Fresh Off the Boat – “Keep ‘Em Separated”

In my previous blog post, on the 2014 movie Second Chance, I highlighted that it was the first film to originate from Taiwan focused on billiards, which was ironic, given nearly 10% of the Taiwanese population plays billiards, second only to baseball in sports popularity.

Fresh Off the BoatFor this reason then, it’s hardly surprising that the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, about a Taiwanese family’s journey from Washington DC’s Chinatown to Orlando, Florida, prominently featured billiards in its March 2016 Season 2 episode, “Keep ‘Em Separated.”

Fresh Off the Boat, now in its third season, is the first American sitcom in more than 20 years to prominently feature an Asian-American family on a major network during a primetime slot. Starring Randall Park as Louis Huang and the comically sharp Constance Wu as his wife Jessica, the show highlights daily life as the family opens a cowboy-themed steak restaurant in 1995.

In “Keep ‘Em Separated,” the premise is that Louis now has a lot of free time because he’s no longer personally responsible for closing the restaurant. That’s creating a lot of tension on the home front, since Louis is continually interrupting Jessica’s ‘girl time’ with her next door BFF Honey.  Deciding that he should get back into pool, Jessica surprises her husband by unveiling his retired now re-tipped cue stick, Black Ball Betty, which Louis explains is “not a bo staff [but] a different kind of weapon…a two piece low deflection maple staff pool cue.”

Emboldened by the reunion with Black Ball Betty, Louis – aka Louis Short Pocket – heads over to the Cue Tips Pool Hall, where he has a great night: “Cheap beer, non-stop [George] Thorogood on the jukebox, the smell of Camel Lights and desperation.” This pleases Jessica silly, until she learns that Louis’ billiards partner is a woman named Toni.

Fresh Off the BoatThe introduction of Toni (Angelique Cabral) provides the episode’s funniest moments.  Entering Cue Tips to the sound of Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet,” a “song that can make everything sexy,” Toni struts out in stiletto heels, skin-tight black jeans, and a spaghetti strap top, then delicately blows billows of red chalk dust into the air from the tip of her cue stick.

Jessica, who subscribes to the When Harry Met Sally school of thought that men and women cannot be friends, immediately interrogates Toni, with both needle-sharp questions (“Why did your parents name you Toni?  It’s a man’s name.”) and over-the-top comments (“You have no power here, witch…you heard me, demon.”)

The madcap situation continues when Jessica insists that Louis drop Toni and make her his partner instead.  Expectations run high as Jessica then enters the pool hall to ZZ Top’s “La Grange” in red heels, black leather pants, and wind (?!) blowing her hair.  But, the fantasy quickly crash lands back on Planet Earth, with Jessica swapping the heels for Keds, missing simple shots, and using all the quarters on the table to put Amy Grant on repeat on the jukebox. She laments, “Pool is so boring, there is so much standing around…it’s worse than baseball.”

The episode comes to closure as Jessica ultimately concedes she doesn’t want to be a “wet blanket wife” and realizes that Louis will have far more fun shooting with someone who can play.  That said, she still insists, “no touching and always show the wedding ring.”

Unfortunately, while “Keep ‘Em Separated” provides its share of good laughs, it is completely lacking in good pool.  Admittedly, I was hopeful, as I first learned about the existence of this episode from Trickshot Tim Chin, who was the billiards technical advisor during filming.   But, as Tim posted in his December 2015 blog:

It came together real fast with the director calling me the week beforehand and I was glad I wasn’t busy. I got to coach Randall Park, who plays Louis Huang, and Angelique Cabral, who plays Tony, on how to look like a pool player. Unfortunately, the team didn’t really put my trick shot skills to great use due to the time constraints of filming, but the actors did quite well on their own and improved tremendously in the short time I had with them.[1]

The Fresh Off the Boat “Keep ‘Em Separated” episode is available to purchase through YouTube.

[1]      http://www.trickshottim.com/learn/trick-shot-tim-pool-ta/

 

Second Chance

Allison Fisher.  Pan Xiaoting. Kim Ga-Young. Kelly Fisher. Jennifer Barretta.  Chieh-Yu Chou. Jasmin Ouschan. Cha Yu-ram.  All in one movie? The last time so many billiards pros appeared in a single film was probably 1980 for Robert Ellis Miller’s The Baltimore Bullet.

Second ChanceBut, this is no Baltimore Bullet.  The all-star packed film is Second Chance, formerly known as Nine Ball, as well as A Girl Got Her Cue. And that octet of billiards legends is not even the film’s biggest celebrity draw – it’s Wen Shang-Yi (aka the guitarist “Monster” from the Taiwanese mega-watt rock band Mayday – once dubbed the “Chinese Beatles”[1]) in the lead role as Hsieh Shuang-Fong.

I first heard and wrote about Second Chance in April 2014, when I added it to my “Wanted!” list of movies, since there was little information available on the film.  Over time, details emerged about the film, largely in Asian press, including eventually a trailer and music video, in preparation for the film’s release in Taiwan in November 2014. Originally titled Ni zhuan sheng, the film adopted the English title Second Chance as it moved across the globe in early 2015. Finally, late last year, the film became available on DVD (with English subtitles) thanks to its distributor Edko Films. You can buy it here.

Second ChanceThe movie begins with Shuang-Fong, a washed-up, drunk, former billiards champion, who now scrapes by selling Rice Wine Stew Chicken, drawn out of his decade-long retirement by his niece Hsieh Jen-hsiang (Peijia Huang). She recently lost her parents, one of whom was Shuang-Fong’s elder brother, in an auto accident.  Lacking a proper guardian, Jen-hsiang is at risk of being sent to a foster home, as well as losing her family billiards hall, Champion Billiards, to Hsu Che-yung (Jason Wang), a loan shark, and the reigning world men’s 9-ball champion.

