The Inside Story: The Hustler (2002)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Entertaining episode in the series that gives viewers a look at various famous movies. This one here takes a look at THE HUSTLER, which featured Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie and George C. Scott. Among the people interviewed here are Jerry Orbach, Charles Ursitti, film critic Richard Schickel, assistant director of THE HUSTLER Ulu Grosbard and Stanley Cohen among others.
At just 24-minutes this documentary doesn't go into great detail on the subject but for the most part it delivers enough information to keep you entertained and there are some funny stories along the way. One such story is told by Orbach who talks about him getting to go up against the real Minnesota Fats and winning. The entire production is discussed so you get to learn how the casting was done and there's even some great footage of the movie's premiere in Washington, D.C.. Fans of THE HUSTLER already know there are several documentaries out there about the making of this film but this here is one of the better ones.
