Image Up Advertising & Design

| OHCC LIVING | APRIL 2023 | 47 BEST POOL MOVIES: Here are some of the best pool movies of all time, starting with the unquestioned #1, The Hustler, the movie that saved an industry. The Hustler, IMDb 8.0 (1961), starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, is considered by many film buffs and critics to be the best pool movie of all time. It's unlikely any pool movie will top it, which to this day still conjures up the iconic image of Paul Newman — aka Fast Eddie Felson — crouching for a shot as he leans over the pool table. Willie Mosconi, perhaps the greatest pool player of all time, taught Paul Newman to play good pool for the movie. Jackie Gleason, however, needed no help because he was already a superlative player. He made all his own trick shots in the movie. The Hustler single-handedly rescued the moribund billiard industry. "In the 1920s there were 40,000 billiard rooms in the United States. Every town of any size had at least one. A room called Detroit Recreation in the Motor City had 250 tables. Imagine a pool hall with 250 tables and guys standing in line to play. New York had five places with more than 100 tables." But by 1960 the game was in one of the worst slumps of all time, a drop of 90 percent, down to 4,000 pool rooms. Then along came the movie The Hustler. A combination of major film exposure and manufacturers capitalizing on the renewed interest proved to be a bonanza. By 1965 the number of pool rooms shot up to 19,000, nearly five times as many. While many in the industry feared the film's depiction of pool gambling would further doom the sport, the opposite occurred. Willie Mosconi noted that Brunswick, at least at first, wanted to fire him after the film's release. "But then a month later he calls me back and he's overjoyed," recalled Mosconi. "He says 'I can't believe it, Willie. People can't get into the theaters down here fast enough to see the picture. My sales are skyrocketing.'" The Color of Money, IMDb 7.0 (1986) with Paul Newman and Tom Cruise appeared 25 years after The Hustler. In this film, "Fast Eddie" Felson (Newman, playing the same role) teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé (Cruise) the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback." Iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese directed the movie. Newman won an Academy Award for his performance, reprising the role he made famous a quarter century before in The Hustler. This movie sparked another resurgence in the pool industry. Poolhall Junkies IMDb 6.9 (2002) Johnny (Mars Callahan) could be one of the best pool players in the world, but he lives under Joe (Chazz Palminteri), a dark hustler who trains him and decides how and with whom he should play. The film shows how imposition and obligation are not always the road to success. It is a realistic film full of spectacular shots, suggesting that the actor and director Mars Callahan loves the sport. Stickmen (IMDb 6.7) Jack, Thomas, and Wayne make up The Stickmen. Simone Kessell is the token pool hall girl in this sexist romp through billiards movies. They like nothing more than having a beer in one hand, pool cue in the other, money on the table, and their friends surrounding them at Dave's bar. Unfortunately, the bar is going bankrupt and Dave is desperate to get out of debt. Dave convinces the Stickmen to play in an underground, high-stakes pool tournament. A tournament that boasts a bizarre collection of bikers, waitresses, bankers, and priests whom all stand in the way of winning the big money. Behind it all is a sinister crime lord pulling all the strings. Everything's riding on the Stickmen… can they play smart enough to win the tournament and save Dave's bar? On any given night a pool table will see casualties, victors, victims, and legends. Billiards

• Cover