gmt":"2016-11-21T06:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/?p=36496"},"modified":"2016-11-20T22:43:48","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T06:43:48","slug":"challenge-week-44-the-color-of-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-44-the-color-of-money\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Week 44: The Color of Money"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s honestly been so long since I’ve seen The Hustler<\/em> that I don’t remember the details all that well, but I don’t think it really mattered going into this much-later sequel. Now Fast Eddie Felson (Newman) is retired from the pool circuit, instead doing very well as a liquor salesman. But when he meets Vincent (Tom Cruise), a hot-shot young player, Eddie takes him under his wing to teach him the hustling game.<\/p>\n

I’ve always thought it was interesting that Martin Scorsese chose to make a 25-years-later sequel to a pool hustling movie, and the movie doesn’t particularly scream “Scorsese” stylistically, but I can see the appeal. It’s men doing men things in a vaguely gangster-like setting, where honor and money compete for men’s souls. However, though I often find that “men doing men things” movies don’t appeal to me these days, I found a lot to appreciate about The Color of Money<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"tf-cruise\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Newman is a master class, as always, investing the aging Eddie with a gravitas, exasperation, and coiled anger that perfectly fits the role of a retired pool shark who finds himself suddenly needing to know whether he’s a has-been. Cruise is very young, brash, and often quite annoying as Vincent, but he is the thorn that Eddie needs in his side. The movie really belongs to Newman, though, as well it should, and his shift from conman mentor to con victim to legitimate player is perfectly paced and richly acted.<\/p>\n

I don’t have a lot more to say, but I’m glad to have seen this one, and it’s made me want to revisit The Hustler<\/em>. Definitely an underrated film in Scorsese’s canon, I think.<\/p>\n

\"tf-watching\"<\/p>\n

Stats and stuff…<\/h3>\n

1986, USA<\/em>
\ndirected by Martin Scorsese, written by Richard Price<\/em>
\nstarring Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Helen Shaver, John Turturro<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how The Color of Money<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n

The Color of Money<\/b> > Just Around the Corner
\nThe Color of Money<\/b> > Serenity
\nThe Color of Money < Much Ado About Nothing<\/b> (2012)
\nThe Color of Money < The Collector<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < The Aviator<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Standing in the Shadows of Motown<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Broken Embraces<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Stage Fright<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Cops<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Miller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Crossing<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < Three Smart Girls<\/b>
\nThe Color of Money < The Abyss<\/b><\/p>\n

Final #930 out of 3717 (75%)<\/p>\n

It is now my #6 Martin Scorsese film, my #4 Paul Newman film, my #6 Tom Cruise film, my #10 Con Artist\/Hustler film, my #7 Sports Drama, and my #4 film of 1986.<\/p>\n

The Color of Money<\/em> was recommended by Andrew Robinson<\/a>, a film blogger friend.<\/p>\n

A few more screenshots…<\/h3>\n

\"tf-sitting\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-newman\"<\/p>\n

\"tf-glasses\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s honestly been so long since I’ve seen The Hustler that I don’t remember the details all that well, but I don’t think it really mattered going into this much-later sequel. Now Fast Eddie Felson (Newman) is retired from the pool circuit, instead doing very well as a liquor salesman. But when he meets Vincent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[795,3254,3252,3253],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-the-color-of-money.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":35989,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/06\/challenge-week-22-the-last-waltz-and-standing-in-the-shadows-of-motown\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 22: The Last Waltz and Standing in the Shadows of Motown","author":"Jandy","date":"June 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Most people haven't themed their weeks at all, but Ryan McNeil of The Matinee opted to give me a double feature of concert\/music docs, which is almost prescient, since I've recently been really interested to see more of those. Both of these two would've been high on my list, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/tf-feat.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":33343,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/the-story-of-film-on-tcm-chapter-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":1},"title":"The Story of Film on TCM: Chapter 9","author":"Jandy","date":"November 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"[Turner Classic Movies is airing Mark Cousins' epic documentary The Story of Film, playing one episode a week accompanied by films discussed in that week's episode. I'm writing up my thoughts on each episode. I got behind four weeks ago, but rather than give up, I'm going to just post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/The_Story_of_Film-9.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27296,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/50dmc-32-favorite-sequel\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":2},"title":"50DMC #32: Favorite Sequel","author":"Jandy","date":"September 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What's your favorite sequel? This one's too easy and obvious, but it's true. It's pretty commonly believed that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/The-Empire-Strikes-Back.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1519,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/the-last-picture-hero\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":3},"title":"The Last Picture Hero","author":"Jandy","date":"October 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The title of The Last Picture Show has an obvious referent within the film: the single movie theatre in the tiny Texas town Anarene (not a real place, but based on real places) closes during the course of the film, and two of the main characters attend the final show.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/the-last-picture-show-_peter-bogdanovich-1971_-_6__0007.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":35517,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/challenge-week-5-grosse-pointe-blank-1997\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":4},"title":"Challenge Week 5: Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)","author":"Jandy","date":"February 6, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been meaning to see Grosse Pointe Blanke for like fifteen years, and never gotten around to it, so I'm very glad Ben suggested it for this challenge. I knew there was a crime-type element to it and that it was a black comedy, but that was about it -\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/tf-feat-kitchenshootout.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36655,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/challenge-week-51-joe-versus-the-volcano\/","url_meta":{"origin":36496,"position":5},"title":"Challenge Week 51: Joe Versus the Volcano","author":"Jandy","date":"January 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"What a goofy, weird little comedy. When my cousins were deciding what films to give me, Kevin scoffed at this suggestion from his wife, a movie she has a soft spot for and he apparently thinks is trash. Heh. I'd been meaning to see it for a while as I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/tf-feat-joevsvolcano.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}