A flawed hero and how the American dream can be lost

THE HUSTLER (1961)

WHAT makes a hero? Is it someone who always wins? Or is it a person who when facing insurmountable odds reveals true character, a Zelensky, who stands up for all that he loves dearly.

Fast Eddie Felson sets out to be a winner in The Hustler, a twinklyeyed pool shark who moves like lighting around the baize, a man determined to rip his opponents apart. And this American film looks, at first, to be a story of how the American dream can be realised, of winning, of destroying all who stand before you, and racing to the very top.

But it’s not at all. The Hustler is packed with layers; it’s a story about manipulation, it’s about moral corruption, it’s about decency, and doing the right thing.

Fast Eddie takes to the pool circuit, and the dream is to beat Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). But while

Eddie has the talent, Fats, we learn, has the calm. The character.

Eddie also has to contend with his manager, Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) as the cold, vicious gambler who needs to control Eddie’s life. Eddie makes a Faustian pact with this devil, whom we know has the power to wreck his life.

But Eddie has another interest outside of becoming the greatest pool player in the world. He’s captivated by Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), a complex character, an alcoholic who sits in the bus station when she can’t sleep, who goes to college on Tuesdays and Thursdays and drinks on the other days.

Perhaps the attraction each sees in the other is the self-destructive streak. But there is another barrier in their way to happiness; Bert Gordon contrives to destroy Sarah, to leave Eddie free to make both of them rich.

Paul Newman is quite simply perfect in this film, and why he didn’t win an Oscar for his performance says a great deal of the politics of the awards ceremony.

(He did win one for the far-inferior follow-up, Color of Money, in which he starred alongside Tom Cruise – perhaps a guilt offering?).

But a great deal of credit for the success has to go to director Robert Rossen. As a writer in the 1940s he first refused to “name names” when called in the McCarthyite witchhunt, and then recanted, said he had been a communist, and sacrificed 57 others.

As a result, he was able to continue working in Hollywood.

But his life had become about a giant compromise, and this theme is echoed clearly throughout The Hustler, with its flawed central figures. What Rossen also strives for in the film is the need to reveal the true nature of success. He wants to underline the notion of character, of self-sacrifice. And that’s why the ending is far from the Hollywood one we’d perhaps expect.