Like Rocky Balboa begrudgingly coming out of retirement to train Apollo’s son in Creed, or more to the genre’s point, like Fast Eddie Felson training the cocky Vincent Lauria in The Color of Money, the besotted Shuang-Fong is initially reluctant to get involved with his niece’s life.  But, sensing the headstrong schoolgirl will stop at nothing, including gambling in pool, to save the family pool hall, he ultimately relents.

Second ChanceAt first, he merely observes her playing style: “The shot is too weak…the wrist is too stiff…precision is high, good control over the balls…attack but no defense – too ambitious…bad at long straight shots.” Predictably, such perceptions soon translate into a billiards practice regiment, complete with solving jigsaw puzzles under time constraints (to build concentration), shooting a cue ball narrowly between two glasses (to increase accuracy), and taking early-morning jogs (to build endurance and strength). The over-familiar practice montage (cf. Rocky; The Karate Kid) is absurdly hokey, yet nonetheless enjoyable, particularly when powered by Monster’s cover of Roxette’s 1989 song “The Look” with Taiwanese pop stars Luantan Ascent and Jia Jia on vocals.  (Though this song does wear out its welcome after excessive use in the film.)

Even for non-billiards enthusiasts, the movie hits its groove when Jen-hsiang is on the baize. Some exciting playing occurs when she is vanquishing amateur opponents, but the best play comes once she decides the only way to save her pool hall is to compete in the New Century Women’s 9- Ball Championship for the multi-million dollar prize (cf. The Baron and the Kid; Kiss Shot).

Second ChanceIt’s at this point, more than halfway through Second Chance, when our billiards stars appear, entering the tournament hall in file form to the deafening sound of their names and nicknames:  The Duchess of Doom. Kwikfire. The Queen of 9-Ball. Little Devil Girl, etc. And in the caboose position, the hitherto unknown Jen-hsiang.

Once again, cue “The Look.”

In rapid order, Jen-hsiang beats her first opponent, Jasmin Ouschan, the World Games 2005 gold medal winner, and her second and third opponents, Kim Ga-Young and Kelly Fisher respectively, both women’s WPA world 9-ball champions. Bewilderingly, very little of the games are shown, so it’s hard to appreciate these miraculous upsets.

In the semi-finals, Jen-hsiang competes against Chieh-Yu Chou, winner of the 2012 Amway Cup. There is, at last, a decent amount of billiards play, including a fine masse shot, and after a near snookering, a great jump shot 2/9 combination to win.

That leaves her to play the final match against China’s Pan Xiaoting, the 2007 women’s WPA world 9-ball champion.  Director Wen Yen Kung heightens the tension in this match through a mix of slow-motion, rapid editing and amplified sounds (of balls connecting, falling in pockets), as well as numerous dazzling combinations, masses, and jump shots.

Second ChanceIt’s hardly a SPOILER ALERT to share that Xiaoting wins the match 9:8, dashing Jen-hsiang’s plan to retain control of Champion Billiards.  And that’s because the movie opened with Shuang-Fong preparing for a match, before flashing back nine months.  So, that loose end still dangling, the audience knows that the real fate will be decided in this final match, which I won’t reveal here.

As one reviewer correctly noted, “Second Chance is hardly going to win points for originality…It’s a film that plays by the rules – you’ll recognize the same moves we’ve all seen a million times.”[2] But, it’s also a movie that goes down easily, fusing its positive themes of redemption and family with a geek chic passion and well-trained visual eye for billiards and its beauty.

[1]       http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/19/he-chinese-beatles.html

[2]       http://www.easternkicks.com/reviews/second-chance

By the Baize

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Arnab Sengupta, the star of the November 2015 Indian short film, By the Baize, proudly exclaimed that the film was “the first movie of any kind based on snooker to come out of India.”[1]

By the BaizeIndia makes more movies than any other country – about 1,500 to 2,000 annually.[2] And, as with American cinema, sports play a fundamental thematic role in those films, whether it’s cricket (Azhar; Sachin, etc.), rugby (Sye), auto racing (Ta Ra Rum Pum), basketball (Vallinam), swimming (Koni), running (Bhaag Milkha Bhaagi), field hockey (Chak De! India), wrestling (Dangal), boxing (Irudhi Suttru), or the local contact sport of kabaddi (Kabaddi Once Again).

But, Mr. Sengupta was not kidding. In fact, aside from the 1971 documentary biopic Wilson Jones about one of the greatest Indian billiards legends, there is a near pan-cinematic absence of billiards (and/or snooker) across all genres and formats of Indian film, excluding the very rare cameo, such as in the 1985 Bollywood film Sauda.

Perhaps, the conspicuous void is because of India’s somewhat bumpy history with the sport.  As billiards historians know well, snooker can trace its origin to the the city of Jabalpur in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.  British armed forces began playing the game there around 1876.  But, as acknowledged by the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI), the central authority overseeing the growth and development of cue sports in India, snooker (and cue sports more broadly) has struggled to gain acceptance due to the popular notion that the game is elitist and not meant for common people.

The irony of this perception is that the country has produced a number of billiards powerhouses, including Michael Ferreira, Ashok Shandilya, Geet Sethi, and the aforementioned Wilson Jones. More recently, “The Prince of India” Pankaj Advani has electrified the sport, holding the World, Asian, and Indian National Championship titles simultaneously, in three different years: 2005, 2008 and 2012.  And while Mr. Advani has seesawed between billiards and snooker (“billiards is my wife and snooker [is my] mistress”[3]), Aditya Mehta has emerged as India’s international face and standard-bearer of snooker.[4]

All of which brings us back to By the Baize, the five-minute film, directed and written by Debapriya Sengupta and produced by her company Kairos Productions. Released at the Delhi Shorts International Film Festival and winning multiple Indian film awards, By the Baize tells the fictional story of a young boy, Ricky Sharma, watching his father compete in the World Snooker Championship.  Believing his father could never lose, tragedy strikes.  Sixteen years later, an adult Ricky (Arnab Sengupta) now has the chance to put the accident behind him and honor his father by winning the same Championship. The full film is available to watch here.

