In a nutshell, The Hustler, and its sequel – The Color of Money – twenty-odd years later, are films about the relationships among a talented but immature young man, his love interest, and the seasoned veteran who exploits / trains the young man’s talent.

Of course, this is a serious over-generalization; still, it would be interesting to compare the two films, a quarter of a century apart, not the least because of Paul Newman, who stars in the same role in both films.

What to me was most impressive about The Hustler was the opening. The charismatic Mr. Newman – and boy does he appear so young! – captures the audience effortlessly, with that big and almost childish (but nonetheless potently charming) smile. If I were female I would probably have fallen for Mr. Newman at that instant – and by saying so I am probably already revealing too much of my fondness for this actor.

But of course, the film would not be a classic if it were simply a stage for Mr. Newman’s sex appeal. And the light humor of the film’s opening is deceptive, in that the rest of this 135 minute film is decidedly somber.

Mr. Newman, who plays “Fast” Eddie Felson, is a talented young pool hustler – that is, he makes money by playing and gambling at the pool table. When he losses an opportunity to beat Minnesota Fats, who is “the best player” in the country, he is determined to stick around until he has enough money to challenge Fats again. In the process, he hooks up with a mysterious young girl named Sarah (Piper Laurie, in an Oscar-nominated role), and seeks out a sly gambler / bookmaker (Bert, played by George C. Scott) to help him raise money.

Eddie’s relationship with Sarah is a fragile one – both do not talk about their respective histories, and at face value their relationship seems to be blank besides the physical pleasures. However underneath the silence is their obvious and straightforward affection for each other, and you get the sense that, despite their past pains, and the uncertainties ahead, this young couple is willing to risk their hearts for love.

The film is clever in setting up this fragile relationship first, and then insert Bert the semi-antagonist into the picture, thus changing the dynamics. Sarah appears to see through Bert, and vice versa; Eddie, on the other hand, is desperate enough to be willingly exploited. The film’s climax is presented when Eddie is forced to make a choice.

As someone else commented, the brilliance of The Hustler is how it directs the audience. For almost two whole hours, the audience eagerly awaits the rematch between Eddie and Fats, and all the while we have probably already developed various scenarios of how it would look like in our heads – but by the time it does happen, the film has already turned in another direction, and while the rematch is as we had expected, we have been taught a bigger lesson – that there are more things to life than winning and losing.

8/10

http://www.dani19.com/2009/03/16/the-hustler-1961/

咖啡店的早晨，落魄的艾迪和美丽神秘的女子莎拉相遇了，两个人很快住在了一起，两个人的背后都有着一些故事。两个人住在廉价的房间里 一段时间整天就是喝酒做爱，不谈任何感情，也不谈各自的故事，彼此像陌生人一样住在一起。终有一天，莎拉表达了自己对艾迪的爱意，并希望能够激励艾迪。但艾迪始终没有说出那三个字。关于最后面女人的死我的看法是女人希望通过自己的死来让男人看清楚一些事情，然后真正成熟起来。。

艾迪是遊走於撞球界玩世不恭的撞球高手兼老千，自視甚高的艾迪最大目標是在撞球界稱王，首先他要挑戰的便是傳奇人物明尼蘇達胖子，太急於求勝而心浮氣躁的艾迪，終究失敗了。頹喪落魄的他在此時遇見了患有小兒麻痺的奇女子莎拉，兩人在低潮中陷入熱戀，但艾迪一直被撞球界的名利所蒙蔽，仍欲東山再起，殊不知這卻是他即將身陷的另一個危機。

6.5分。看下来并没有太多感觉的作品，Paul Newman当年的演技真不能恭维。纵观全片而言，“快手EDDIE”应该算是个对胜利极为执着的人，为了胜利，他几乎能放弃任何东西，但感觉Newman演得有些偏激。而他女友自杀的戏略有突兀，尽管就像片里说的，这不过就是时间早晚的问题罢了～

