Category Archives: Billiards Movies

The Billiards movies category is about movies that prominently feature billiards or that have plots focusing on billiards.

Carambola (billiards movie)

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Within the billiards movie genre, one of the best and least-known is Carambola, a 2005 low-budget, highly stylized film that took more than two years to reach the big screen after its premier at the Guadalajara Film Festival, and then, sadly, disappeared almost as quickly.  Directed and written by Kurt Hollander, an accomplished writer and photographer, who unfortunately for us, did not continue to make movies, Carambola is the story of El Vago (Daniel Martinez), an aging three-cushion billiards hustler, who has the chance for reinvention when he wins a billiards hall in a bet.

Carambola - billiards movieThe billiards hall is not only the sole setting of Carambola, but it is also a central character in this tale of reinvention.  Foremost, there is the tension between El Vago’s wish to preserve the “real tradition in this pool hall,” which means keeping the billiards tables intact, and that of his more business-minded ambitious assistant, El Perro (the wonderful Diego Luna), who believes that only old geezers plays billiards, and that to turn the hall into a successful business requires pool tables, discos, and strobe lights.  Even El Vago must concede that “pool is the flavor of the new generation.”

(For those that may already be confused, “pool” is not synonymous with “billiards.”  Pool is akin to pocket billiards, shot with a cue ball and 15 balls on a six-pocket table between seven and nine feet long.  In Carambola, “billiards” refers to three-cushion billiards, also called carombole, which is generally played on a pocketless five-by-ten foot table with just three balls.  The object is to score points by caroming the cue ball off both object balls, but making sure the cue ball hits the rail cushion at least three times before hitting the second object ball.   Fortunately, if you were watching the movie, you would not be confused, as the rules of three-cushion billiards are explained by El Vago in the opening scene as part of an instructional video he’s shooting to earn some extra cash.  Not only does he explain the objective, but he gives pointers such as, “knives longer than five inches and guns carried in one’s belt…interfere with a clean shot,” or “gold chains, shiny rings, and flashy tattoos on one’s hands disrupt concentration.”)

El Vago ultimately acquiesces to the vision of El Perro, thereby ushering in dramatic and costly changes that pack the pool hall with young supple bodies, but leave the elders disgusted and El Vago with a permanent ulcer that is exacerbated when all the “little shits…put their feet on [his] tables.” In great and uncomfortable juxtaposition, El Vago even kills the music in one early scene to stage a billiards demonstration by El Campeon, aka “The Champ,” who shows off some wonderfully gorgeous masse and rail shots to a rather apathetic and benumbed audience.

Carambola - billiards movieTrouble mounts as quickly as the bills.  El Perro is determined to take control of the billiards hall, or at least rob El Vago blind while doing lines of cocaine in the bathroom.  The sexy La Pájara (Laura Hildalgo) is a constant distraction, particularly once El Vago peeps her straddling his table to make a pornographic video with a cue stick. El Mexicano (Jesús Ochoa), a businessman with a bad temper who sells “cues made from rare woods with exotic and erotic images,” always appears to be one step away from reclaiming the bar he lost or using his “death cue” on the the kneecaps of anyone ogling his daughter, La Pájara.  And none of this bodes well for a billiards tournament El Vago is trying to organize to raise funds to keep the billiards hall solvent.

Amidst this offbeat soap opera, there is, as I suggested in the beginning, a battle not only to define the future of the billiards hall, but to re-examine the very purpose of billiards, for every character has his own dogmatic definition.  For “Gums,” billiards is all about “style, flair…winning is not so important.”  For El Judas, billiards is a distraction: “who gives a fuck about billiards…if you want to do something in this world, you got to play with bigger balls.” For La Medusa, “billiards is a mirror of the heavens…when someone stands in front of table and shoots, they’re playing on three levels: universe, earth and inner world.”  El Chiquilin is less philosophical in his world view of billiards: It is a “game of kings… unfortunately it’s been adopted by a group of lowlifes, murderers, rapists, prostitutes and pimps.” And all of this contrasts with the beliefs of El Vago, who not only is set on teaching his audience to play the game through his video, but also on cementing his conviction that “any second rate player can make a shot, but to miss believably, only the best.”

Carambola - billiards movieIt’s that philosophy that ultimately cues the audience that maybe the down-and-out El Vago, with the ghastly ulcer and pitiful business sense, is, in fact, “missing believably.”  I won’t spoil the movie, but let’s just say, to use another El Vago quote, “to win, you have to know how to lose.”

Carambola is widely available to rent or buy on DVD or instant video.  It should not be confused with the similarly named Mexican billiards movie Operacion Carambola (1968), the Italian billiards movie Carambola (1974) or that film’s sequel, Carambola, Filotto…Tutti en Boco (1975).

Virgin Pockets

In 1997, the nominees for the Razzie Award for Worst Picture were Speed 2: Cruise Control, Fire Down Below, Batman & Robin, The Postman, and Anaconda.  (The Postman won the award.)  But, let me tell you, compared to the straight-to-video billiards movie Virgin Pockets, which came out that same year, these other lemons are downright Oscar-worthy.

Virgin PocketsVirgin Pockets is the inane story of pool professional Lizzie Monroe, who years ago removed herself from the tournament circuit because of the pressure and control of sponsors, and turned to hustling pool locally.  In a dive bar, she meets Jordan “J.J.” Jamison, a young, scantily-clad, dyed-blond, pool hustler, who first flaunts her talent by challenging the locals to games of pool. [Reviewer’s note:   Jordan’s physique may be real, but the money she was betting was most certainly not. It was labeled “toy money.”]

One by one, the lambs line up to play Jordan, only to get mesmerized by her cleavage and miss their shots.  Eventually, Lizzie plays Jordan and schools her in the game of pool.  After, Jordan attempts to befriend her, but is told by Lizzie she has “virgin pockets,” meaning she “has no idea how to play.  Straight pool is pool.  When you play 9-ball, that’s not a game.”  [Reviewer’s note:  they were playing 8-ball, not 9-ball.]

