‘Gambit,’ other tales from Tevis
I just finished “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Big deal, you’re thinking.
Big deal, because thatwould make me just one of an estimated 62 million people and counting whoare watching the captivating and lavishly praised seven-episodeNetflix series that has become a cultural phenomenon.
The story follows the 1950s and 1960s life of BethHarmon (a soonto-be-major star Anya Taylor-Joy) from the time she is orphaned and institutionalized until she becomes — yes, it’s quite a ride, featuring troubles, triumphs and a compelling cast of characters— the chess champion of the planet.
Not only is it the highest rated showin the network’s history, it has jet-fueled the chess biz, doubling “howto play chess” searches on Google. Sales of chess sets are up, as much as 200% from some sellers, and the number of new players on the game site chess.comhas increased fourfold and keeps growing.
Again, I just finished “The Queen’s Gambit,” the series … and the book.
As you are certainly aware, many movies are based— good, bad and sad— on books. In this case it’s a 1983 novel written byWalter Tevis, dead nowfor almost four decades.
I first encountered Tevis with his first book, 1959’s “TheHustler.” I read it shortly after seeing the film version made fromit in 1961. That cinematic “TheHustler” starred Paul Newman as pool prodigy “Fast Eddie” Felson, Jackie Gleason as the old cue maestro “Minnesota Fats,” Piper Laurie as the damaged alcoholic who hooks up with Eddie, and George C. Scott as a vicious and amoral gambler who backs Eddie for a time.
Themoviewas a box office and critical hit. All four of its principal characterswere nominated for Academy Awards, of which the film received eight andwon two, for art direction and cinematography. It has agedwell, becoming as the late critic Roger Ebert wrote, “one of those films where scenes have such psychicweight that they growin our memories,” and calling Felson/Newman one of “only a handful of movie characters so real that the audience refers to them as touchstones.”
He certainlywas for those partaking of themovie-inspired 1960s pool boom, playing at such fancy Chicago