Who did you think was better?
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chris_marlow40 — 16 years ago(October 09, 2009 10:51 AM)
Scott, only because he had more screen time, but Gleason was fantastic with the little he had which showed he was a master. Scott though is one of the greatest actors of all-time. I've only watched this and Dr. Strangelove (Patton soon) which he's been involved in, but in those two performanceswow.
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scott_uk88 — 15 years ago(August 07, 2010 08:46 PM)
I'd like to say Scott because I think he's America's greatest ever actor, but actually, for the short time he's on, Gleason is pretty amazing. As Fats he appears so calm and assured that you really believe the character is this great, wise, unflappable, invincible, veteran pool-player. When Newman is playing again him, you feel like he's playing a legend rather than a man. I think a huge amount of that must be due to Gleason's acting.
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Mythical Monkey — 14 years ago(February 01, 2012 01:22 PM)
I'm going with Jackie Gleason. He doesn't say much but he inhabits the character as fully as any actor I've seen play a role. You can see written in his face and in his body language every compromise he's ever had to make to do the thing he does better than anybody else. One look at him tells you everything you need to know about the world of big time pool hustling.
But you'll get no kick from me if you go with George C. Scott. It's one of the best performances of his very great career. -
stephan-128 — 13 years ago(July 23, 2012 12:13 AM)
I agree that Scott was great,(and one of the all time great actors of the century)and he obviously had the bigger role. Whether Gleason could have played Scott's role with as much menace is questionable. But every time Gleason is on screen he is just such a prescence. The last scene when Eddie comes in and we see him over Gleason's shoulder, Eddie has all the dialogue. But the fun is in watching Gleason's face. He does 4 little eye glances, over here, over therethey are so subtle, but they convey so much. He just inhabits this role as the ultimate "player", the big mahoff, so to speak. That comes from Gleason's own personal presence, and the way he plays it. So I actually prefer Gleason.
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CineramaMama — 13 years ago(July 27, 2012 06:15 AM)
It's a tough call here but Gleason does much more acting without moving his mouth or any part of himself than probably any other actor in history. That's why Orson Wells called him; "The Great One".
Unfortunately, in most of his roles, including his TV comedy hour in the '60s, he plays the broad, demonstrative loud-mouth; which he also does better than anybody. -
johnnyfry2 — 12 years ago(July 25, 2013 10:03 PM)
In this movie it's Gleason in my opinion. He nailed the part perfectly, the delivery of his lines, even his voice when he is leaning over shooting is as authentic as one could get it. To me it is his rendition of this character in the short period of screen time that pushes the movie beyond a good movie about pool into a classic. When you are have confusing allegiances as to who you should be rooting for when they play against one another you know he did his job.
Now, as for who is best based on their body of work, I would have to go with Scott. In this film though, he is more of a replaceable part then Gleason is. -
herbsuperb — 12 years ago(July 31, 2013 12:36 PM)
Gleason was excellent in 'The Hustler'. He was excellent in most things he was in. They don't call him 'The Great One' for nothing. That being said, the conflict between Newman and Scott is truly the soul of the film in my humble opinion. Scott was one of the finest film actors of all time. He made this film shine. Personally I would have loved to have seen Newman get Best Actor and Scott get Best Supporting Actor. Crime that neither did.
There are few actors I would rather see work than George C. Scott.
In any case, the film was an absolute triumph. I'll never get tired of seeing it.