The Hustler (1961)

 

An up-and-coming pool player plays a long-time champion in a single high-stakes match.

Down in the dumps drama is realistically set and brilliantly photographed in sleazy pool halls, cheap hotels and worn-down bats and diners, where its downward spiraling tale seems all too inevitable; top performances all around, but Paul Newman is absolutely perfect in the title role.

Haliwell****: "Downbeat melodrama with brilliantly handled and atmospheric pool table scenes; the love interest is redundant."

Maltin***: "Newman is outstanding...Dingy pool-hall atmosphere vividly realized in this incisive film."

 

Jaws (1975)

When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.

A brilliantly executed monster movie that launched the director's even more brilliant career.

On renewed viewing: it is remarkable how an old-hat exploitation story is surehandedly turned into an exciting and highly entertaining movie, perfectly balancing humor and shocks.

Halliwell**: "In the exploitation-hungry seventies this film took more money than any other. In itself, despite genuinely suspenseful and frightening sequences, it is a slackly narrated and sometimes flatly handled thriller with an over-abundance of dialogue and, when it finally appears, a pretty unconvincing monster."

Maltin****: "A rare case of a bubble-gum story...scoring as a terrific movie...Hold on to your seats!"

Casey's Shadow (1978)

Casey is a young boy in a family that trains racehorses, and his best friend is a foal they call "Casey's Shadow".

I remember: this is a well-made family entertainment, if you like horses; and Walter Matthau is always worth the watch.

Halliwell (no star): "Shades of Maryland: an old-fashioned movie of the kind which absolutely nobody should want to revive, at least not so ineplty or at such length."

Maltin**1/2: "Generally satisfactory drama..."