But, ultimately Lizzie is convinced they could make quite a hustling team (like Billie Jo Robbins and Nick Casey in The Baltimore Bullet). So, she takes on Jordan as a protégé and educates her in the art of hustling.  [Reviewer’s note:  for women, the art of hustling apparently includes repeated blowing on cue tips, stroking cue shafts, hiking up skirts to reveal lace garters, and of course, conspicuously removing money from inside one’s bra.]

As Lizzie says, “the best players in the world aren’t found on ESPN.  They’re found in pool halls, in the worst parts of town. If you really know how to play this game, that’s where the real money is.”  [Reviewer’s note:  all the “hustling” takes place in the one town of Erie, Pennsylvania, with its population of 100,000, and not exactly the ghetto of America.]

Virgin PocketsSoon, they’re racking up big dollars, playing the real sharks in “games that no one talks about.” [Reviewer’s note: the most they ever win appears to be $500.] Sometimes, they even hustle on coin-operated tables (!!).  But, their lucrative lifestyle falls apart when Jordan abandons her mentor to compete in the Erie Brewing Company 9-Ball International.

Ripping off of The Color of Money, Lizzie makes the decision to return to the tournament world, where she hopes to get Jordan’s best game.  I dare not spoil the ending, but in the final teacher-student showdown, it was “never about the money, always about the game.”

Virgin Pockets was produced on a shoestring budget of about $3000, so expectations shouldn’t start too high.  And, in fact, the story might have been bearable if other aspects of Virgin Pockets were entertaining. But, the acting is abysmal, the camera shakes constantly, and then there is the ungodly pool.  I never thought I would say this about a billiards movie, but there is way too much pool in this movie.  Every other scene consists of our leggy ladies making the same 5-6 shots (including one three-rail shot, which is unfortunately overused), while the incessant music plays in the foreground.  It was like watching a bad music video…on repeat.

One minute into the movie, Lizzie asks the question, “Why am I here?”  Trust me, if you sit down to watch Virgin Pockets, you’re going to be asking yourself that same question.

Virgin Pockets is available to order on DVD on Amazon.  The full movie is also available to watch online on YouTube.

Virgin Pockets

[Wanted!] A Paradise Without Billiards

In Monday’s “Battle of the Sexes” blog post, I lamented the fact that leading men in billiards movies almost always play the role of the brash, cocksure hustler.  A Paradise Without Billiards (original title:  Ett Paradis Utan Biljard), a 1991 comedy from Sweden and Italy, appears to be an exception to this rule.  I say “exception” because I have neither seen it nor been able to find it, which is why I inserted “[Wanted!]” into the title.  If you can help me locate this movie, please contact me directly.

Paradise Without Billiards

Ett Paradis Utan Biljard (Sweden)

Directed and written by Carlo Barsotti, an Italian who had lived in Sweden for 20 years when he made the movie, A Paradise Without Billiards is one among a number of movies that sought to depict the post-World War II immigration into Sweden as foreigners were lured by the prospect of plentiful jobs and a prosperous economy.

In this film, Giuseppe (representing the Italian immigrants) becomes enchanted by the idea of moving to Sweden after receiving a letter from his friend Franco, who immigrated to Sweden a year ago.  While Giuseppe passes his time pleasantly eating, playing pool and having a little romance, he is poor and his existence is nothing compared to what Franco promises he’ll encounter in Sweden.

The Swedish film historian Rochelle Wright describes Franco’s depiction of Sweden in her book The Visible Wall: Jews and Other Ethnic Outsiders in Swedish Film:

Sweden is a virtual paradise. Wages are three times higher than they are in Italy, and housing and hospitalization are free. Unions and employers work together to solve conflicts, so there is no need to strike. In general, disagreements are settled amicably – Swedes only raise their voices when they are drunk. ..The girls are blond and beautiful, and they find dark men attractive…Only one thing is missing: Swedes do not play billiards.

But, as soon as Giuseppe takes the plunge and moves to Sweden, he finds it’s not quite the paradise he was promised.  He is rudely treated at the border, the living conditions for immigrants are barracks, the jobs are in grim factories, the locals don’t appreciate Italians pursuing their women, and adding insult to injury, there is no ability to play billiards. This combination of pains ultimately presents a difficult choice:  either conform fully or go back home.  Whereas Franco chooses the former, shedding his Italian identity acculturating fully, Giuseppe opts for the latter and returns to Italy.

Ironically, A Paradise Without Billiards is a billiards movie that focuses more on the absence of billiards, rather than the playing of the game.  According to Wright, this is because billiards is a “concrete manifestation of homesickness and what is missed in the homeland” and the billiards table, nonexistent in Sweden, is a “focus point…for fellowship and camaraderie,” the very elements that Giuseppe cannot find in the new country.

To return to my opening point, it is also a movie that makes no equation between billiards and hustling.  In a welcome break from the traditional billiards movie storyline, billiards is about friendship and simple pleasures.  Ultimately, billiards is about paradise.  Now, there’s a story that could be told more often.

As mentioned, I have not been able to locate this movie anywhere, so I welcome your help.  The trailer for the Italian version of the movie, Un Paradiso Senza Biliardo, is shown below.

 

Battle of the Sexes in Billiards Movies

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Pool is not a man’s world.  According to the National Sporting Goods Association, a full 40% of pool players are women in the US.  In honoring Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame this year, the BCA referred to Lee as “unquestionably the most recognizable contemporary pool player in the world.” But, when it comes to their depiction in billiards movies, the sexes couldn’t be more different.