       电影海报做的可真不乍的。这电影比起哪怕50年后的今天。一些喜剧、泡沫剧、偶像剧，或者英雄主义情节、女权主义的，都要好看得多，得多。——因为它自然。
  
    男主人公，女主人公，商人，整个时代的痕迹，都那么天衣无缝。

    他是江湖浪子，台球高手，行迹江湖，被称为hustler，骗子。
    一掷千金，或者玩弄女人。

    她呢，7岁起小儿麻痹，被父亲抛弃，写作，被爱情伤害，裙下之臣不计其数。

    这2人的爱情，电火石光，冰雪聪明与放荡不羁。保罗纽曼帅气的脸袋，秀拔的身材。女主有点赫本跟梦露的合体。身段不错，只是胸不太大。

    她为什么自杀，是因为跟2个男人，一个爱的，一个未必不爱，是因为对他们失望而死；还是对自己本身无望，待考——本身这就是导演的用意，他也不讲明，让你们去挖掘那个60年代，那个嬉皮初步萌芽却尚未兴盛；迷惘一代跟垮掉一代相继肆虐，俘虏时代的二战后，人们生活、爱情，何处是归途的探究。

   
    虽然很小，却想放大一些什么。

    
    保罗的球技如若有水分，也好得没话说。那架势、出杆，帅气的仪态，是为才子。
    才子佳人，从来不缺故事，甚至传奇。只是，女人竟然自杀了。如若影片有硬伤，女人的死就有点硬朗的疼。

   
    为什么一定要死呢？
    好死不如赖活。即使跛脚无正当职业如她，也相继有不同类型帅气的男人爱她。以她的聪明，怎么不明白，这爱里，黄金含量是不低的呢？！因为她有那本事！

    直白、看透人心，如若这些有刻意，女主的死就是最大的败笔！

    但也许不死，就破坏了整体气氛。


  
    这不是导演编剧的选择。是天意

同名小说改编。获得包括最佳影片在内的9项奥斯卡提名，两项获奖（最佳艺术指导和最佳摄影）。入选National Film Registry。
虽然片名译作“江湖骗子”，但片中并没有太多行骗的经历和把戏。这是部讲述小人物在人生道路上挣扎和超越的电影，是关于输赢与人格孰重、金钱与情感何从的励志故事。主角Eddie球技出众、恃才放旷，却因年轻气盛而先赢后输的败给了“明尼苏达胖子”。此后的他只想着复仇，为此他可以不要友情、忽视爱情、抛弃自尊，直至女友的自杀才使他警醒，如此盲目的追求换来的只是堕落（perverted）、扭曲（twisted）和残废（crippled）。就像投机者Bert那样，看起来深谙世故常胜不输，但代价却是变得心如死灰冷血无情。这样像机器一样的赚钱又有什么意义呢？人生应有更多美好的事物去追求和留恋啊。Sarah的角色是对全片的平衡和推动。她虽然酗酒和跛脚，但她在Eddie意气风发时爱上了他，在他低迷消沉时陪伴着他，在他茫然沦落时（企图）劝阻他，直至最后的“尸谏”终于使Eddie完成救赎。
这是我看的第一部Paul Newman的电影，果然名不虚传。他凭此片获得了奥斯卡和金球奖的双料影帝提名，但都败给了《纽伦堡大审判》的Maximilian Schell。他的小金人梦要等到25年后他在本片的续集《金钱本色》中再次饰演Fast Eddie才圆，而至今很多人都认为那其实是对他在本片中出色表演的迟来肯定。其实除了Newman，其它几位主要演员也获誉颇多，光奥斯卡就拿了最佳女主角和两个最佳男配角的提名（其中George Scott因看不惯奥斯卡种种制度而拒绝了提名，成为史上第一名这么做的演员），可惜也都失之交臂。导演Robert Rossen年轻时曾干过台球骗子的行当，难怪拍起来得心应手，他获得了奥斯卡最佳导演和最佳编剧的提名。
本片入选了2008年AFI评出的最伟大体育电影top10，当年上映后还在全国范围内掀起了一股台球热。台球世界冠军Willie Mosconi作为本片的技术指导，帮Newman打了一些特技球；此外他还客串了一个小角色，即帮Eddie和胖子暂时保管赌注的那个家伙。

电影和演员都是好的.
但是确实由于时代关系,我们看的东西太多,
对此很难引起大的共鸣,所以,我们只能觉得是个中上的片.