Relying on the narrator’s voice-over and the interweaving of the musical composition “Time for Chopin” by Belford Hernandez, the film’s opening has an elegiac, albeit somewhat maudlin, tone as we watch the father (played by former professional snooker player Lucky Vatnani) compete in his final match.  (For snooker enthusiasts, it’s hard not to smile during the scene, as we know the father’s opponent is of course Peter Ebdon, the renowned world snooker champion with more than 350 century breaks to his name.)

Fast-forward sixteen years and Ricky steps into the “world [he] remembers” to compete in the finals (against snooker pro Cao Yupeng from China), though we continue to toggle back in time through flashbacks and the ongoing use of “Time for Chopin.” This time, Ricky is victorious.

And so too, to a moderate degree, is By the Baize. Like a poignant haiku, the film is an ode to snooker, nothing more and nothing less.  To paraphrase Ricky’s final words:  Today, this game matters.

[1]   https://www.snookerisland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6549

[2]   http://www.forbes.com/sites/robcain/2015/10/23/indias-film-industry-a-10-billion-business-trapped-in-a-2-billion-body/#75a91d6b1005

[3]   http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140227/sports-other-sports/article/pankaj-advani-return-his-first-love-billiards-after-pro-season

[4]   http://www.inside-snooker.com/snooker/2015/3/11/mehta-still-the-standard-bearer-for-india

Mystery Diners – “Behind the Eight Ball”

Based on posted reviews and garnered awards, you would be mighty foolish to visit Portland, Oregon, and not spend an evening dining and playing pool at the Uptown Billiards Club, located in the city’s Pearl District.  The upscale restaurant-cum-pool-hall is rated 4.8 (out of 5) on Open Table, 4.6 (out of 5) on Facebook, and 4 (out of 5) on Yelp, and it has been recognized as a Top 100 “Fit For Foodies” restaurant, as well as a Top 10 restaurant in the Pearl District.  Have you seen the Big Daddy Burger or the signature Bacon, Pear & Fontina Pizza?  They look absolutely sumptuous, and don’t even get me started on the “themed” five course tasting menu…

Mystery DinersThus, it’s hard to imagine why the club’s owner, Kent Lewis, genuinely felt the need to go on the reality show Mystery Diners and spy on his newly hired “social media expert” to validate his usefulness.  But, that’s exactly the premise of the “Behind the Eight Ball” episode, which aired in November 2014 as part of the series’ eighth season.  The episode is available for purchase on YouTube.

Mystery Diners is yet another undercover reality show (e.g., Undercover Boss; Restaurant Stakeout) that covertly monitors employees at work.  Airing on the Food Network and hosted by the wooden Charles Stiles, owner of Business Evaluation Services and Mystery Shopper Services, the series relishes the use of hidden cameras and microphones, and disguised actors, to learn first-hand what happens when the boss is away.

The series, which has about as much tension as Judge Judy, “has been accused of being both completely fake and scripted,” according to WaitWithUs.  “Several people claiming to be involved with both Stiles’ companies and restaurants that have been featured on the show have come forward and stated that not everything broadcast on the series is real.” [1] And, in fact, each episode ends with a graphic stating, “Certain events may have been re-enacted for dramatic purposes.”

All of which brings us back to the proprietor’s curious decision to appear on Mystery Diners.  As Mr. Lewis states, his challenge is trying to “change the perception of a pool hall,” as he cannot exactly “invest in marketing because upscale pool room is an oxymoron.”  So, he hires Sonny, a “social media expert” to bring in new customers, but he requires Mr. Stiles to evaluate the return on his social media investment.

This is a little hard to swallow for several reasons.  First, Uptown Billiards states prominently on their website: “We don’t pay advertisers or publicists to toot our horn, we believe in word-of-mouth.” Okay, not sure how that jibes with the decision to hire Sonny.  Then, there is the not-so-complicated question of how to evaluate a social media expert, besides through elaborate reality television reconnaissance.  How about Facebook likes? Instagram posts?   It took me 15 minutes on these various sites to conclude Uptown Billiards has little social media presence.  With 210 followers on Twitter (and that’s more than 2 years after the episode aired), I think it’s a safe call Sonny didn’t exactly excel at his job.

As the name suggests, Uptown Billiards not only has a mouth-watering menu, but also is home to 10 Brunswick pool tables: eight 4’x8’s and two tournament-sized in a private room.  Ultimately, Sonny is undone by the printing and distribution of coupons to his friends to use these tables for free, all of which is captured on tape rather unconvincingly.

Mystery DinersBut, that “gotcha!” moment is far more credible than the cornball – and clearly staged – reveal of Bri, the new bartender, not only playing pool while she’s working, but gambling too.  What’s more, Bri is apparently in cahoots with the drunkard she beat on the table.  The secret camera shows Bri lining up a pigeon to get hustled, pretending to pour liquor into the drunkard’s glass, and receiving a pay-off. As Mr. Lewis line-reads, “I grew up in a pool hall and I’ve known hustlers my whole life.  This [drunk guy at the table] is a hustler… [and Bri] is a shill…she’s the person who baits the person with the real money.”

Anyone who thinks this scene is real is probably deserving of a hustle.  Bri clearly cannot shoot pool, as evidenced by her stance and the producer’s inability to capture a decent unedited shot. The tosspot at the table playing air guitar with his cue stick looks too drunk to dupe anyone. And there’s no reason for Bri to receive a payoff after each game. The roping should be an all-night affair, with a payoff at the end.

Mystery Diners Sure enough, Bri is played by an actress, Bri Schreiber. The “Behind the Eight Ball” role is listed in on her website. Interestingly, her email includes the phrase “jimmistick,” which is a word for a sawed-off cue stick.  So, perhaps Ms. Schreiber does have some pool DNA in her?  And, more weirdly, her LinkedIn profile (now no longer active) showed her as still working at Uptown Billiards…as a roulette dealer?!