Historically, billiards movies were movies about men, typically portrayed as cocky, brash hustlers, using their pool skills to be king of the mountain.  The supporting women in these movies were cast as non-pool-playing arm-candy or play-it-straight foils to their intractable men.  More recently, a number of billiards movies have cast women in the lead roles.  And while the women possess skills equivalent to those of the men, they exhibit none of the braggadocio of their y-chromosome counterparts.  Instead, they are portrayed as good citizens, trying to play it straight, or reluctant billiards players, who rely on their cue stick (and only if necessary) for the pursuit of more noble reasons.

Let’s start with the men of the Big Three.

The Hustler - Billiards MovieIn The Hustler (1961), “Fast Eddie” Felson, a small-time, fast-talking pool hustler, is out to prove that he is the best player in the world by beating the legendary Minnesota Fats.  Eddie’s love interest, Sarah Packard, the sole woman in the movie, tries to convince Eddie to leave his “perverted, twisted, and crippled” world, but he’s too headstrong to quit.  And we all know it doesn’t end so well for Sarah.

Twenty-five years later, The Color of Money (1986) introduces viewers to Vincent Lauria, a cocksure, undisciplined, small-time hustler with incredible skills and a “sledgehammer break.” He is managed by his girlfriend Carmen, but it’s really “Fast Eddie” Felson, reprising his role from The Hustler, who teaches him how to hustle significant sums of money. Brazen and big-headed to the core, Vincent ultimately dumps his own game to make the real money on side bets.  In contrast to Sarah Packard, Carmen supports her man’s habits, but her primary form of influence is sexual manipulation.

Finally, in Poolhall Junkies (2001), there is Johnny Doyle, a gifted pool player, for whom hustling is so ingrained that he is literally unable to escape the lifestyle.  He combines lies and deceit with his billiards prowess and silver-tongue to free his brother from jail, but more important, to prove he’s the best and capable of beating any professional player.  Barely registering in the film is his girlfriend, Tara, who, unable to discourage his hustling, ultimately endorses it by finding him a stakehorse.

This pattern continues in other lesser-known billiards movies:   Nick Casey and Billy Joe, the two hustlers who star in The Baltimore Bullet (1980). Billy Joe “The Cajun Kid” Stanley, the loudmouth hustler in The Baron and the Kid (1984). Billy the Kid, the cockney cocky snooker player, in Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire (1987).  The list goes on and on.

In comparison, billiards movies in which the lead is a woman have an entirely different narrative. I believe the oldest billiards movie with a female lead is the Japanese “pinky violence” movie Wandering Ginza Butterfly (1972). Nami, a young woman released from prison who was taught by her uncle to hustle pool at a young age, wants to bury her past by getting a hostess job in Ginza.  But, when a local yakuza threatens to seize her uncle’s bar, she is left with no choice but to utilize her billiards skills (in a tense match of three-cushion billiards) to right an unfavorable situation.  And when that doesn’t work, she resorts to all out sword massacre (!!).  In this film, pool is a last resort, a necessary evil, just one step below all-out bloodshed.

Kiss Shot - Billiards MovieKiss Shot (1989) features Whoopi Goldberg as Sarah Collins, a single mother who loses her job and is at risk of losing her house if she can’t come up with $7500 in the next four months.  Literally, to save her family, she starts hustling pool at a local billiards hall, and then competes in a tournament.

In the low-budget Up Against the 8 Ball (2004), Krista and Monique, two cash-strapped girls at a historically black college, want nothing more than to complete their undergraduate education.  But, unable to come up with the necessary $10,000 of tuition and unwilling to drop out, they take their pool-hustling skills to Las Vegas to compete for a $50,000 prize.  Pool then is a  means to a noble end, namely, a diploma.

In Turn the River (2007), Kailey is an immensely talented billiards player who takes no joy in the sport.  Initially, she hustles pool and poker for gas money; later, she reluctantly hustles a local shark into playing one-pocket and then nine-ball for $60,000.  But Kailey is not looking for the big score.  Rather, she’s looking for just enough money to rescue her 11-year old son from an abusive father and flee to Canada to start a new life.  Turn the River is the story of an anti-hustler, the reluctant samurai, seemingly forced to play a role, but only to escape a fate.

9-Ball with Jennifer Barretta - Billiards MovieFinally, the most recent addition to the canon is 9-Ball (2012), the story of Gail, who is left in the care of her creepy uncle after he father is murdered.  The uncle, sensing great pool skills in his niece, turns her onto the life of hustling and uses her as a way to make money for himself.  But, as Gail gets older, she aspires to break out of that lifestyle and join the APA to become a professional 9-ball champion. In 9-Ball hustling is an evil, a psychopathic trait, a nightmare that Gail can’t wake up from.  For Gail, pool is not a last resort (like it is for Nami or Kailey) or a way to avoid economic hardship (like it is for Sarah, Krista and Monique), but a path to salvation, and specifically, a path to camaraderie, respect, and joy that comes from joining an amateur pool league.

Writers, directors, producers, lend me your ears!  It’s time for some new billiards stories to be told.  This is not intended to be a criticism of the aforementioned movies.  Some of these films are fantastic; others are atrocious.  But, this genre will benefit from some out-of-the-box thinking.  Not every male pool player is a headstrong hustler.  Not every female pool player has unduly suffered.  Let’s not just break the rack.  Let’s break the stereotype while we’re at it.

 

Turn the River

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In the 1986 film The Color of Money, there is an outstanding scene in which Tom Cruise’s character, Vince, slowly reveals his Balabushka cue stick to his opponent, a small-time hustler, and, referring to the cue as “doom,” proceeds to methodically and smugly trounce his competitor in 9-ball.

In fascinating contrast is Kailey, the pool hustler played by Famke Janssen in Chris Eigeman’s 2007 movie Turn the River.  An immensely talented billiards player, Kailey takes no joy in pool.  She has no cue stick of her own, instead using house cues to hustle for gas money, and later in the movie, to raise the necessary funds to rescue and flee with her son.

