What did G.C. Scott mean when he screamed "You owe ME MONEY!"
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Hustler
epatten67 — 11 years ago(December 18, 2014 07:25 PM)
Because Eddie was playing with his own dough. 3 Grand. It was his. If Gordon was still bankrolling the game for Eddie I could see him reacting that way but this wasn't the case in the final game between Eddie and Fats. So how could he muscle him like that? And tell him to "Never walk into a big time pool hall again" ?
-
Forlorn_Rage — 10 years ago(August 29, 2015 08:21 PM)
Maybe Eddie owed Bert money for that fancy hotel that Bert, Sarah and him stayed at in the climax of the film.
No, no, definitely not that. That would defeat the whole purpose of Sarah's description of Bert as a "Roman," someone who buys people cheap and, in turn, conquers everything (even Eddie and Sarah, herself). -
garnerphils — 11 years ago(December 31, 2014 10:59 PM)
You almost have to see "The Color Of Money" for your answer, which is that Gordon wants to be paid for the lessons he taught Felson, which allowed him to beat Fats, not that Gordon had staked him in the final showdown. Think of the scene in "TCOM" when Fast Eddie gets hustled again in front of Vincent and the girl, then throws him out on his own and Vincent wants what's coming to him.
-
Forlorn_Rage — 10 years ago(August 29, 2015 08:22 PM)
You almost have to see "The Color Of Money" for your answer, which is that Gordon wants to be paid for the lessons he taught Felson,
I actually entertained that that's what he meant. But It just seems so cheesy, lol. Especially, since Eddie describes him as being "dead on the inside" and only caring about winning. But, it makes sense more than anything else. -
movies789 — 10 years ago(August 29, 2015 05:57 PM)
Gordon figured that once they'd agreed on a split, it was a permanent arrangement, regardless of whose money Eddie was playing with or whether or not they were still friendly partners. After their falling-out over Sarah's suicide, Eddie assumed the arrangement was over - but Gordon didn't. Hence, "you owe me MONEY!" after Eddie's final win over Fats. With Eddie's threat to kill him, Gordon backed off - but only with the proviso that Eddie was done playing big-time pool.
Realistically, with the passage of time, that order became unenforceable - hence, Eddie's eventual reemergence elsewhere, decades later, with Tom Cruise in The Color of Money. By that point, Gordon might well have lost interest, lost contact with Eddie's pool-playing or whereabouts, lost the power/pull to be able to follow-through, or even been dead by then. Combine that with Eddie's having moved on to the liquor business as his primary source of income - pool hustlers really not making enough to live on in real life doing nothing but playing pool - and eventually Eddie felt comfortable cautiously re-entering the world of pool and 9-ball, first as a mentor and sponsor, then once again as a player. -
kag2-1 — 10 years ago(February 20, 2016 09:57 AM)
Well-stated, Movies789.
Gordon thought he owned Eddie, that it was a permanent or at least ongoing arrangement. To Eddie, playing with his own money and heart-broken over Sarah's suicide, he felt he owed Gordon zero. Particularly since he (correctly) blamed or partly blamed Gordon for her death. -
kag2 — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 09:02 AM)
Watch Fats in that scene. He seems far more upset about being owned by Bert than by losing to Eddie. He also seems to have far more respect for Eddie at this point, for standing up to Bert.
To Eddie, he owned Bert nothing, not since Sarah died. Bert obviously saw it differently.