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The Color Of Money DIRECTED BY MARTIN SCORSESE RELEASED: 1986 Why's it so good? Martin Scorsese's sequel to Robert Rossen's The Hustler takes place 25 years after the original, and sees Paul Newman return as Fast Eddie Felson to mentor young wannabe Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise). And if the three names in the previous sentence aren't enough to convince you it's good, you might want to re-read it. But seriously, this is a portrait of an older, wiser man given added poignancy by our memory of his younger self.

How does it stack up to the original? There's no question: The Hustler is better. And this disappointed critics, their expectations sky-high after Scorsese's early '80s output, on release. But it's held up well, with great performances from the cast and Scorsese's moody, dark look holding up well. Glaring error: If you watch the pool balls carefully during the games, you'll see a whole heap of continuity glarings. GAP BETWEEN SEQUEL AND ORIGINAL: 301 MONTHS 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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