The Color of Money
Director: Martin Scorsese (1986)
Cast: Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
There’s nothing like a sequel that takes 25 years to make. The world LOVES a great sequel and we got one here with “The Color Of Money.”
We last saw Fast Eddie Felson in1961, black balled from the east coast pool halls, we find Eddie as a much older and wiser liquor salesman in1986. Business is good, he has a lady friend named Janelle that he sees, but he misses the action of the old days as a pool shark.
One night he’s at a bar that has pool tables and Eddie hears a thunderous break at a pool table near him and there he sees Vincent Vega and his girlfriend, Carmen, trying to get hustle somebody into a game. Eddie introduces himself and wants to see how Vincent plays. What he sees is a 25-year-old powerhouse pool player, who is also crazy flake and a girl friend who wants to learn the business. So now Eddie is the teacher, with his new students, who are eager to learn. Of course, as the story goes, after students learn less from the teacher and start having their own success, Vincent and Gina want to go their own way. Eddie is upset, but the experience gets juices going and goes into training.
He is a success again and is invited to a major poker championship series on the west coast. Eddie wins all his brackets and ends up facing Vincent for the championship and beats him for the championship. Eddie is ecstatic for his victory, until he heard from Vincent that he tanked the game, giving his teacher the win. Vincent surmised that no one was betting for Eddie to win, so he put his money on Eddie to win and cleaned up. Eddie was a little miffed, but he had his confidence back and was ready to play again.
Fun Facts: in 1981 Henry Fonda was given an honorary Oscar from the Academy for his body of work. The next year he win the Oscar for Best Actor for “On Golden Pond.” In 1985 Paul Newman would receive an honorary Oscar for his body of work. In 1986 Paul Newman was Leading Actor for “The Color of Money.”