In any event, regardless of the veracity of in “Behind the Eight Ball,” the episode seemed to have little impact on Uptown Billiards.  There were no noticeable spikes in social media followers and no online reviews citing the episode as a reason for visiting.  Even Mr. Lewis appears a little unenthused, judging from his Facebook post.  Maybe that’s because he’ll forever be haunted by his closing words, “Thank you Charles for helping me rack up these hustlers and put them behind the eight ball.”

[1]       Reality TV Fake! Food Network Show ‘Mystery Diners’ Caught Up In Scandal For Faking It

[Wanted!] Running Out

Before IMDB removed their message boards, there was only one comment associated with the billiards movie Running Out.  “IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND!!!” wrote thejollillama. Similar messages have popped up on the AZBilliards Forum, such as Cuebacca’s post, “What’s the deal with that pool movie, Running Out? I keep checking the internet periodically, but it never seems to become available.”

Running OutFancying myself somewhat of a Sherlock Holmes of billiards-themed cinema, I typically love these laments, as I’ve been able to track down quite a few hard-to-find films and television episodes (e.g., Genuine Article – “Puzzles and Pool Cues”; the Swedish short film Nine Ball; A Paradise Without Billiards).  However, after much research and numerous dead-end explorations, all detailed below, Running Out, like the near-mythical treasure chest of Forest Fenn or the golden owl La Chouette d’Or, remains out of reach, a billiards Bigfoot.  So I beseech my readers:  If you have any information about this movie or the whereabouts of the people involved in its creation, please contact me directly.

Let’s start with what we know.  In October 2001, the billiards movie Running Out released at the Riverside Film Festival, followed shortly after at the Inland Empire Film Festival, and then at the High Desert Film Festival.  Directed by Byron Cepek for an estimated budget of $50,000, the film focuses on three pool hustlers:  Cindy (an upcoming Hollywood starlet), Tanya (a strung-out addict who makes money as a dominatrix), and Rex (a sex addict).  The players interact and compete, living with the consequences of their actions, and the playing culminates with an ending that online reviewers described as “incredible,” “intense” and “hard to watch.”

As expected, the film is not available to buy or rent through any standard retail channels or file-sharing sites.  Sometimes festival organizers have access to old releases, but not in this case.  The High Desert Film Festival no longer exists, nor does the original Inland Empire Film Festival.  And the Riverside Film Festival, which recognized Running Out with its Best of Show award, only had files dating back to 2003, according to the event’s Film Programmer Nancy Douglas.

Having exhausted the festivals, I pivoted to the director. Unfortunately, Mr. Cepek only made this one film.  No other info is available on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  While I found a Yahoo email for him in a response he made to a Google Group posting, the email bounced back immediately.

Eric James Niemi wrote the film and played the lead (Rex), though curiously, he has been removed from the IMDB Cast & Crew listing.   Apparently, Mr. Niemi studied film at California State University, Fullerton, with Professor Diane Ambruso. According to an article in The Daily Titan, Mr. Niemi had sold a script he had written in Professor Ambruso’s class to an Australian producer.[1]  When that deal fell through, Mr. Niemi revealed that he “started drinking and returned to playing pool for a living…and quickly fell into debt [from gambling].”[2] This confession seems to coincide with when he wrote and starred in Running Out.   Mr. Niemi’s story then takes an odd twist, in which he started selling bootleg copies of Adobe software to make money and protect his family from the loan sharks.  He was indicted in November, 2001.[3] No more information is available.

The other two film leads, Suzy and Tanya, were played by acting unknowns Sarah Davis and Vanessa Davis, respectively.  Sarah Davis never made another movie.  Vanessa Davis, on the other hand, stopped starring in films, and instead, turned to doing makeup and hair for movies.  Nominated for a Primetime Emmy in 2005 for her hairstyling work on Warm Springs, Vanessa may be able to shed light on the film’s mysterious history.  Unfortunately, she has been unresponsive to my attempts to reach her at the Atlanta phone number she lists at the top of her online resume.

Most of the remaining actors in Running Out were unknowns who never appeared in another film or who had very limited film careers.  There is some speculation that the Tony Watson who played Fat Tony may have been the North Carolina billiards player “Little” Tony Watson, though I’ve been unable to get confirmation.

As for the production companies associated with Running Out, both Reaction Machine LLC and Knight Pictures are no longer in business.   Mr. Niemi, who used the alias Eric Knight, was the likely owner of Knight Pictures.  Reaction Machine lists Erin Niemi, presumably a relative of Mr. Niemi’s, as the Managing Partner.  But, those companies’ dissolution coincides well with Mr. Niemi’s U-turn from screenwriting to software pirating.

I also hit an impasse when I started to sift through the technical and production team.  There is no available information after 2003 on the producer Katherine Shattuck, the composer Cody Tyler, or the film editor Jason Blackwell.  At the other end of the spectrum, David Eichhorn, the film’s dialogue editor, who has a filmography with 150 credits including three primetime Emmys and numerous Emmy nominations, told me via email that he couldn’t even remember working on Running Out.

The second unit director, Diego Martien, now goes by Diego Porqueras and is the President and CTO of Deezmaker, a California-based manufacturer of 3D printer kits. Mr. Porequeras promptly responded to my inquiry, but only to share that he “lost touch with the person that did [Running Out] and never really saw a cut on it. (It got a bit messy with production).” However, he did share with me a music video he made at that time to test certain concepts from the film.

Having run out of people associated with the film to contact, I considered tracking down the three user reviewers who graciously shared their thoughts on IMDB.  But, whiningfilmcritic has not posted since 2002, and hollyhills and rocker247 were one-and-done film critics.

