Commentary
There are powerful parallels in the 1961 movie “The Hustler,” the 1913 US Open, and the current debt ceiling negotiation.
Let me explain.
In each case, there is a real question of which competitor is going to succumb to the pressure and break.
In “The Hustler,” Paul Newman plays Eddie Felton, a young pool shark who takes on the greatest pool player of his time, Minnesota Fats (played brilliantly by Jackie Gleason). A great deal of money is involved, with the champion being backed by several big money guys. They are equally good pool players, but Gleason’s character is confident, and Newman’s character is insecure. Finally, as the night wears on, the Newman character breaks under the pressure and loses—even though in the early stages he had played as well as or better than Gleason. The movie is then a portrait of a man who collapses and fails and must rebuild himself with the help of sympathetic people. At the end, he comes back to take on the champion again. The key moment in the movie is when Gleason says, “I quit Eddie, I can’t beat you.”…