The Color of Money presents the pool-playing hustler as a cocksure warrior, brandishing a cue stick like a katana, deftly twirling it like a bō and stabbing at the air. Turn the River is the opposite.  It’s the story of the anti-hustler, the reluctant samurai, seemingly forced to play a role, but only to escape a fate.

Turn the RiverAs an individual movie, viewed entirely on its own merit, Turn the River is passable, at best.  The gorgeous Janssen, a former fashion model and best known as Jean Grey/Phoenix in X-Men, is decent in the role, but it’s a little hard to accept her as a worn-down single mom from the school of hard knocks.  Divorced from her husband and without visitation rights to see her 11-year old son Gulley, she hatches a plan to take her son away from his father, who she believes has been abusing him.  To succeed, she’ll need $60,000 to flee to Canada with fake passports.  So, with the help of her friend and pool-hall proprietor Teddy Quinette (played by the awesomely-named Rip Torn and similar in every way to Rod Steiger’s friend and pool-hall proprietor role in Poolhall Junkies), a high-stakes pool game is organized. If the logic is a little questionable up to this point, it gets downright absurd in the last quarter of the movie, once Kailey wins the non-suspenseful pool match and proceeds to “steal” her son.

But, as one of the better-known members of the billiards movie canon, Turn the River presents a number of interesting themes and cinematic choices that are worth discussing in more detail.

First and foremost, as mentioned above, is the creation of an ‘anti-hustler.’  Kailey has no pool ambition like “Fast” Eddie Felson in The Hustler.  She employs no braggadocio, there are no taunts, like those quipped by Johnny Doyle in Poolhall Junkies (e.g., “You watch my mouth, Chico. ‘Cause you sure as hell don’t wanna watch me play pool. Unless, of course, I’m blind-folded and hand-cuffed with a pool cue stickin’ out of my ass.”).

In fact, she seems to barely understand the game of hustling, as she is caught off-guard to learn one of her adversaries, Ralph (played by Tony “Silent Assassin” Robles, one of the top 10 billiards professionals in the world and the movie’s pool technical advisor), is throwing games, or that for her to win $60,000, she’ll need a “stalking horse” (i.e., someone who can lose well to an opponent to encourage him to bet large).  She doesn’t even appreciate that her opponent, Duncan, will “try to fuck with [her], knock [her] off [her] rhythm.” All Kailey has are her formidable billiards skills.

Tony Robles - Raising the Hustler

Director Chris Eigeman and technical pool advisor Tony “Silent Assassin” Robles

Variety Magazine made this interesting observation: “In casting a woman in a traditionally male role, Eigeman subtly shifts both genre and gender.  His heroine adopts the iconography of the hustler movie, but feminizes it.” And, in this sense, Kailey is first a mother, and only second a pool player.  This is dramatically different than the famous male billiards hustlers, for whom pool-playing is their sole identity.

Eigeman’s approach to filming pool is equally interesting. In an interview with IFC, he said, “I was always interested in how much [pool] I had to show. It can get really uninteresting watching balls fall into pockets — it’s a lot like sex scenes, here [what’s] going is infinitely less interesting than [the expressions on] people’s faces.”

In the DVD commentary, he added, “The goal was to show as little pool as possible because it was never just a movie about pool.  We had to show just enough to keep the movie moving.” But, the pool had to be compelling and feel authentic, while still adhering to a very limited budget.  To achieve this, the cast and crew took over a pool-hall for six non-stop days of shooting pool.  They were able to shoot 360-degrees, filming everything with the hope that the shots could be edited together in post-production to form a coherent story.

Turn the RiverEigeman expanded in the same IFC interview: “We were very controlled and very loose…the controlled was we built 20 or 30 pool shots — we took pictures of them, put them in a notebook and named them: Ann, Betty, whatever…all the way down. So we had these shots, and the last shot that Famke makes — Zelda — and we knew that was the shot that we would end all the pool with.”  (“Zelda” being a reference to the four-bank carom shot that Kailey makes to win the match.  Janssen, who did all her own pool-shooting in the film, made this shot on her first attempt, though a full half-day of filming had been budgeted to get it right.)

Finally, it’s intriguing that for most of the movie, the game played is one-pocket, a type of pocket billiards in which “the player making the break chooses a foot corner pocket for the rest of the game; all of that shooter’s balls must be shot into that pocket. All of the opponent’s balls must be made in the other foot corner pocket.”  To my knowledge, Turn the River is the only billiards movie to feature one-pocket, though the final match consists of a race to seven in the more widely known 9-ball.  When her opponent opts to switch to 9-ball, Kailey retorts by referring to 9-ball as “a chumpy game…that’s beneath us.”   Presumably, this is her way of mocking 9-ball, a game that can involve some luck, compared to one-pocket, a game that purists would argue involves almost no luck when played expertly.

Turn the River is widely available for rent or to purchase online or on DVD.

Poolhall Junkies

“Poolhall Junkies is a porno movie for billiards fiends.”

Alas, I can’t take credit for authoring that beautiful sentiment (it belongs to the staff writer Purple for Movie Magazine), but it’s a zinger of truth.  From the opening scene, as the camera methodically, seductively explores the baize of the billiards table, the interior of the pocket, the smoothness of the rail cushion, the length of the cue, and even the symmetry of the rack, one feels they’ve entered a world of pool fetishism.  It’s no wonder that this is the mise-en-scene of the 2003 billiards movie Poolhall Junkies and the home of its star, Johnny “Sidepocket Kid” Doyle, a pool player so good that “the cue was part of his arms, the balls had eyes, and the thing that made him so good was that he thought he could never miss.”