Running Out may lack the recognition of The Player, a better-known “missing” billiards movie that has confounded billiards enthusiasts for more than 40 years.  But, if the recent discoveries of the Franklin Expedition Ship or the remains of the U-26 are proof that mysteries can take at least a century to solve, then there is a smidgeon of hope that time has not “run out” for finding this missing movie.

[1]      

[2]       http://misc.writing.screenplays.narkive.com/0ojQQtRC/eric-james-niemi-on-his-felony-conviction-please-read-this[Note: this link is no longer active]

[3]       https://www.justice.gov/archive/criminal/cybercrime/press-releases/2001/niemi_indict.htm

The Dick Van Dyke Show – “Hustling the Hustler”

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It is difficult to overstate the impact The Hustler had on the game of pool in the United States.  Released in October 1961, the movie saved the game of pool from “passing into oblivion,” according to pool historian Mike Shamos.[1]  The Billiards Congress of America noted that after the movie came out “new rooms opened all over the country and for the remainder of the 60’s pool flourished.”[2]

Hustlin' the HustlerThe cultural resonance of the film was also immense.  Since its release The Hustler has been referenced in dialogue or through imagery in more than 65 movies and television episodes, according to IMDB, including The Cincinnati Kid (1965); Wandering Ginza Butterfly (1972); The Odd Couple (1973); The Wanderers (1979); The Outsiders (1983); The Simpsons (1994); Trainspotting (1996); Poolhall Junkies (2002); Nip/Tuck (2007); and NCIS (2009), to name a few.

Certainly, one of the first cultural connections was The Dick Van Dyke Show episode, “Hustling the Hustler,” which aired just one year after the movie’s release, as part of the CBS sitcom’s second season. In fact, not only is the episode’s title a direct reference to the film, but also one of the characters in the episode mentions he’s seen “that movie with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason.”

As ‘60s television viewers will recall, The Dick Van Dyke Show ran for five seasons, garnering 15 Emmy Awards.  Starring Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie, the head writer of the fictitious The Alan Brady Show, the series largely revolved around his work and home life. The series also starred Morey Amsterdam as Rob’s co-writer Buddy Sorrell and Mary Tyler Moore as Rob’s wife Laura.

Hustlin' the HustlerIn the episode “Hustling the Hustler,” Rob invites Buddy’s estranged yet charming brother Blackie (Phil Leeds) to his house for dinner and a friendly game of billiards in the Petrie household basement.  But, Rob is unaware of Blackie’s pool hustling background, which had been established in an earlier strained exchange between Buddy and Blackie.

According to Rob, Laura gave him the pool table to “keep him off the streets.”  Referring to her husband, Laura then warns Blackie (in another direct reference to The Hustler), “[Rob] is a real hustler. You’ve heard of Minnesota Fats. This is Illinois Skinny.”[3] Rob also jibes, “I’ll let my pool cue speak for me. This way, pigeon.”

Given the episode’s title, there’s no surprise how the game will unfold.  As part of the upfront setup, Blackie plays the pool-fool, commenting on the “nice white ball” and guessing that chalking the cue helps reduce friction.  Blackie then asks Rob if he’s a hustler, and Rob replies, “No, but I could have been.  My wife won’t let me go to pool halls alone.”

Blackie then breaks, feigning unfamiliarity with the term “break” as well as with how to hold a cue.  With some coaching from Rob, he successfully breaks, only to sink the 8-ball.  (This scene, unfortunately, has two fundamental errors.  First, it’s clear that assuming the balls were racked correctly, it was not the 8-ball that got pocketed. And second, Rob indicates that sinking the 8-ball on the break is an automatic loss, which is not accurate, per BCA rules.)

Rob wins a few and goes up 5-1, but ultimately, lets his overconfidence become his undoing, as he quickly amasses a $300 debt (equivalent to $2400 in 2016) to Blackie.  The humor from the episode comes in watching Rob’s physical transformation.  As one blogger noted, “the moment when Rob realizes what he’s gotten himself into offers yet another chance for [Dick Van Dyke] one of the masters of facial comedy to provide us with a pitch-perfect comic expression.”[4]

Of course, since The Dick Van Dyke Show was largely wholesome storytelling, the episode cannot end with Rob getting fleeced. Rather, Blackie tears up the $300 check to prove to his estranged brother that he is no longer the pool hustler he once was.

The full “Hustling the Hustler” episode is available to watch here.

[1]       http://www.espn.com/page2/s/closer/020617.html

[2]       A Brief History of the Noble Game of Billiards by Mike Shamos 

[3]       “Hustling the Hustler” would not be the last show to provide a comic twist on the name of Walter Tevis’ fictitious pool shark Minnesota Fats.  In the 1970 “Armando and the Pool Table” episode of The Flying Nun, the Minnesota Fats of San Tanco plays the “Minneapolis Skinny of the Convent.”  And, in 1971, Don Adams played Skittle Pool against “Wisconsin Skinny” in a memorable commercial for the toy game.

[4]  

Three Card Monte

Three Card Monte.v2Three Card Monte barely counts as a billiards movie.  But in oeuvre with very limited Canadian representation (i.e., The Understudy: Graveyard Shift II; Behind the Eight Ball; Manitoba Sharks; Hiccups – “Car Pool”), the decision to relax the definition for a little more inclusion from the Great White North seemed straightforward.  Unfortunately, the fact the film is also barely watchable has now led to some second-guessing on my end.

Released in 1978 at the Toronto Film Festival, Three Card Monte tells the story of Busher (Richard Gabourie), a gambling drifter, who begrudgingly allows Toby (Chris Langevin), a 12-year old orphan, to accompany him in his hustling and flimflammery, and builds a close relationship with him in the process.

