Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 2 ratings
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.
The Color of Money is elevated primarily by its performances — Paul Newman's Oscar-winning turn as Fast Eddie is magnetic and earned, with Tom Cruise bringing charismatic energy as Vincent. Scorsese's direction gives the film a kinetic style in the pool hall sequences, though the cinematography, while competent, doesn't reach the heights of his best visual work. The plot is a fairly conventional mentor-protégé story that leans on familiar beats of the sports drama genre, and as a late sequel to The Hustler it doesn't break much new ground conceptually — the hustler-reformed-then-tempted arc is well-worn. The ending, while dramatically satisfying on a character level, lands a bit abruptly and underdelivers on full resolution.