Word: poolroom
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...Hustler. A morality play in a poolroom, brilliantly directed by Robert Rossen, vigorously played by Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, Jackie Gleason...
...Hemingway had the passion for pool that he had for bullfighting, his hero might have been Eddie Felson. The poolroom was Eddie's world in whatever town he happened to be, and such moments of truth as he experienced boiled up behind the eight ball. He was a pool shark, although he hated to be called that; he thought of himself as a pool hustler, a town-to-town drifter who conned strangers into games, looked bad or only fair at first, then turned on his skill when the stakes were high enough to matter. Eddie had the skill...
...Born Loser. For Author Tevis a poolroom at 9 a.m. can seem like a "large church." But Eddie only knows the stale cigar and cigarette smoke, the massiveness of mahogany tables squatting impersonally, the lone hustler practicing shots. Hours may pass in a close game when the only life the hustler sees consists of shaded light on the brushed green cloth, the movement of balls elegantly cued, the sensuous dropping of globes into pockets. When it is over, win or lose, he wanders out into the streets that are usually slummy and unfriendly and back to a hotel room whose...
More than Skill. Eddie begins to hustle again because it is all he knows how to do. Then one night he outsmarts himself, wins too spectacularly, and the poolroom toughs take him to the privy and break his thumbs. His comeback is slow. At the end he has regained his skill and has also learned that skill is not enough, that in the clutches a man's inner resources may be more important than a missed shot...
...version of that, and over at the poolroom he tries to make the kid understand. "Look, kid," he says...