Rating: - Atmospheric Early 60s
Dramatic, sometimes downright melodramatic. There's something kind of James Deanish in Newman's character - naive, brash, arrogant - old school 50s tough guy. Shot in black and white, it still feels distinctly early 60s, and comes off as a modern tragedy (if not melodrama). You can feel elements of 50s drama merging with the rough-hewn existentialism of the early 60s, though it's a drama in every sense of the word - nothing twilight zone about this one, except the way characters seem to resemble Rod Serling a little bit in the way they talk. I didn't realize until the end, Paul Newman's financial banker from the underworld is played by a youthful George C Scott, who does a great job. Paul himself (as mentioned) sometimes feels a bit over the top, as does his lady love (an interesting character played by Piper Laurie), but in spite of that, the story remains interesting. If nothing else, it has a lot of atmosphere, partially due to being in black and white (the version I saw was in black and white). I tend to like movies that I've seen from this time period. There's a feeling of change in the air, an attempt at poetic realism, though with the 'cool' so thick you can cut it with a knife, it may fall short of realistic for a modern audience (of course this was 45 years ago). But on the poetic side, it doesn't fall short.

The Hustler