Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 2 ratings
On Quartile, The Color of Money scores 6.5/10 across five categories — strongest on Ending (Well Above Average), weakest on Acting (Below Average).
Ranked among Quartile’s Top Ending.
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.
The Color of Money is elevated primarily by its performances — Paul Newman's Oscar-winning turn as Fast Eddie is magnetic and earned, with Tom Cruise bringing charismatic energy as Vincent. Scorsese's direction gives the film a kinetic style in the pool hall sequences, though the cinematography, while competent, doesn't reach the heights of his best visual work. The plot is a fairly conventional mentor-protégé story that leans on familiar beats of the sports drama genre, and as a late sequel to The Hustler it doesn't break much new ground conceptually — the hustler-reformed-then-tempted arc is well-worn. The ending, while dramatically satisfying on a character level, lands a bit abruptly and underdelivers on full resolution.