The Color Of Money

The Color of Money is a very different film in terms of it's structure and pace, the snappily written dialogue, (from the novel by Walter Tevis) leans towards film noir, which, despite being softly spoken by the actors, echoes Mamet in terms of it's voracity and caustic one liners.

On one hand, this film sees Tom Cruise in familiar territory, as a grinning pool player determined to be the best, whilst Newman occupies that staple role of the 80's Cruise movie, The Mentor, yet in stark contrast to the high concept ideals of Top Gun", "Cocktail" and "Risky Business", "The Color Of Money" works as a subtle satire about capitalist ideology in the 80's and serves to remind the viewer about the duplicitous nature of the world.

There's no big showdown, little romance or feel good musical montage, this is old school moviemaking, with the use of mise en scene exploited to the full, in a shot where Newman walks back into an empty Vegas poolhall and sees row upon row of tables just waiting to be played.

The acting is above average, especially in the moments where Eddie teaches Vince some lessons he'll never forget, whilst Mastrantonio is quite elusive in her portrayal of Carmen (who only met Vince after she tried to rob his house!).

'The Color Of Money' has to be commended for it's realistic style, with Newman's laid back, naturalistic performance as 'Fast' Eddie, complementing Cruise's 'cool when he's playing, a little neurotic when he's not' Vince. To Tom Cruise's credit, this is most complex role he'd have to play that year, and consequently, Tom changed his acting style for it to work; for though Vince projects an aura of cool (being able to do trick shots without having to look at the table is pretty damn cool), he's actually a hopelessly insecure, jealous and somewhat naïve character, all nervous energy and pent up aggression, "a flake", as 'Fast' Eddie describes him. That's the clever thing about 'The Color Of Money', nobody is ever what they seem, even when the film ends, you can't help but think that there's still a lot more to say about these characters; it almost certainly seems as if there'd be another sequel (who knows? Maybe there will).

Some of the movie's strongest moments occur when Eddie's trying to talk Vincent into becoming his protégée by coming to see him at his job in Child World; he makes Vince realise that he's holding himself back and even goes so far as to use Carmen in his ploy. The way in which Eddie tries to play every situation to his favour, goes to highlight the fact that at the end of the day, everyone's using everyone, and if you can see that; play along, who knows, perhaps you'll be all right as well...perhaps. And despite their flaws, we don't end up hating any of these people, because their intentions (even the selfish ones) aren't really that bad; it's a real 'I Do For You, You Do For Me (But I Want More)' kinda message.

Remember that song? "What's the colour of money, what's the color of money; don't tell me that you think it's green me a' no it's red..." well I reckon what director Martin Scorsese's trying to say here; is it doesn't matter what the color of money is, for greed is as opaque an entity as two people standing behind a pool table.

Rack'em up...