Poolhall JunkiesIt’s also then no surprise that Doyle is played by Mars Callahan, the movie’s director and writer, and an incredible pool player in his own right.  In making the film, Callahan clearly wanted to make a billiards movie.  He used his own life growing up fatherless in Los Angeles, hustling and playing pool starting at the age of 12, to form the basis of the movie, though it would take him 10 years to get it to the silver screen.

The storyline for Poolhall Junkies is pretty simple (and often criticized for being a retread of better movies such as Rounders).  Johnny is a teen billiards prodigy who aspires to be a pool professional.  But, his “mentor” uncle Joe (the excellent Chazz Palminteri) has bigger plans to “educate” him and turn him into a pool hustler.  Fifteen years later, when Johnny breaks from his mentor, he tries to start a new life away from pool-sharking.  But, Joe, hell-bent on revenge, won’t let him leave, and sics his new protégé Brad (the head-scratchingly cast Rick Schroeder) on Johnny’s friends and family, creating for Johnny a world of debt and problems that can only be resolved in a – wait for it…you guessed it – 9-ball showdown.

Okay, so the plot is beyond predictable.  Can we move on now?  Let’s talk about the pool!  The movie is a billiards bonanza of rapid-fire strokes, rail assist jumps, table-length draws, absurd masse shots, double-bank carom shots, with some of the most eye-popping shots performed by billiards legend Robert “Cotton” LeBlanc, who not only was a technical pool advisor for the film, but also makes a cameo in the film at the Olhausen $100,000 9-ball Shootout, along with trick-shot maestro Mike Massey (as St. Louis Louis).

But, Poolhall Junkies does not just rely on professionals to dazzle.  To the contrary, the movie is notable for creating an aura of authenticity through its use of continuous wide-angle pool shots, taken not just by Callahan, but also by the other players in the movie.  Perhaps, the most famous shot in the movie is the frozen cue-ball carom kick shot shown below that Johnny uses to hustle his girlfriend’s boss at a party.

In Poolhall Junkies, this shot, which immediately inspired thousands of audience members to try to recreate it at their local pool halls, is done – on the first take, no less – by Johnny’s partner and bank-roller Mike (the scene-stealing Christopher Walken).  The shot is then repeated by Callahan…with one hand! (For a full explanation of the physics of this shot and others in the film, check out the article from Dr. David Alciatore in his series, “Billiards on the Big Screen.”)

Billiard movie aficionados will also note Callahan’s clear homage to The Color of Money in everything from the use of pool shot montages and the selection of recognizable pop songs to power the pool scenes (e.g., “Werewolves of London” in The Color of Money;  “The Payback” and “Use Me” in Poolhall Junkies) to the overt Color of Money poster in the local pool hall. More subtle tributes include the use of a deafening crack of the break to signal a one-of-a-kind pool player, as well as Johnny’s pompadour and white-on-black HUSTLER t-shirt that are reminiscent of Vince’s (Tom Cruise) bouffant hairdo and white-on-black VINCE t-shirt.

And yet, as an ode to billiards, Poolhall Junkies carries with it a negative underbelly, namely the close equation of pool with hustling.  While the movie opens with the line, “I don’t want to be a hustler. I want to be a professional,” it so romanticizes the pool-shark, with its short cons, sang-froid and hyper-masculine lifestyle, that it comes dangerously close to tainting the sport in the process.

As skilled as all the pool players are in the movie, they ultimately rely on deceit and even an old-fashioned ass-stomping to succeed.  Johnny lands a mobile-home sales job by tricking the company owner into making a bet he can’t win.  Another character wins a fast $200 by duping two guys in a drinking game.  Johnny’s brother attempts to beat Brad by only playing him on a pool-table he rigged with a crooked leg.  Brad, allegedly the 13th ranked player in the US, must resort to a cheap “four balls off the table” hustle to win money in 8-ball.  And, the most egregious example of all, in the final $100,000 showdown between Johnny and Brad, Johnny only wins because he cons his opponent into letting him take the otherwise “impossible” shot.

In this respect, it’s interesting to compare Poolhall Junkies to Anthony Palma’s 2012 movie 9-Ball.  Both movies start with a pool prodigy who wants to pursue the professional path, but is held back by a manipulative uncle intent on exploiting their skills for financial gain. In 9-Ball, league play is the path to nirvana, and the billiards professionals are portrayed as angelic messengers to aid in that pursuit.  On the contrary, in Poolhall Junkies, the professionals lie, intimidate, and even physically attack, and hustling, as evil as it may be, is the ultimate magnet and the only way to win over the girl, free the brother, and take the $100,000 pot.

Poolhall Junkies is widely available to rent or watch online or on DVD.

Poolhall Junkies

9-Ball (billiards movie)

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Though 12 different billiards movies have been released since Poolhall Junkies in 2003 (Don’t believe me?  Check my list.), the only one that really catalyzed the billiards community with anticipation and passion was the most recent one, the 2012 billiards movie 9-Ball, written and directed by Tony Palma.

9-Ball with Jennifer Barretta - Billiards MovieIt wasn’t just that the film starred Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) pool professional Jennifer “9mm” Barretta as the lead, or that Allison “The Dutchess of Doom” Fisher and Jeanette “Black Widow” Lee, perhaps the two most famous women in billiards, were going to appear in the movie.  It wasn’t even that the American Poolplayers Association (APA), the world’s largest pool league, was a sponsor of the movie (though it significantly helped that the APA marketed the movie to its 265,000 members).   It was that the movie sought to show pool as a professional sport.  As Palma told me, “I wanted to take the essence of pool out of the smoky backroom bar scene and shine a bright spotlight on it…I wanted to focus on one woman’s dream of becoming a professional pool player.”

