The Color of Money 1986 (movie)

The Color of Money is a well known classic film starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. Based loosely around the book of the same name and a sequel to The Hustler the movie - directed by Martin Scorsese - allows Paul Newman to reprise his role from the original Hustler movie as Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson, a pool Hustler teaching a young Vincent (Tom Cruise) how to hustle people at pool.

The movie opens with a voiceover from Martin Scorsese describing the game of nine-ball pool, over a scene of a smoky room and a piece of cue chalk.

"Nine-Ball is rotation pool, the balls are pocketed in numbered order. The only ball that means anything, that wins it, is the 9. Now, the player can shoot eight trick shots in a row, blow the 9, and lose. On the other hand, the player can get the 9 in on the break, if the balls spread right, and win. Which is to say, that luck plays a part in nine-ball. But for some players, luck itself is an art."

In the movie version, Eddie Felson has become a liquor salesman but missing the action of the pool hall goes back on the road as a stakehorse for Vincent. Eddie teaches both Vincent and his girlfriend Carmen how to hustle significant amounts of money.

Explosive showdown

The whole thing ends in an explosive show-down as Eddie gets frustrated with them both and Eddie starts to play competitively himself again. He hustles for a while on the road and then in a professional tournament where he ends up going head to head with Vincent.

Eddie wins the match but later discovers that Vincent threw the match and lost deliberately as he had money bet against himself. Eddie discovers the deceit and insists on playing Vincent again, although you never find out who wins the match as the credits roll with Eddie stating that if he doesn't bear Vincent now, he will in the future because as he states 'I'm back!'