Directed by Les Rose (Gas; Hog Wild – never heard of them?  Neither had I.), shabbily written by Mr. Gabourie, and starring a pack of unknowns and amateurs, the movie limps along across a too well-tread path of familiar tropes and clichéd two-dimensional characters.   There are two half-witted grease monkeys who chase Busher around Toronto seeking revenge for getting scammed in pool; a gaggle of equally dull-brained craps players who fail to notice Busher is playing with loaded dice; a loose hitchhiker who sleeps with Busher but is pulling her own con; and a well-intentioned hitchhiking friend who eats Twinkies and unwittingly lets a 12-year-old feel her up (?!). And, then there is Busher, who, for all his negative tendencies (e.g., lying, conning, hustling, thieving, drinking, having sex in front of a minor, kidnapping a minor, etc.), is portrayed as a genuinely good-natured guy, just trying to gain a little edge and get back on his feet.

Credibility is not the film’s calling card.

A cardinal problem with Three Card Monte is the complete lack of originality.  The film feels like a mishmash of – or maybe a paean to – superior works about the grift, specifically the movie Paper Moon (1973) and the book Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game (1978).  In Paper Moon, Ryan O’Neal stars as a Depression Era con-man who develops a partnership with a girl (Tatum O’Neal), who may be his daughter. The film had multiple Oscar nominations and won Ms. O’Neal a Supporting Oscar.  In Billy Phelan, the future Pulitzer Prize winning author William Kennedy tells the story of a young pool player and hustler who lives on the edge, making a living in Albany pool halls and card parlors.

(For what it’s worth, Mr. Gabourie won the Canadian Film Award – aka the Etrog – for Best Actor in Three Card Monte. That’s hard to believe until one is reminded by film critic Jay Smith that this particular award is “given by presenters no one knew, to recipients no one recognized, to films no one had seen.”)

Three Card MonteAs for the billiards, Three Card Monte begins on a promising note.  Busher enters a snooker hall and begins practicing on a table.  For viewers accustomed to seeing American pool on the big screen, the snooker table looms large and it’s a welcome reminder how different the game is.  Soon, two local bozos think they can make a buck off Busher and challenge him to a game.  They quickly lose their money, then their car keys, in a rapidly edited snooker sequence, consisting mainly of potted balls.  Tempers rise as Busher leaves, and the players vow revenge (though it was not clear if they were hustled or simply sucked and lost).

That opening scene sets up the whole film, as Toby allies himself with Busher (by racking his balls), and Busher (along with the voluntarily abducted Toby) goes on the lam to escape his post-snooker hustling fate. Unfortunately, though Busher is frequently carrying his cue stick and seems to be looking for his next sucker match, there is no more billiards; the subsequent hustles shift to craps and finally three card monte.  So much for that “hot cue” notably highlighted in the movie’s tagline.

Another Top 10 Billiards Commercials List

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In January 2015, for my 100th blog post, I took a “break” from blogging about billiards movies by switching my focus to “billiards breaks” – specifically, billiards commercials (breaks).  The resulting blog post – The Top 10 Commercial Breaks Featuring Billiards – was not only a hoot to investigate, but also among my most popular posts.

Of course, as with any top 10 list, the moment it was released, some omissions became glaring. The more research I conducted, the more examples I surfaced that were certainly list-worthy.  Rather than disassemble the old list, I instead have opted for the easy-way-out and generated Another Top 10 Billiards Commercials List, complete with 10 billiards commercials from around-the-world that are entirely different from those cited on my first list.  Let the (second) countdown begin!

  1. Dentyne – Ice. Viewers of Super Bowl XXXV, in which the Rams decimated the Giants 34-7, may remember the CGI-heavy “Pool Hall” billiards commercial from Dentyne. With both a 15- and 30-second version, the 2001 advertisement features a sexy woman approaching a sexy man, who is playing pool.  The mid-riff baring vixen pops a piece of Ice gum into her mouth, right before kissing the guy.  Their arctic breath subsequently freezes over the table, and his shot literally shatters the 13-ball into an explosion of billiards fragments.  Learn more about the special effects here.
  1. Nerf Pool. Who could have predicted in 1969 when Reyn Guyer first invented the NERF ball that 15 years later it would become a critical component of Parker Brothers’ Nerf Pool household game? In this 30-second billiards commercial, presumably from 1984-1985, a grandfather and his grandson convert the kitchen table into a Nerf Pool table by assembling the four pockets with the elastic sidewall strips. Then it’s time for billiards action, as there is nothing Grandpa would “rather put away” except maybe Grandma’s dessert.

  1. H&M – Modern Essentials. Soccer player and supermodel David Beckham continues his sponsorship for clothing retail H&M in this 2015 30-second spot, “Pool.”  Directed by Marc Forster (World War Z) and powered by The Heavy’s song “What Makes a Good Man?,” this all-star uniting commercial features Mr. Beckham showcasing the jacket and sweatshirt from the new Modern Essentials collection as he plays an opponent in pool.  The ultimate gravity-defying move is Mr. Beckham’s jump shot that supernaturally veers left after pocketing the 8-ball.

  1. Ford Explorer. To launch the new 2011 Explorer, the automotive company took to Facebook, where it created a series of promotional videos featuring celebrities answering questions about the popular SUV.  In this billiards commercial, Hall of Fame pool player Jeannette Lee, addressed the question, “Do the Explorer’s second and third rows fold completely flat?,” by converting the back rows into a pool table where she broke a 9-ball rack.  Though the Black Widow utters no words, her follow-up trick shot, in which she jumps the cue ball into her stiletto-heeled shoe, confirmed the SUV’s flatness.  Other celebrities, such as Snoop Dogg and Brett Michaels, appears in similar Ford videos.

  1. Carling Beer. In 2013, the writing/direction duo, The Sniper Twins, created a wonderful billiards commercial (“Trick Shot”) in which a bar patron attempts a jaw-dropping trick shot that includes fireworks, elaborate ramps, and an eight-ball jumping a bridge in a toy convertible before sailing through a ring of fire. The eight-ball lands in the designated side pocket, but the cheers are muted after the cue ball falls moments later.  The scratch prompts the patron’s partner to exclaim, “It’s good…but it’s not quite Carling good.” (Note: Carling has been a patron saint of billiards commercials since the early 1980s, when it featured snooker legends John Spencer and Terry Griffiths in its famous advertisement.)