This proven, well-worn theme of an aspiring athlete overcoming obstacles to pursue a dream is so recognizable in cinema, from Rocky to Rudy, from Hoosiers to Hoop Dreams, yet it had never been done in billiards, a sport that is too often derided as a barroom game with professional players too often caricatured as hustlers.  (Yes, the movie The Hustler likely contributed more to the popularity of pool than any other single event, but it also did reinforce the stereotype.)

Under this lens, it’s clear why the APA sponsored the film, why the Billiard Congress of America (BCA) endorsed the film, and why interest and enthusiasm abounded from all across the globe, years before the film even began shooting.  Similarly, it’s why individuals like Allison Fisher and Jeanette Lee lent their name.  According to Palma, “[Jeanette] felt the movie would be beneficial to pool…She felt it would get people interested in playing in an organized league…she felt it told a very positive story about pool and about women in pool.”

For those not familiar with the movie, it follows the life of a young Gail (played by Barretta), who is left in the care of her creepy uncle Joey (played by Kurt Hanover), after her father is murdered.  The uncle, sensing great pool skills in his niece, turns her onto the life of hustling and uses her as a way to make money for himself.  But, as Gail gets older, she aspires to break out of that lifestyle and join the APA to become a professional 9-ball champion.

(Interestingly, Poolhall Junkies also is about a skilled billiards player who dreams of becoming a professional, but has his plans sabotaged by his mentor/trainer, also named Joe.  Of course, that’s where the similarities between the two movies stop, and as we all know, Poolhall Junkies ultimately presented a far less positive portrayal of league play/players.)

9-Ball took Palma almost 5 years and a budget just under $1 million to make, such was the challenge of “independently writing, casting, directing and producing a dramatic, contemporary, character-driven feature film.” Financing was a big issue.  Fortunately, Palma produced a trailer from some of the original scenes that generated excitement and ultimately landed him an angel investor.

With all the anticipating mounting for so long, it is not a surprise that when the movie was finally released in November, 2012, reviews ran the gamut (as you can clearly see on IMDB or Amazon).  Regardless of whether the movie is a little too “feel-good,” my primary criticism of 9-Ball is the sheer lack of pool.  In my interviews with both Palma and Barretta, they dismissed this criticism.  “It’s really a character-driven story more than it’s a story about pool,” said Palma.  Barretta also said, “It’s not a movie about pool, it’s a movie with pool in it.  I don’t think a montage of fancy shots will help tell the story.  Nobody is impressed by them.”  But, given the movie’s noble purpose, I wish the movie had emphasized and shown in much greater detail the beauty, skill and art of an exceptional game of billiards.  Of course, Martin Scorsese did this exceptionally in The Color of Money, as did Mars Callahan in Poolhall Junkies.  But, even a little known film like Carambola (2005) figured out how to weave in incredible examples of three-cushion shots.  In 9-Ball, Barretta’s final rail shot is a stunner, but it’s a rare treat.

On the other hand, I think too many of the movie’s harshest critics did not understand Palma’s underlying objective to “shine a bright spotlight on pool…and to talk about a sport that is deserving of being in the Olympics.” Measured against this goal, I give the movie high marks, and I join the thousands of others around the world who, according to Palma, have sent emails and Facebook messages saying how much they appreciated the portrayal of billiards in 9-Ball and its obvious respect and love for the sport.

To conclude, I want to share the sentiments expressed by Michael J’s Cues in Toledo, Ohio. “Overall in my opinion this movie promotes the game and that is great for the business of billiards…An honest reflection of the game as it stands today!! The game of billiards needs to be shown more as a game the whole family can enjoy.”.

To watch or purchase 9-Ball, go to Tubi or Roku.  You can also join the 9-Ball community on its Facebook page or follow 9-Ball on Twitter (@9Ballthemovie).

Special congratulations to Jeanette Lee, who appeared in 9-Ball, for her induction just days ago into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame.

[Wanted!] The Player

Author’s Note: With the discovery and April 2024 release of “The Player,” 53 years after it’s initial limited showing, please also read my follow-up post to the post below.

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Among the world’s greatest unresolved mysteries is the identity of the Zodiac serial killer, the location of the Bermuda Triangle, and the translation of the Voynich Manuscript.  But, equally high up on that list is another perplexing mystery:  Whatever happened to the 1971 billiards movie The Player?

The Player - billiards movieFor a while, the pursuit of this movie was a periodic topic of discussion within the most popular billiards forums, such as AZ Billiards and Inside Pool Magazine.  Often, the initial thread began with the question, “Has anyone heard of this movie The Player? I’d really love to see it.”  This was then followed by a bandwagon of “Me too!” or “I’m also interested” responses, before someone dropped the hammer and shared that he’s already been searching for this movie for some time and has run into nothing but dead ends.

What is the fascination with The Player?  Why does this long-lost billiards movie produce such passion, craving and rumors, whereas other “missing” billiards movies, such as Lemon Tree Billiards House (1996) or Running Out (2001) evoke nary a whisper?  Finally, does it still exist?

Here’s what we know: The Player, was directed and written by Thomas DeMartini, a man with no prior or posterior film credits.  The main cast included Jerry Como, Rae Phillips, and Carey Wilmot, all people who again had no previous or subsequent acting experience.

But, the remaining two cast members, who played themselves in the film, were a completely different story.  First, there was “Gentleman Jack” Colavita, a Tri-State straight pool champion.  And then there was Rudolf Wanderone Jr., aka “Minnesota Fats,” one of the most famous pocket billiards players of that era.  Though he never won a major tournament, he gained great fame in the early ‘60s by claiming the Minnesota Fats character in The Hustler was based on him.  And he then parlayed that fame into a series of book deals and television appearances, including the Celebrity Billiards with Minnesota Fats game show and a guest spot on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

While there have been many billiards movies that star pool professionals (e.g., Jennifer Barretta in 9-Ball; Jimmy White in The Legend of the Dragon; Efren Reyes in Pakners; Marcello Lotti in The Pool Hustlers) The Player is the only movie that starred Minnesota Fats.  Even juicier, it billed him as “The greatest pool hustler in the greatest pool movie.”

