Paul Newman credited as playing...
Eddie Felson
- [Fast Eddie is bothered because Bert called him a born loser]
- Fast Eddie: Cause, ya see, twice, Sarah... once at Ames with Minnesota Fats and then again at Arthur's, in that cheap, crummy pool room, now why'd I do it, Sarah? Why'd I do it? I coulda beat that guy, coulda beat 'im cold, he never woulda known. But I just hadda show 'im. Just hadda show those creeps and those punks what the game is like when it's great, when it's REALLY great. You know, like anything can be great, anything can be great. I don't care, BRICKLAYING can be great, if a guy knows. If he knows what he's doing and why and if he can make it come off. When I'm goin', I mean, when I'm REALLY goin' I feel like a... like a jockey must feel. He's sittin' on his horse, he's got all that speed and that power underneath him... he's comin' into the stretch, the pressure's on 'im, and he KNOWS... just feels... when to let it go and how much. Cause he's got everything workin' for 'im: timing, touch. It's a great feeling, boy, it's a real great feeling when you're right and you KNOW you're right. It's like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue's part of me. You know, it's uh - pool cue, it's got nerves in it. It's a piece of wood, it's got nerves in it. Feel the roll of those balls, you don't have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody's ever made before. I can play that game the way... NOBODY'S ever played it before.
- Sarah Packard: You're not a loser, Eddie, you're a winner. Some men never get to feel that way about anything.
- Fast Eddie: Maybe I'm not such a high-class piece of property right now. And a 25% slice of something big is better than a 100% slice of nothing.
- Bert Gordon: Eddie, is it alright if I get personal?
- Fast Eddie: Whaddaya been so far?
- Bert Gordon: Eddie, you're a born loser.
- Fast Eddie: What's that supposed to mean?
- Bert Gordon: First time in ten years I ever saw Minnesota Fats hooked... really hooked. But you let him off.
- Fast Eddie: I told you I got drunk.
- Bert Gordon: Sure you got drunk. You have the best excuse in the world for losing; no trouble losing when you got a good excuse. Winning... that can be heavy on your back, too, like a monkey. You'll drop that load too when you got an excuse. All you gotta do is learn to feel sorry for yourself. One of the best indoor sports, feeling sorry for yourself. A sport enjoyed by all, especially the born losers.
- Fast Eddie: Thanks for the drink.
- Fast Eddie: I loved her, Bert. I traded her in on a pool game. But that wouldn't mean anything to you. Because who did you ever care about? Just win, win, you said, win, that's the important thing. You don't know what winnin' is, Bert. You're a loser. 'Cause you're dead inside, and you can't live unless you make everything else dead around ya.
- [last lines]
- Fast Eddie: Fat man, you shoot a great game of pool.
- Minnesota Fats: So do you, Fast Eddie.
- Bert Gordon: I don't think there's a pool player alive shoots better pool than I saw you shoot the other night at Ames. You got talent.
- Fast Eddie: So I got talent. So what beat me?
- Bert Gordon: Character.
- Sarah Packard: I'm a college girl. Two days a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays - I go to college.
- Fast Eddie: You don't look like a college girl.
- Sarah Packard: I'm the emancipated type. Real emancipated.
- Fast Eddie: No, I didn't mean that... whatever that means. I mean you just don't look young enough.
- Sarah Packard: I'm not.
- Fast Eddie: So why go to college?
- Sarah Packard: Got nothing else to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
- Fast Eddie: What do you do on the other days?
- Sarah Packard: I drink.
- [in their $3,000 game, after Minnesota Fats breaks, it's Eddie's shot]
- Fast Eddie: How should I play that one, Bert? Play it safe? That's the way you always told me to play it: safe... play the percentage. Well, here we go: fast and loose. One ball, corner pocket. Yeah, percentage players die broke, too, don't they, Bert?
- [he makes the shot and the spectators applaud]
- Fast Eddie: How can I lose?
- Fast Eddie: What are you writing?
- Sarah Packard: Oh, it's a story. A story I'm making up.
- Fast Eddie: Give it to me.
- [reads it]
- Fast Eddie: What is this supposed to mean?
- Sarah Packard: Give it back to me.
- Fast Eddie: What's this supposed to mean? "We have a contract of depravity. All we have to do is pull the blinds down."
- [crumples up the story]
- Fast Eddie: Write yourself another story!
- Sarah Packard: Well, what else have we got? We never talk about anything. We stay here in this room and we drink and we make love. We're strangers. What happens when the liquor and money run out, Eddie? You told Charlie to lay down and die. Will you say that to me, too? What happens, Eddie?
- Fast Eddie: You know, I got a hunch, fat man. I got a hunch it's me from here on in. One ball, corner pocket. I mean, that ever happen to you? You know, all of a sudden you feel like you can't miss? 'Cause I dreamed about this game, fat man. I dreamed about this game every night on the road. Five ball. You know, this is my table, man. I own it.
- Sarah Packard: I love you, Eddie.
- Fast Eddie: You know, someday, Sarah, you're gonna settle down... you're gonna marry a college professor and you're gonna write a great book. Maybe about me. Huh? Fast Eddie Felson... hustler.
- Sarah Packard: I love you.
- Fast Eddie: You need the words?
- Sarah Packard: Yes, I need them very much. If you ever say them I'll never let you take them back.
- Minnesota Fats: Shoot pool, Fast Eddie.
- Fast Eddie: I'm shootin' pool, Fats. When I miss, you can shoot.
- Fast Eddie: Boy, you better, you tell your boys they better kill me, Bert. They better go all the way with me, 'cause if they just bust me up, I'll put all those pieces back together again, then so help me... So help me God, Bert, I'm gonna come back here and I'm gonna kill you.
- Sarah Packard: How did you know my name was Sarah?
- Fast Eddie: You told me.
- Sarah Packard: I lie. When I'm drunk I lie.
- Fast Eddie: Okay, so what's your name today?
- Sarah Packard: Sarah.
- Fast Eddie: I'm the best you ever seen, Fats. I'm the best there is. And even if you beat me, I'm still the best.
- Bert Gordon: Stay with this kid; he's a LOSER.
- Fast Eddie: You saw me beat Minnesota Fats for eighteen thousand dollars.
- Bert Gordon: Look, you wanna hustle pool, don't you? This game isn't like football. Nobody pays you for yardage. When you hustle you keep score real simple. The end of the game you count up your money. That's how you find out who's best. That's the only way.
- Fast Eddie: Fats, let's you and me shoot a game of straight pool.
- Minnesota Fats: Hundred dollars?
- Fast Eddie: Well, you shoot big time pool, Fats. I mean, that's what everybody says: you shoot big time pool. Let's make it $200 a game.
- Minnesota Fats: Now I know why they call you Fast Eddie. Sausage, rack 'em up.
- Bert Gordon: How's your hand?
- Fast Eddie: Fine.
- Bert Gordon: Good. I'd hate to think I was puttin' my money on a cripple.
- Fast Eddie: Hey, whaddaya say somethin' like that for?
- Sarah Packard: It's alright, Eddie. I'm sure Mr. Gordon meant no offense. It was a figure of speech.
- Bert Gordon: That's right, Miss Packard.
- Sarah Packard: And a fact is a fact.
- Bert Gordon: Smart girl, Eddie.
- Fast Eddie: No bar?
- Cashier: No bar, no pinball machines, no bowling alleys, just pool... nothing else. This is Ames, mister.