The Hustler

THE HUSTLER (1961)
55th Anniversary Screening
Wednesday, March 16, at 7:00 PM at the Royal Theatre
Three-Time Oscar Nominee Piper Laurie in person for Q&A after the screening

Robert Rossen’s The Hustler, one of the most incisive character dramas of the 1960s, earned nine Academy Award nominations and won two Oscars, for black-and-white cinematography and art direction. All four of the film’s main actors—Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, and Jackie Gleason—received nominations for their performances. In one of his iconic characterizations, Newman plays Fast Eddie Felson, a pool hustler determined to defeat champion Minnesota Fats (played by Gleason). Decades before some 21st century personalities began describing their opponents as “losers,” this film raised more provocative, profound questions about what it means to be a “winner” or a “loser” in a competitive society.

As The New York Times declared, the film “speaks powerfully in a universal language that spellbinds and reveals bitter truths.”

Our special guest at the screening will be three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie. Critic Stanley Kauffmann praised her for the “movingly anguished touches” that she brought to her role of Newman’s clear-eyed lover in The Hustler. Laurie also earned nominations for her memorable performances in Carrie and Children of a Lesser God. She launched her career in the 1950s in a series of studio programmers that paired her with top actors of the era like Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Tyrone Power. Her later films included more serious dramas like the Australian film Tim, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, Rich in Love, The Crossing Guard, and The Grass Harp. She also appeared on Broadway and in many TV movies and series, including David Lynch’s cult favorite, Twin Peaks. Her autobiography, Learning to Live Out Loud, was published in 2011.