According to the Temple of Schlock’s “Endangered List,”  the movie was about a down-and-out professional pool player who, struggling with his relationship, hits the road, resorts to hustling, and makes a series of bad decisions (including challenging Minnesota Fats) that only worsen his situation.

Beyond the appeal of Fats and the hustler storyline, the excitement about this billiards movie has grown because of the confusion around its release.  For example, the Turner Classics Movie website mistakenly says it was released in 1972.  And, within online forums, some people incorrectly argue the movie was never actually released.  But, from the various first-hand testimonies I’ve read, it’s clear the movie showed at a few private screenings in 1971 and 1972 in the Southeast at theaters owned by the family of the movie’s producer, George Ogden, though it never had a mainstream release.

The Player - billiards movieBut here is where the story turns tragic, as it appears this billiards movie will never become viewable again, based on the investigatory work done by Craig Rittel, owner of Full Splice Billiards in Lakewood, Washington.  He has done considerable research, talking to industry professionals and tracking down people involved with the film.  According to his online posts (and some of my own research), we know:

  • There were management problems, presumably within International Cinema, the movie’s production company, that led to the film getting shelved. International Cinema no longer exists.  It was merged with RSL Entertainment in 1985 to form Alliance Entertainment, now the largest wholesale distributor of home entertainment audio and video software in the United States.
  • Producer George Ogden was believed to have the original film. He passed away years ago, and the only thing found among his estate related to The Player was a framed poster.
  • The Ogden Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which privately screened The Player, closed in 1985.
  • There is no information that can be learned from the main cast and crew members. The director Thomas DeMartini is deceased (date unknown), Minnesota Fats died in 1996, and “Gentleman Jack” Colavita died in 2005.  In fact, Colavita’s son, Jack, has also unsuccessfully tried to find the film.
  • Even the Jackson Mall Cinema, another of the few venues that did a private screening of the film, is no longer around. It is now a medical center.

So, that’s where the story ends…or does it?  If there is a lesson to be learned from the 2012 smash documentary Searching for Sugarman about the hunt to find the singer Rodriguez, or the 2002 documentary Stone Reader, which details one person’s quest to find the author of a well-received novel from 30 years ago, it’s that maybe, just maybe, with a lot of sleuthing and a lot of luck, something seemingly gone forever will show up again one day.  We can only hope.

[Periodically, I will publish posts on movies that I have been unable to find and watch.  These are part of my “Wanted!” series. If you have any information about a “Wanted!” movie, please contact me.  I will be most grateful.]

Jennifer Barretta: A League of Her Own

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Here’s a pop quiz.  Name a professional athlete who appeared in a movie.

There have been a considerable number over the years, ranging from the highly indelible (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane) to the highly forgettable (Shaquille O’Neal as the title genie in Kazaam).  And the list goes on… Jim Brown, Carl Weathers, Ray Allen, OJ Simpson, Michael Irvin, Jason Lee, Howie Long, Michael Jordan…

OK, now name a professional female athlete who appeared in a movie.

Wow.  That’s much tougher.  Well, there’s the former mixed martial artist Gina Carano from Haywire.  And, there’s Esther Williams, the competitive swimmer who starred in films in the ‘40s and ‘50s.  Umm…

Fortunately, also at the top of that short list belongs Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) tour professional Jennifer Barretta, the star of last year’s highly anticipated movie 9-Ball. She not only appeared in the movie, but headlined it.  And, she did it while continuing to play professional pool, rather than the more common path of retiring to pursue an acting career. This puts her in a very small pantheon of athletes, male or female.  (Interestingly, she is joined by one other professional billiards player, Efren Reyes, who starred in Pakners, a 2003 movie from the Philippines.)

The irony is that Barretta’s starring role almost never happened.

A week ago, right before she departed for the 9 Ball Women’s World Championships in Shenyang, China as one of only 4 Americans representing the USA, I had the distinct pleasure to interview  Barretta about her experience filming and starring as Gail in 9-Ball.

“[Director] Tony [Palma] had asked [professional billiards player] Karen Corr to do a walk-on. He then asked her if she knew other players.  She thought of me.  So I came expecting to do a walk-on.  But, when I got there, Tony said he wanted me to read for the role of Gail.  Like now…And the next thing I knew, I had gotten the lead role as Gail.”

As excited as Barretta was to have been chosen, she was also skeptical. “Not everyone can get a pool movie made,” she said.  In fact, that skepticism was initially well-placed, as it was years between the audition and the actual filming.  “I had actually given up on the role.”

It was to Barretta’s great surprise then when she got a call from Palma years later saying he was proceeding with the movie.  “I thought I was going to show up in Maryland and he would maybe have a handy-cam.  But, I got there, and there was set design, grips, gaffers…it was a real movie.”

9-Ball with Jennifer Barretta - Billiards MovieFor those not familiar with the movie, it follows the life of a young Gail, who is left in the care of her creepy uncle, after her father is murdered.  The uncle, sensing great pool skills in his niece, turns her onto the life of hustling and uses her as a way to make money for himself.  But, as Gail gets older, she aspires to break out of that lifestyle and join the American Poolplayers Association (APA) to become a professional 9-ball champion.

For Barretta, playing a pool-player was not the challenge.  In fact, as someone who had started in the APA, Gail’s quest was familiar.  “The real challenge was playing someone who had been so emotionally abused…It was exciting to act and be somebody so different.  I got to test the limits of what I was capable of.”

