The Color of Money (1986)
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Reviews Counted: 37
Fresh: 34 | Rotten: 3
That it's inferior to the original goes without saying, but Paul Newman and Tom Cruise are a joy to watch, and Martin Scorsese's direction is typically superb.
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 2
That it's inferior to the original goes without saying, but Paul Newman and Tom Cruise are a joy to watch, and Martin Scorsese's direction is typically superb.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 44,061
My Rating
Movie Info
Oscar-nominated in 1961 for his performance as pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler, Paul Newman won that award a quarter century later when he reprised the role in The Color of Money. At the end of The Hustler, Felson was banned for life from playing the game professionally. In the intervening years, he has become what the despicable George C. Scott was in the 1961 film: a front man for younger hustlers, claiming the lion's share of the winnings. His latest "client" is arrogant young
Oct 8, 1986 Wide
Mar 6, 2001
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Paul Newman
Eddie Felson -
Tom Cruise
Vincent Lauria -
Mary Elizabeth Mastranton...
Carmen -
Helen Shaver
Janelle -
John Turturro
Julian -
Bill Cobbs
Orvis -
Robert Agins
Earl at Chalkies -
Keith McCready
Grady Seasons -
Carol Messing
Julian's Flirt -
Steve Mizerak
Duke Eddie's 1st Oppone... -
Bruce A. Young
Moselle -
Alvin Anastasia
Kennedy -
Randall Arney
1st Child World Custome... -
Wanda Christine
Casino Clerk -
Vito D'Ambrosio
Lou in Child World -
Ron Dean
Guy in Crowd -
Paul Herman
Player in Casino Bar -
Michael Nash
Moselle's Opponent -
Mario Nieves
3rd Latin Guy -
Miguel Nino
1st Latin Guy -
Ernest Perry Jr.
Eye Doctor -
Iggy Pop
Skinny Player on the Ro... -
Juan Ramírez
2nd Latin Guy -
Charles Scorsese
First High Roller -
Elizabeth Bracco
Diane at Bar -
Richard Price
Guy Who Calls Dud -
Forest Whitaker
Amos -
Lisa Dodson
2nd Child World Custome... -
Donald A. Feeney
1st Referee -
Paul Geier
Two Brothers/Stranger P... -
Carey Goldenberg
Congratulating Spectato... -
Joe Guastaferro
Chuck the Bartender -
Mark Jarvis
Guy at Janelle's -
Lawrence Linn
Congratulating Spectato... -
Jimmy Mataya
Julian's Friend in Gree... -
Grady Mathews
Dad -
Lloyd Moss
Narrator - Resorts Inte... -
Andy Nolfo
2nd Referee -
Jerry Piller
Tom -
Alex Ross Perry
Bartender Who Bets -
Peter Saxe
Casino Bar Band Member -
Jim Widlowski
Casino Bar Band Member -
Zoé
Dog Walkby -
-
Fred Squillo
High Roller
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All Critics (37) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (34) | Rotten (3) | DVD (8)
We are not on Rocky's side of the street, but in Martin Scorsese country, where bent character, not sentiment, shapes destiny, and the best the struggling human spirit can hope for is a split decision.
Pic has a distinctive pulse of its own with exceptional performances by Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.
Top CriticA solidly crafted entertainment that, for the most part, strikes a successful balance between commercial necessity and personal expression.
Scorsese's direction at its most downmarket and upbeat -- never have pool tables, balls and cues looked so rich and strange.
A stunning vehicle -- a white Cadillac among the other mainstream American movies of the season.
It doesn't have the electricity, the wound-up tension, of [Scorsese's] best work, and as a result I was too aware of the story marching by.
It's entertaining and at times even insightful, but nowhere near as powerful-or memorable-as "The Hustler."
Working with his crack technical team, Scorsese turns the film into a high-wire act, using everything from the crack of the balls to the soundtrack (best bit: Cruise playing and preening to Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London") to pump up the action.
A gamble that teens will get this adult's movie.
A joy to see two masters (Scorsese and Newman) at ease with their work, and one, Cruise, in the making.
A hard act to follow, but Scorsese does it in style.
Lacking the urgency, dramatic momentum, and mood of the wonderful 1961 The Hustler, Scorsese's sequel is an enjoyable but ultimately disappointing sequel, and one of his most generic and least personal works.
Word is that Paul Newman gave Iggy Pop the cold shoulder during the filming.
Boasts two bravura performances--from Newman, who finally -- and deservedly -- won an Oscar for Best Actor, and Cruise, who is a joy to behold. Watch for Forest Whittaker and Iggy Pop in colorful bit roles.
The new version has a tension all its own.
Undernecessary sequel. Cinematography was incredible, though.