  1. Jack in the Box – Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich. Jack Box may just be your average joe with an overgrown round white head, blue dot eyes and a black pointy nose, but as evidenced in the 2015 “Pool Hall” commercial, produced by the Struck ad agency, he shoots a mean game of 9-ball.  As narrated by a regular at a dive bar, Jack approached the table, made “the shot” (i.e., nine balls on the break in an awesome trick shot), and appeased his stunned opponent with a Spicy Nacho Chicken Sandwich.

  1. Guinness. On my original Top 10 list, the Guinness “Table” ad took the #3 spot for its rather revisionist interpretation of how pool tables came to have pockets. As I have since learned, “Table” was part of a billiards commercial trinity. The other two pool history ads – tied here – are “Cue” and “Felt.”  Both of the 2007 commercials provide a similarly comical interpretation of how certain billiards indispensables fortuitously made their way into the game.  Thank god for that local chimney sweep who “extended a helping hand.”

  1. Budweiser. Like peanut butter and jelly, Budweiser and billiards were made to best friends. The beer behemoth earned the #7 spot in my previous list with their 1999 “Skunky Beer” commercial.  But, I evidently and egregiously overlooked two fantastic billiards commercials from overseas that now tie for the bronze.

In “Giant Pool Table,” the agency DDB UK gorgeously shows curious onlookers spying massive billiards balls littered across city streets.  Propelled by the song “Brakes On” by Air, the action moves to the top of a Los Angeles skyscraper, where it becomes clear that a giant game of pool is being played, complete with the multi-person chalking of a cue and shooting of an 8-ball through a corner pocket. The 90-second ad launched across the UK and Ireland in late 2010.

In the 2011 billiards commercial “PoolBall,” the Argentinian division of Oglivy addressed the age-old conundrum that “soccer and nightlife are worlds apart” by combining the two into the unique sport of PoolBall.  Played on a seven-meter long pool table, the sport has the “same pool rules” and the “same soccer fantasies,” with “more than 280 players each night.”  The two-minute spot includes all the essentials: rabid soccer fans, hot women, fancy soccer moves (e.g., The Moccasin Effect), and, of course, lots of beer (“Fridge Included”).

  1. VIP Frenchie. In India, there exists the unfortunate habit of men adjusting their underwear in public.  In this brilliant 90-second “IPBL” (Indian Pocket Billiards League) campaign from 2015, the innovative underwear manufacturer pokes fun at this male ritual with a voiceover that not only satirizes Indian men scratching in public, but also gives fame to the not-so-clandestine gestures by naming them, such as “the pant whisperer,” “the juggler,” “the double-de-clutch,” and “the centerfold.”  While a quintet of IPBL players are lauded for their patented moves, the end joke is that the comfort of Frenchie, which eliminates the “scratch and itch,” disqualifies people from playing in the IPBL.

  1. Miller Lite Beer. World pool champion Steve Mizerak made billiards advertising history in 1978 with his famous “just showing off” trick shot commercial that earned the top spot on my original top 10 list.  In the 1980 follow-up commercial, one of many that was part of the “Tastes great. Less Filling” campaign era, the Miz competes against a who’s-who of iconic figures, including Bubba Smith, Rodney Dangerfield, and Mickey Spillane, before running the table on them.  The secret to his success?  “Practice, practice, practice.”

So, there’s my Top 10 list, which combined with my earlier Top 10 list, should really be combined into a Top 20 list.  And even then, the list would omit such enjoyable commercials as the 2004 Hanes advertisement which featured Michael Jordan and Matthew Perry playing pool, or the 1999 Hitachi Rotary Shaver ad from Japan that used a pool table to show the closeness of the razor’s shave.

The evidence would seem to support that billiards can be used to sell lots of products, whether beer, underwear, fast food, or cars.  Now, if only it would help sell the actual sport and make it a little more lucrative for all those who play professionally.

Manitoba Sharks (in production)

It took me a few months to track down Amanda Kindzierski, the documentarian behind the forthcoming short film Manitoba Sharks.  I first read about the film in a press release from the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival (WAFF).  According to the release, Ms. Kindzierski had won a $20,000 “pitch contest” from MTS Stories From Home, which is a collection of original, made-in-Manitoba programming created exclusively for MTS TV customers.

Manitoba Sharks

Director Amanda Kindzierski

While the release stated that Manitoba Sharks would “tell the story of pool in Manitoba [a province of Canada] through the eyes of Aboriginal proprietors and players who are among the best in the world,” the real story, as revealed to me by Ms. Kindzierski in an interview this past March, is far more fascinating.

Ms. Kindzierski began with a fundamental question:   Why does Winnipeg have so much billiards talent for such a small city?  (The population is about 660,000.) “We go to these Canadian tournaments and we clean up,” proffered Ms. Kindzierski animatedly.

Though my own post-interview research could not confirm that the citizens of Winnipeg (or Manitoba) win a disproportionate amount of Canadian titles, I was nonetheless hooked by Ms. Kindzierski’s personal story and her mission quest to make this film.

A born cinephile, Ms. Kindzierski became obsessed with movies early, deciding at age 8 that she wanted to become a director.  After some life decisions took her off that path, she ultimately pivoted, giving up her job, apartment, and car, to pursue film.  She was one of nine Canadians accepted into the National Screen Institute New Voices program, in which she attended a nine-month broadcasting school and then, two years ago, made her first short film, The Path.

But, as an active “middle-of-the-road” pool player, she also knew she had another story to tell. “Winnipeg has one of the largest pool leagues in the world,” she shared.  In fact, the Aactive Pool League has more than 4,000 members and 450 teams.  She asked herself: Why does Winnipeg have such a high concentration of billiards players?

