What - I wondered - would Hawks and Ford have made of Ringmaster Scorsese's constantly moving camera? He and Michael Ballhaus do bring a nervous kinetic energy to the proceedings in which The Hustler's Fast Eddie takes on a new recruit in the shape of Tom Cruise. Walter Tevis's final novel was published just before his death in 1984 - he had - according to the New York Times - also written a screenplay of it - this is credited to Richard Price (Mad Dog and Glory, Sea of Love, Child 44, The Night Of).
Marty and Thelma Schoonmaker have great fun with the tournaments, treating each one differently - I'd swear there's even an homage to Dede Allen (editor of The Hustler) in the one that is all dissolves. But probably my favourite is the one just comprised of snooker balls in a tornado of editing.
Paul Newman won the Oscar, finally. With Tom Cruise and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. And Helen Shaver, John Turturro, Forest Whitaker, Iggy Pop. I did get a bit confused in the second half - does he really lose to hustler Whitaker? The music, which is perhaps a shade too intrusive, is by Robbie Robertson. Skip Lievsay is the supervising sound editor; Tom Fleischman is the re-recording mixer (boy, can he mix music tracks together well - he's like the ultimate film DJ).
So, what of it, though? It may be technically brilliant, but it lacks the emotion of the original.
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