The real challenge in playing Gail (or simply committing to star in the film) was the potential disruption to her own practice and tournament schedule.  In 2012, Barretta was the 7th-highest ranked player on the WPBA tour.  As one would imagine, that level of excellence requires constant practice.  For Barretta, it’s typically 5-8 hours a day, including honing particular self-defined weaknesses each year.  “I study pool like an education,” she says.  “I set goals.  Every year, I pick one thing.  This year, it’s my break. I’ll do just breaks for 2 hours straight.  I have a break trainer.”

Fortunately, when it came time to shoot scenes, director Palma was very sensitive to Barretta’s schedule.  “Before he booked shots, he would make sure I was free.  We would be away for 2 weeks tops over the 2 years.  Otherwise, when I’m home, I practice.”  Of course, that’s not to say the shooting never interfered.  “There was one time when we filmed and then I got home and went to Vegas the very next day [for a tournament].  But, it’s worth it…how many times in a life can you do a movie?”

Critical reaction to the movie was mixed, but for Barretta, the film has had a tremendous personal impact, including among her peers. “I was recently out in Vegas for the biggest amateur and professional pool event.  I could feel the difference.  I was treated like a movie star.  So many people came up to me.  I had professionals come up to me, asking me to sign a copy of their movie.  I think a lot people [in the billiards community] have seen it.”

Jennifer Barretta

Carlos Luna Photography

Whether the movie has had a broader impact on the popularity of billiards, similar to what occurred after The Hustler and The Color of Money were released, is harder to gauge.  “It’s tough to say if it had an impact.  Either way, people are playing, and it’s available in millions of households.  It’s like when Poolhall Junkies came out.  This is a movie available worldwide with a touch of a button.”

For Barretta, it was an incredible experience that has gotten her more interested in acting.  Fans should expect to see her in a couple of small roles in some upcoming films, and she’s more than eager to reprise her role as Gail if Palma films a sequel. But, otherwise, she won’t be trading in her cue stick for the big screen any time soon.  “It’s not like I’m going to run out and get an agent.”

To learn more about Jennifer Barretta, visit her website.  To learn more about the movie 9-Ball, read this blog for my upcoming review in 2 weeks that includes an interview with the director Tony Palma.  You can also like the movie on Facebook.

A version of this article will also appear later this week on About.com in the highly engaging Pool and Billiards section.

 

The Baron and the Kid

As far back as 1906, there have been movies based on songs, such as the silent short Waiting at the Church, based on the music hall song of the same name by Vesta Victoria.  Over the years, the genre has expanded to include more well-known movies, such as Alice’s Restaurant, Yellow Submarine, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and Born in East L.A.

To this atypical list, we must also add the 1984 made-for-TV-movie, The Baron and the Kid, directed by Gary Nelson and starring Johnny Cash as William “The Baron” Addington.

The Baron and the Kid (billiards movie)Based on Cash’s 1980 song “The Baron,” the title track of his 1981 Columbia Records album of the same name, The Baron and the Kid was derided by pundits as a feeble attempt to follow in the footprint of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler (1980) – another movie based on a song – and rope in those same fans.  (There is something inherently in the story-driven DNA of C&W songs that lends themselves to movie translation. See also Convoy; Ode to Billy Joe; and Take This Job and Shove It.)

In any event, this criticism is not entirely unfounded.  The Baron and the Kid follows the basic sentimental father-son drama as The Gambler in that it casts Cash as an ex-pool hustler determined to rectify the wrongs of his violent, alcoholic past life by establishing a relationship with his son, Billy Joe “The Cajun Kid” Stanley (Greg Webb), who his ex-wife Dee Dee Stanley (June Carter Cash) had kept a secret for 18 years.

Wish I had a known ya
When you were a little younger
Around me you might have learned
a thing or two
If I had known you longer
You might be a little stronger
And maybe you’d shoot straighter
Then you doooo

Not surprisingly, that reunion doesn’t go swimmingly well at first, especially since the Cajun Kid, now a successful small Southern town hustler, has no interest changing his cue stick ways and listening to the Man in Black.

Apparently, when there is “nothing to lose, everything to win,” the only way to forge a father-son bond and remedy almost two decades of absence is to bond over billiards on the road and get “in the zone…a combination of what experience tells you to do, the ego wants you to do, and the nerves will let you do.”  This includes competing against Dr. Pockett (played by the perfectly named Earl Poole Ball, Johnny Cash’s pianist of 20 years) in a double-elimination tournament;  playing a “10-game freeze out” against the menacing Frosty (memorably and most ironically played by Richard Roundtree a.k.a. “Shaft”) and his posse of rednecks;  and trading shots with trick-shot legend Mike Massey, who makes a cameo as a rival 9-ball player.

Regardless of the predictable plot, the fact is any billiards movie starring Johnny Cash gets a thumbs-up from me.  And, without question, this is a billiards movie.  It opens with an incredible series of pool shots performed by Cash (reflecting the brilliance of technical adviser Mike Massey). There are then frequent pool games and demonstrations of pool prowess, including the introduction of Tracy Pollan (future spouse of Michael J. Fox) as pool-shooting Southern belle Mary Beth Phillips.  And, of course, like so many other billiards movies (e.g., The Color of Money; Up Against the 8 Ball; Kiss Shot), there is the culminating final tournament, in this case, the National Pocket Billiards 9-Ball Championship

And while the movie is rather hackneyed, it does introduce one aspect of pool that I’ve not seen in other movies – namely, the practice of ”jarring,” in which a player has his opponent’s drink spiked with drugs (e.g., amphetamine) to make him overconfident so that he’ll undertake impossible shots.  I couldn’t turn up much research on the practice, though a handful of message boards confirmed that “jarring” was done through the 1980s.  Of course, today in sports, the issue is less about drugging one’s opponent than it is about self-doping…yes, even in billiards.   Just ask German billiards champ Axel Buescher, who was stripped of his national carom billiards title in 2008.

The Baron and the Kid is widely available to rent or buy online.

The Baron and the Kid v2Additional information of interest: