The Color of Money (1986)

Paul Newman: Eddie

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Quotes 

• Eddie Felson : Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.

• Eddie Felson : You gotta have two things to win. You gotta have brains and you gotta have balls. And you got too much of one and not enough of the other.

• Eddie Felson : Hey! I'm not your daddy, I'm not your boyfriend, so don't be playing games with me. I'm your partner.

• Eddie Felson : You're some piece of work... You're also a natural character.

  Vincent Lauria : [to Carmen]  You see? I been tellin' her that. I got natural character.

  Eddie Felson : That's not what I said, kid. I said you *are* a natural character; you're an incredible flake.

  [Vincent's smile fades; Eddie continues] 

  Eddie Felson : But that's a *gift*. Some guys spend half their lives trying to invent something like that. You walk into a pool room with that go-go-go, the guys'll be *killing* each other, trying to get to you. You got that... But I'll tell you something, kiddo. You couldn't find Big Time if you had a road map.

• Eddie Felson : It doesn't make any sense. It goes in streaks. The balls roll funny for everybody, kiddo.

• Eddie Felson : Vincent, get in the car, this is embarrassing. You're acting like some girl who got felt up at the drive-in.

• Eddie Felson : [to Carmen about Vincent]  We got a racehorse here, a thoroughbred. You make him feel good, I teach him how to run!

• Eddie Felson : This ain't pool. This is for bangers. Straight pool is pool. This is like hand-ball, or cribbage, or something. Straight pool, you gotta be a real surgeon to get 'em, you know? It's all finesse. Now, every thing is nine-ball, 'cause it's fast, good for T.V., good for a lot of break shots... Oh, well. What the hell. Checkers sells more than chess.

• Eddie Felson : I can always go back to whiskey; it's been very good to me. I mean, you're sitting in it, and I'm wearing it.

• [last lines] 

  Vincent Lauria : Hey Eddie, what are you going to do when I kick your ass?

  Eddie Felson : Pick myself up and let you kick me again.

  Vincent Lauria : Oh yeah?

  Eddie Felson : Yeah.

  [pause] 

  Eddie Felson : Just don't put the money in the bank, kid. Because if I don't whip you now, I'm gonna whip you next month in Dallas.

  Carmen : You mean Houston - there's nothing coming up in Dallas.

  Eddie Felson : Houston, Dallas... And if not then, then the month after that, in New Orleans.

  Vincent Lauria : Oh yeah? What makes you so sure?

  Eddie Felson : [stares at Vincent for a second, then gets ready to break]  Hey - I'm back.

  [Eddie breaks] 

• Eddie Felson : How much did you take off Moselle? I heard a hundred...

  Vincent Lauria : One Fifty!

  Eddie Felson : [sarcastically]  A hundred and fifty?

  Vincent Lauria : That's right, a hundred and fifty.

  Vincent Lauria : You walk into a shoe store with a hundred and fifty bucks, you come out with one shoe! We were working on five thousand!

• Eddie Felson : [to Vincent]  I'll change my teeth, you change your god damned diapers!

• Eddie Felson : Pool excellence is *not* about excellent pool. It's about becoming something.

• Vincent Lauria : [Eddie is pushing to go on the road]  This is my job, Eddie.

  Eddie Felson : You think so? Hmmm. That's funny. I don't think so. I think it's your problem.

• Eddie Felson : Do you smell that?

  Vincent Lauria : What, smoke?

  Carmen : No, Money...

• Vincent Lauria : [Eddie has just run the table]  Pretty damn good.

  Eddie Felson : Not bad for a blind man. Rack 'em.

  Vincent Lauria : Yes sir, boss. Rack 'em up for Mr. Fast Eddie!

  Eddie Felson : I haven't played serious pool since before you were born, and right off the bat, I'm layin' 'em to waste! Watch this. Nine on the break...

• Eddie Felson : Where's the Balabushka?

  Carmen : Vincent took it.

  Eddie Felson : You said he was out.

  Carmen : He was in and out.

  Eddie Felson : He took the cue stick?

  Carmen : Yes.

  Eddie Felson : And you let him?

  Carmen : Well, so what?

  Eddie Felson : Shit.

  Carmen : Oh, man, I'm sorry.

  Eddie Felson : Jesus. Goddamn. Child care!

• Eddie Felson : You know what this is turning into?

  Vincent Lauria : What?

  Eddie Felson : A waste of my time, and a waste of my money.

  [Slams car door] 

  Vincent Lauria : What? You're just gonna' leave me here?

  [Eddie drives off] 

  Vincent Lauria : I don't believe this guy!

• Eddie Felson : Did you ever hear of a hustle called Two Brothers and a Stranger?

  Vincent Lauria : Yeah, uh, that's the guy in the Bible with the many colored coats, right?

  [grins widely; Eddie and Carmen look disgusted] 

  Vincent Lauria : Hey, what's wrong with you guys? It's a joke, okay?

  Eddie Felson : Did I get through to you last night, kiddo? 'Cause if I didn't, I'll run it by you another way. If you'd have kicked ass in any other place but Chalkie's, Atlantic City would be dead for us. The Guys Never Leave The Street. Otherwise, it'd be all around.

• Eddie Felson : It's even, but it ain't settled. Let's settle it.

• Eddie Felson : Human moves, kid. You study the watch... while I study you.

• Carmen : You think Vincent's that good?

  Eddie Felson : Well, he's got the eye, he's got the stroke, he's got the flake - he's got that down cold. But can he flake on and flake off? I don't know. See, I don't know whether that can be taught. That's not clear. He's got to learn how to be himself - but on purpose.

• Eddie Felson : That kid's got a sledgehammer break.

• Eddie Felson : I'll play him for 500 bucks. You don't know what to say, do you? Maybe I'm hustling you, maybe I'm not. You don't know, but you should know. So, if you know that, you know when to say yes, you know when to say no. Everybody goes home in a limousine.

• Janelle : I get off at ten.

  Eddie Felson : Not without me you don't.

• Eddie Felson : [naked in bed]  God, the earth moved. Didn't it move for you a little bit?

  Janelle : That was a train.

• Julian : What, you're taking that guy on the road? What's his name?

  Eddie Felson : I don't know his name and it's none of your business.

  Julian : The guy's a chump. What did he do? He beat me one night. I'll put the 9-ball up both your asses. Are you serious? Taking him on the road? When was the last time you did the road, 1960? They didn't even have cars then. What? Come on? You bangin' his girlfriend? Huh?

• Eddie Felson : You're a hard broad. What does Vincent see in you?

  Carmen : Vincent's the best. That's what he sees in me.

• Vincent Lauria : Don't worry. I'm not going to lose often.

  Eddie Felson : Oh, yes, you will. That's what I'm gonna teach you. Sometimes if you lose, you win.

• Eddie Felson : I cover all expenses: food, room, everything, entry fees, everything. For that I get 60% of everything you win. All bets. I lay the bets so I also take the losses if you lose. So, for that I get 60% of what you win.

  Carmen : 60%? What are you, a slumlord?

  Eddie Felson : Honey, you find a newcomer with a better deal than that, you come to me, we talk.

• Eddie Felson : We're just talking around things here. It ain't about pool. It ain't about sex. It ain't about love. It's about money. The *best* is the guy with the most. Ail right. It's the whole show. The best is the guy with the most in all walks of life.

  Carmen : Are you the best liquor salesman?

  Eddie Felson : You betcha!

• Eddie Felson : No thunderboIt breaks, no runned over 4-balls. Just take it easy.

• Eddie Felson : You don't flirt with me. You don't come on with me. You take a shower you shut the goddamn door.

  Carmen : Don't flatter yourself.

  Eddie Felson : Jes, don't waste my time with bullshit, Carmen. We got a *racehorse* here. A thoroughbred. You make him feel good, I teach him how to run. Do you understand? We're businesspeople.

• Eddie Felson : Color. Check the color. Dead giveaway, you know? It's thick. You can almost feel it. Lay down and just let it roll all over you. That's single maIt. On the other hand, you got something like Old McDonnell. More like Young McDonnell, actually. Tastes like 6-year-old bonded. Smell this.

  Janelle : That's good stuff.

• Eddie Felson : I am wrong; but, let me do it my way!

  Janelle : Do it any way you want to do it, Eddie.

• Carmen : You know how we met? My old boyfriend last year got busted breaking into Vincent's parents' house. And we met at the police station. Me and Vincent.

  Eddie Felson : You were bailing him out, your boyfriend?

  Carmen : No. No, no, no. I got busted, too. I was driving the car. See this?

  [pulls out her necklace] 

  Carmen : Look. Vincent's mother's.

  Eddie Felson : He gave that to you?

  Carmen : Nope. From the robbery. Vince says his mother has one just like it. He's sweet. Vincent's real sweet.

• Eddie Felson : Think about it, okay? Take your time. I'll give you about five seconds.

• Vincent Lauria : How come you don't play pool any more?

  Eddie Felson : I quit. Actually, somebody retired me. Sometimes you get in with the wrong kind of people, you know. But, hey, that was a long time ago, back east. It's dead and buried. I don't even think about it. I won my share of medals.

• Eddie Felson : I can't believe it. I got goose bumps. I love it.

• Eddie Felson : Carmen, what's to be learned from this?

  Carmen : Nice guys finish last.

  Vincent Lauria : Oh, is that original or did you just make that up?

• Eddie Felson : What did they do, saw the legs off this thing? It's a table for dwarves or something.

• Eddie Felson : Are we going to make some money today? Or, am I still talking to Our Lady of the Cue Balls?

• Eddie Felson : Twenty-five years ago, I had the screws put on me. I mean, it was over for me - before it really got started. But, I'm hungry again and you bled that back into me.

• Eddie Felson : Well, I got to hand it to you kid, you got me talking to myself. I got half of me that says I got a hold of the best thing I ever seen and half of me that says it just ain't worth it. I mean, either I don't teach you right or you don't listen or you listen, but you don't hear.

• Eddie Felson : Vincent, you go in that place, you play your part. It's nuts. I put my hands on her, I'm playing. part. It's acting.

  Vincent Lauria : Your hands were all over her!

  Eddie Felson : It's acting! It's acting!

  Carmen : Hey, look, Vincent, when you go into movies and you see people kissing, what do you think? Do you think they go home together? They're professionals, Vincent.

  Eddie Felson : We're just trying to be professionals.

• Carmen : So I got to cover your ass now?

  Eddie Felson : No. You got to save it.

  Carmen : Well, why should I?

• Amos : That is luck, man! I'm really sorry. There's nothing I can do. The 9-ball fell. I can't believe that.

  Eddie Felson : Are you a hustler, Amos?

  Amos : Come on, Eddie, man. Luck.

  Eddie Felson : Are you a hustler?

  Amos : Hey, you don't want to pay me? Keep it. Forget it. I don't want no bad feelings. When the big guy loses. I lost, I paid. I don't...

  Eddie Felson : Are you a hustler, Amos?

• Vincent Lauria : Stings like a bitch, don't it?

  Eddie Felson : Yes, it does.

• Eddie Felson : Don't you ever feel like picking it up again? I mean, you're always around those pool halls. You know, you see these guys...

  Vincent Lauria : Nah, I'm too old. My wheels are shot. It's a young man's game. Besides, there's drugs now. You know, kids are playing on coke, speed. I don't know, when I was younger, it was booze. Somehow it was more human.

  Vincent Lauria : Booze, huh?

  Eddie Felson : Booze. Yeah. Wine. It goes back to the Bible. The Bible never mentions amphetamines.