There’s something I never paid attention to in the famous “you’re not a loser, Eddie, you’re a winner” scene from The Hustler. The “something” is this: traffic noise nearly floods this scene.
Director Robert Rossen could have shot in some remote woodsy area or in upper Central Park, but he chose to shoot near a highway of some kind. I’m guessing the Henry Hudson Parkway, somewhere near the 80s or 90s. They couldn’t be more than 40 or 50 feet from it — listen to those cars and motorbikes whirring by.
I think Rossen chose this spot because…I don’t know why. Perhaps he wanted to say that there’s no peace in New York City for some people…no calm, no havens, no real cover or seclusion. The clutter and clamor never leave you alone.
Oh, and Newman addressing Jackie Gleason‘s Minnesota Fats over and over as “fat man” doesn’t seem right by today’s standards. Gleason was somewhere between portly and hefty, but his girth is nothing compared to your typical 21st Century Jabba. Lost City costar Da’Vine Joy Randolph is twice Gleason’s size.
Wiki excerpt: “According to Bobby Darin‘s agent, Martin Baum, Paul Newman‘s agent turned down the part of Fast Eddie. Newman was unavailable to being committed to star opposite Elizabeth Taylor in Two for the Seesaw. Rossen offered Darin the part after seeing him on The Mike Wallace Interview.
“When Taylor was forced to drop out of Seesaw because of shooting overruns on Cleopatra, Newman was freed up to take the role, which he accepted after reading just half of the script. No one associated with the production officially notified Darin or his representatives that he had been replaced; they found out from a member of the public at a charity horse race.”