THE COLOR OF MONEY. Directed by Martin Scorsese; written by Richard Price; produced by Irving Axelrod and Barbara DeFina for Touchatone. Starring Paul Newman, Tom Cruise and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Rated R (language and nudity, but very little of either).
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Don't miss this movie and put yourself behind the eight-ball come Oscar time. The Color of Money is sure to be nominated in a slew of categories, and deservedly so.
Its story is entertaining, interesting and full of surprises on several levels. At its simplest, it's a kind of a "Karate Kid" of the pool halls. Digging deeper, though, you'll find a morality play about innocence, experience, corruption and redemption. And a case study of the meeting of middle age and careless youth, among other things.
The Color of Money finds Fast Eddie of The Hustler (Newman, starring again as he did in the 1961 movie) making a good living wholesaling liquor and bankrolling young pool players. He's particularly interested in Vincent (Cruise), whose pool-playing skills are awesome, but whose hustling prowess is second-rate.
Eddie convinces Vincent and his girlfriend Carmen (Mastrantonio) that there's lots more money to be made from pool if you know how to handle the people in the hall. An expert on "human moves," Eddie tries to curb Vincent's innocent enjoyment of the game, teaching the kid to calculate instead of exult, to connive instead of crow. But like most good teachers, Eddie eventually learns as much from his student as he teaches.
The characters here, and the performances which bring them to life, cannot be praised enough. Eddie is wonderful—cool, astute and world-weary, but also tender, vulnerable and not always in control. I like Newman here better than in any movie since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, although Eddie and Butch are likeable for totally different reasons. Newman may not always have starred in the greatest pictures, but, in case there was any doubt, The Color of Money shows him as a master of the art of acting.
Cruise's characters are always appealing and entertaining, but Vincent is clearly the first role he's really been able to sink his teeth into. And he's never had a co-star of Newman's calibre to spar with. Their interaction is the centerpiece of The Color of Money, and it's always engaging and believeable.
But Carmen doesn't just stand around and look sulkily sexy (although she does that very well). She's an interesting counterpoint to Vincent, at least early on. She wants to be cool and in control like Eddie, but doesn't quite know now. When he begins his lessons, she's at the head of the class, grasping the essence of hustling long before Vincent does.
Technically, the movie is very stylish—maybe to a fault. Viewers who get tired of unusual camera angles and dizzying panning shots may lose patience with the movie. Most of the razzle-dazzle serves the story's purposes well, but perhaps it should have been toned down somewhat.
Nonetheless, look for The Color of Money to win some technical kudos, particularly in the area of production design. All the movie's interiors are perfect, from the red leather uphostery in Eddie's Cadillac, to the seedy pool halls he visits, to the plush opulence of the Atlantic City casinos. They don't just look right, they feel right.
And so does virtually every frame of The Color of Money. It just may cash in at the Oscar derby.
NOTE: this movie made my 10-best list for 1986.
November 5, 1986