Rack 'Em and Smack 'Em

RACK 'EM AND SMACK 'EM

POOL HALL JUNKIES (2003)

Gregory Mars Martin (Callahan), aka Mars Callahan, has presented us with a piece of his big heart, along with great waves of youthful enthusiasm. Callahan, anaccomplished pool player, and his hustler buddy, Chris Corso, wrote this screenplay. It was shopped around for over ten years, and now it has emerged as a sterling Indie; something to aspire to.

It was filmedin Salt Lake City, but little was made of that. It could have been any large city. His directorial style is sideswipe close to that of Edward Burns; urban, hip, gritty, and intelligent. Hopefully, Callahan has some other ideas, and he will follow up with new projects. Callahan obviously loves movies, and he has given himself the lead part; JohnnyDoyle. As it turns out, he is a gifted actor.

RogerEbert called him, "McQueen cool." Another critic, a cretin, called him,"Vince Vaughn lite." Ebert wrote further," This is a young man's film, humming with the joy of making it.". One can't help but notice when Callahan makes his first appearance on the screen that he does have a tall lanky hip young Christopher Walken persona. Brilliantly for the film, Walken himself was cast in the movie. In an early scene, Walken said,"I noticed ou right away; the hair. Are we related ?".

The movieis laden with other movie-lover's moments; tongue-in-cheek and over the top. If a person likes to shoot pool, this film will be smoky eye candy. The cons, the chatter, the grifts, and the trick shots; all slip by smoothly. You can hear the echo in the pool room, and smell the chalk, the felt on the tables, and the cigar smoke. You hear those ceramic balls crash together in a macho symphony of staccato clanks; and what a lovely sound it is.

Callahan, as Johnny, in voice-over said," The cue was part of his arm, and the balls had eyes; and he really believed that he couldn't miss.".With Callahan in the lead, speaking his own written dialogue, one senses more immediacy, more reality in the pool hall scenes. As a director, he scored well, landing four heavy hitters; Walken as Uncle Mike the millionaire, Chazz Palminteri as Joe the handler, RodSteiger as Nick, the owner of the pool hall, and Rick Schroder as Brad the shark. Alison Eastwood was fine, as well, as Johnny's lady, Tara.

This modest little film has all the grit, the validity, and the sting ofTHE HUSTLER, and in some ways it scores higher than the Scorsese opus, THE COLOR OF MONEY. The plot, far from original ( a young man becomes a pool hustler, but he learns to hate the con and yearns for the validation of turning professional), never the less is engaging in Callahan's capable hands. We cannot help but care about Johnny Doyle. We want him toget his girlfriend back, and get revenge on thevicious handler that ruined his life-working him like a pool whore, and then nearly breaking his left wrist in reprisal; and we want him to beat the daylights outof the stoic stud pro-ringer pool shark; and we want him to renew the faith that the pool hall owner has always had in him; and we want him to get his younger brother out of jail (Michael Rosenbaum), who got himself deep into a jam while trying to emulate Johnny.

Christopher Walken, in a few brief scenes, simply dominates the screen. He is more relaxed, more dynamic, and more focused in this role than he has been in years. He delivered one classic soliloquy that started with,"Do you ever watch the Nature Channel ?". This speech will be a highlight for film buffs to review for the next millennium. He is one of handful of actors, like Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, TimRobbins, Tim Roth, and Gary Oldman, that supports the notion that film is truly Art, and that IndependentFilms are the breath of life. For film actors it used to be that only appearing on stage, doing live theatre in front of an audience, could produce that kick, that adrenilin rush. But now, it seems, that same high can be achieved when a star works cheap, and takes big chances within the world of the Indies.

Roger Ebert also wrote that this film was," enjoyably overwrought, and exuberantly stylish."; praise fromCaesar. It certainly is worth a look. For me it ranks high in the short lexicon of billard epics.

Glenn Buttkus 2004