Pool shark Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) dreams of challenging champion Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). Eddie loses his first match with Fats, along with his reputation. He romances troubled alcoholic Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie) while dreaming of a comeback. Eventually, slick manager Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) arrives, offering a rematch - for a price.
Based on Walter Tevis's novel, The Hustler is a simple but powerful morality play. Rossen and cowriter Sidney Carroll draw Eddie as cocksure, talented but overeager; he's destroyed by his own cockiness. He respects Fats but disowns fellow swindler Charlie (Myron McCormick) and becomes outwitted by a smooth-talking billiards player (Murray Hamilton). His relationship with Sarah proves empty and aimless, Eddie struggling to engage her affection. Bert offers money and a rematch but can't provide Eddie the satisfaction he desires.
The Hustler does an excellent job skirting clichés. Rossen places Eddie and Fats' showdown upfront, allowing the scene to play at length. Their respective styles (Eddie's eagerness, Fats' calm deliberation) define their characters within an engrossing set piece. Rossen's sparse but expressive direction makes Eddie out of place everywhere, whether dive bars, a lakeside retreat or posh Kentucky penthouses. Every game's matched by defeat or tragedy, from a poolroom maiming to a hotel suicide.
Paul Newman excelled at playing tough antiheroes, and Fast Eddie's ambition and rough amorality fits like a glove. Newman reprised the role decades later in The Color of Money (1986). Jackie Gleason's charming, no-frills performance makes a nice foil. George C. Scott dials down his ferocity into an affable monster. Piper Laurie's tragic anguish adds emotional heft. Look for Murray Hamilton as another hustler and Jake LaMotta as a bartender.
The Hustler's simple, effective tragedy strikes a chord. Rossen's moral is simple enough: success doesn't breed happiness, personal failings undercut material gain. When told with such sparse, affecting power, viewers don't mind.