Back in 1986, the cult Tom Cruise film Top Gun was released and was a huge Box Office hit, raking in over $350 million. In that same year, Cruise had another film released. The Color of Money wasn't quite as financially successful but helped Cruise to continue building his reputation as a top young actor in Hollywood.
It wasn't too bad for the reputation of co-star Paul Newman either, who picked up an Oscar for the Best Actor in a Leading Role and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio also received an Oscar nomination for her role as Carmen. The film was an outright success, receiving some excellent reviews and has a solid score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The storyline
The film was directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese and Tom Cruise played his role alongside Hollywood royalty, Paul Newman. The storyline is based around a pool hustling duo; a master and an apprentice on the hustling scene.
Cruise plays the young, arrogant Vincent and Newman is the honed pro con artist that attempts to teach him how to make lots of money by pool hustling. The film takes the pair around the US, including a big tournament at Atlantic City with high stakes.
Paul Newman had starred in The Hustler twenty-five years earlier and The Color of Money follows on from this, with Newman reprising his role as 'Fast Eddie' Felson. This time, instead of being the hustler, Newman's character is trying to pass on the tricks of the trade to make money from young pool hotshot Vincent, played by Cruise.
Interesting facts about The Color of Money
There are many interesting facts about this film such as that Tom Cruise took the majority of his trick shots himself. Another funny detail is that the scenes that are supposed to be Atlantic City are actually shot in Chicago. However, despite not being shot on location, we do get an interesting glimpse into how much the gambling world has evolved. In 1986, pool hustling was very popular, particularly around the US.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the addition of the internet and there are so many other ways to play games for money. In the last few decades, Poker has become a huge sport, with many pro players earning millions. In more recent years, the popularity of online casino games has surged, with huge incentives like free spins to welcome new players. You can see a huge list of casino bonus codes here that people are using to get started playing casino games like Blackjack or Roulette.
via GIPHY
This is one of the great things about watching retro films and getting to appreciate how much times have changed. If you watch the 1961 film Hustler, then the 1986 film The Color of Money, then you get a huge insight into how the world in general and the gambling world has changed over a 60 year period to the current day. We're pretty sure Paul Newman would have been great at casino card games, or at least his character in Cool Hand Luke would have been!