Born to a Polish/Ukrainian mother and an Ojibwe Cree father, Ms. Kindzierski wanted the world to know about Winnipeg’s talent – and more important, wanted  that story to be told from an indigenous Canadian point of view.  As evidenced by the success of her 3-minute pitch (to a panel that included actor Adam Beach, currently starring in the heavily anticipated summer movie Suicide Squad), a lot of people wanted her to tell that story, as well.

Manitoba Sharks

Joe Ducharme

To represent that story, Ms. Kindzierski opted to focus on two individuals of two different generations.  The first was her father, Joe Ducharme.  A highly experienced amateur player, Mr. Ducharme has won both the Aactive Championship League and placed second in the 2007 Valley National 8-Ball League Association (VNEA).

Manitoba Sharks

Shannon Ducharme (photo by Richard Walker)

The current generation in Manitoba Sharks is represented by Shannon Ducharme (no relation), whose exciting career has been checkered by both a stint in jail and a bout with cancer. A full-time construction foreman by day, Mr. Shannon Ducharme, who once won the Western Canadian 8-ball title at age 19, recently slingshot his career by placing 2nd in the CBSA Canadian Men’s Open 9-ball Championship, and then competing in Doha, Qatar at the 2015 World Nine-ball Championship, where he made it to the fourth round before losing 9-6 to the heavily favored Warren Kiamco from the Philippines.

But, as Ms. Kindzierski narrates the tale, the real impressive story is that “Shannon can only play pool his spare time.  The fact he is competing with these guys is incredible.  Shannon lost to a [top] guy [at the World Championship].  And Shannon couldn’t even find a sponsor.  He was allowed three logos on his shirt and he couldn’t find anyone.”[1]  She adds, “Guys [like Shannon] are digging ditches and driving trucks and then competing against people who play for a living.”

As of two months ago, Manitoba Sharks was in post-production with a rough cut almost completed.  According to Ms. Kindzierski, the next step is to send the estimated 20-minute film to MTS for approval so that it will be released on Stories From Home. Once that happens, Ms. Kindzierski will then turn her attention to securing a distributor in Winnipeg and submitting the documentary to film festivals so a wider audience can view it.

As for the question, Why does Winnipeg have such a high concentration of billiards players?, Ms. Kindzierski acknowledges the obvious answer of the weather.  “We have winter from October to April.” But, she continues that the real reason is that there is a “huge amount of teaching and coaching and sharing of knowledge that doesn’t happen in big cities.”

[1]       Mr. Ducharme will again represent Canada in the 2016 World Nine-ball Championship in Doha, Qatar.  An online fundraiser is underway to help him raise $2000 to attend.

The Break

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For most billiards buffs today, the coupling of billiards and radio can only mean one thing: American Billiard Radio, the popular radio-based podcast that began in December 2013 and continues to air every Thursday evening at 9pm CT.  Conceived and produced by Chicago Billiards Museum curator David “Mr Bond,” the weekly show has featured a panoply of pool professionals, spanning the alphabet from (Johnny) Archer to (Mike) Zuglan, in its effort to bring a “healthy dose of pool and billiard fun from sea to shining sea.”

The BreakBut, for the denizens of Las Vegas, the union of billiards and radio may conjure up a different broadcast – namely, “The Break,” the web series from local station KOMP 92.3 FM that featured radio personality Carlota playing cutthroat pool with members of hard rock bands (of varying name recognition) while she engages in friendly banter.  Each episode was 4-5 minutes.

To my knowledge, only five episodes were produced. The first, from September 2014, reveals the show’s lowbrow appeal.  Filmed inside a nondescript Las Vegas dive, Carlota plays pool against Rick DeJesus, frontman for local hard rock band Adelitas Way. She speaks to him about their new album and the significance behind their singles, “Stuck” and “Dog on a Leash.”  Of the five episodes, this one is the most revelatory, with DeJesus lamenting the state of rock-and-roll and the backlash against edgier bands like his.  The full episode is below.

We don’t get invited to the VMAs. We don’t get invited to the YMCA…We’ve been blacklisted because rock-and-roll is dangerous…I feel rock-and-roll has become so corporate….Youngsters have to get a dictionary out to look up ‘rock.’  Everyone is playing it safe.  Fun is popular.

Following the DeJesus pool match interview, “The Break” got a little more upscale and moved inside the Hard Rock Hotel, where Carlota interviews the four members of Otherwise.  The Las Vegas-based rock band, who talk about their new album (Peace at All Costs) while they founder at their pool game.

The third episode features an interview with frontman Johnny Hawkins and (now-ex) drummer Paul O’Brien of Nothing More, a band primarily known for their single “This is the Time.” The interview is light on content, but the entertainment value is high, specifically because Hawkins is so god-awful at pool.

The fourth episode is another Hard Rock Hotel cutthroat game, this time with Matt DiRito (bass) and Leigh Kakaty (lead vocals, founder) from the Kansas-based rock band Pop Evil. Giving off a 24/7 hard rocker vibe, DiRito and Kakaty talk about life on the road, the lure of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the appeal of hot sauce (“on everything”), and the challenge of being the one guy who knows nothing about sports.  Once again, none of these guys can play pool for shit.  The episode is available here.

Finally, the most recent episode from May 2015 involves Carlota playing cutthroat at the Hard Rock Hotel with Sully Erna (singer, founder) and Shannon Larkin (drummer) of Godsmack, the globally popular band with 20 top ten rock radio hits, including the Grammy-nominated “I Stand Alone,” which powered The Scorpion King soundtrack. Unfortunately, the interview does little to take the listeners behind Sully’s sunglasses, which he wears most the game.  The one memorable nugget is Sully’s confession that he has dressing room OCD.  The episode is available to watch here.