For the bulk of the run time, The Color of Money excels on its intended terms as a sexy genre picture, mostly thanks to an energetic star turn courtesy of Tom Cruise.
The film is carried by Paul Newman's intelligent performance.
Audience Reviews for The Color of Money
"The Hustler isn't what he used to be, but he has the next best thing: a kid who is."
Might as well get it out of the way early; The Color of Money isn't as good as The Hustler. I didn't expect it to be, so who cares. This takes up Fast Eddie Felson's story 25 years after the events of The Hustler. If any man could make a sequel to a masterpiece 25 years later, it would be Martin Scorsese and he does it admirably. It isn't his best, but it is still a really good movie. All that you really need to know is Paul Newman is back in the role of Fast Eddie and that is all that really matters. This isn't a slap in the face to The Hustler. It's just a good continuation.
Eddie Felson was banned from playing pool professionally, so for the last 25 years, he has been selling liquor. He's in a bar when he sees Vincent, a cocky but immensely talented young pool player. Eddie takes him under his wing and on the road, where he teaches him how to hustle. The story doesn't really go how you think it would. Scorsese takes detours along the way, but by the end, it gets where you thought it would. I liked a few of the unexpected things in the story and I disliked a few, but overall I liked where Scorsese took us with this continuation. Could it have been better? Yeah, but as it is, it isn't too bad.
Now is where I admit that this is lesser Scorsese. This is no Raging Bull, but I'll take lesser Scorsese over just about anybody's best. This is a project I'm sure Scorsese loved and one that he probably wanted to do more for himself then for an audience. He throws in his signature character driven plot and all the little things that make watching his films so great. The cast is good, the cinematography is good, the soundtrack is good, and the direction is good. The only thing that pulls the movie down at all is that it is living in the shadows of an all-time classic. You can't watch the movie and not end up comparing it, at least a little, to The Hustler.
I really enjoyed The Color of Money. It isn't a masterpiece, but it does feature terrific performances from Paul Newman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, plus an okay one from Tom Cruise. Watch this for what it is and don't criticize it too heavily based off of The Hustler. That's a comparison not many would win.
Super Reviewer
-
- Eddie Felson: You gotta have two things to win. You gotta have brains and you gotta have balls. Now, you got too much of one and not enough of the other.
-
- Eddie Felson: Do you smell that?
- Vincent Lauria: Smoke?
- Carmen: No, Money.
-
- Grady Seasons: It's like a nightmare, isn't it? It just keeps getting worse and worse.
-
- Eddie Felson: Straight pool is pool. This is like handball...or cribbage or something. Straight pool you got to be a real surgeon...to get it-- You know, it's all finesse. Now everything is nine ball because it's fast...good for TV...good for a lot of break shots. Oh, well. What the hell. Checkers sells more than chess.
-
- Eddie Felson: You got to be a student...of human moves. See, all the greats that I know of...were students of human moves.
-
- Eddie Felson: You're some piece of work. You're also a natural character.
- Vincent Lauria: I've been telling her that. I got natural character.
- Eddie Felson: That's not what I said, kid. I said you are a natural character. You're an incredible flake. But that's a gift. Guys spend half their lives inventing that.
Discussion Forum
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Latest News on The Color of Money
June 23, 2005:
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Foreign Titles
- El color del dinero (ES)
To be brutally honest I've never seen a film with such a huge amount of sulking, pouting and tantrums as in this film haha. Cruise along with Newman spend most of the film either screaming at each other or storming off in a huff! makes you wonder really.
Personally I don't think there is much here that isn't overly original, the plot is virtually 'The Karate Kid' but with pool or 9-ball. Its funny how almost every film Cruise has done he's some kind of 'top gun' in whatever the film is about. In this we have to put with the most dreadful performances of cringeworthy over acting as Cruise dances and struts around pool tables defeating all challengers showboating as he does so. The perfect role for Mr Cruise then.
The other two main cast members are second fiddle to Mr Cruise's antics but do their best. Newman seems subdued and bored to me, he looks the part still of course, the wardrobe for his character is great, the perfect lounge lizard pool shark type. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is actually really good as Cruise's girlfriend and probably gives the best performance of the three. Her quiet role is the backbone or foundations for the whole plot as she keeps both male ego's in check, somewhat.
Being a Scorsese film it looks sweet as a nut, everything looks damn realistic from the bitterly cold looking locations to the smoky seedy all male pool halls. Despite that the film stretches for that epic Oscar level but really falls short, visually its great but Cruise lets it down for me as does the basic plot. Also gotta say that I hated all the negativity from the characters in this film, sure its the plot but it just left me feeling annoyed and fed up with watching them.