The Baron and the Kid

As far back as 1906, there have been movies based on songs, such as the silent short Waiting at the Church, based on the music hall song of the same name by Vesta Victoria.  Over the years, the genre has expanded to include more well-known movies, such as Alice’s Restaurant, Yellow Submarine, The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, and Born in East L.A.

To this atypical list, we must also add the 1984 made-for-TV-movie, The Baron and the Kid, directed by Gary Nelson and starring Johnny Cash as William “The Baron” Addington.

The Baron and the Kid (billiards movie)Based on Cash’s 1980 song “The Baron,” the title track of his 1981 Columbia Records album of the same name, The Baron and the Kid was derided by pundits as a feeble attempt to follow in the footprint of Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler (1980) – another movie based on a song – and rope in those same fans.  (There is something inherently in the story-driven DNA of C&W songs that lends themselves to movie translation. See also Convoy; Ode to Billy Joe; and Take This Job and Shove It.)

In any event, this criticism is not entirely unfounded.  The Baron and the Kid follows the basic sentimental father-son drama as The Gambler in that it casts Cash as an ex-pool hustler determined to rectify the wrongs of his violent, alcoholic past life by establishing a relationship with his son, Billy Joe “The Cajun Kid” Stanley (Greg Webb), who his ex-wife Dee Dee Stanley (June Carter Cash) had kept a secret for 18 years.

Wish I had a known ya
When you were a little younger
Around me you might have learned
a thing or two
If I had known you longer
You might be a little stronger
And maybe you’d shoot straighter
Then you doooo

Not surprisingly, that reunion doesn’t go swimmingly well at first, especially since the Cajun Kid, now a successful small Southern town hustler, has no interest changing his cue stick ways and listening to the Man in Black.

Apparently, when there is “nothing to lose, everything to win,” the only way to forge a father-son bond and remedy almost two decades of absence is to bond over billiards on the road and get “in the zone…a combination of what experience tells you to do, the ego wants you to do, and the nerves will let you do.”  This includes competing against Dr. Pockett (played by the perfectly named Earl Poole Ball, Johnny Cash’s pianist of 20 years) in a double-elimination tournament;  playing a “10-game freeze out” against the menacing Frosty (memorably and most ironically played by Richard Roundtree a.k.a. “Shaft”) and his posse of rednecks;  and trading shots with trick-shot legend Mike Massey, who makes a cameo as a rival 9-ball player.

Regardless of the predictable plot, the fact is any billiards movie starring Johnny Cash gets a thumbs-up from me.  And, without question, this is a billiards movie.  It opens with an incredible series of pool shots performed by Cash (reflecting the brilliance of technical adviser Mike Massey). There are then frequent pool games and demonstrations of pool prowess, including the introduction of Tracy Pollan (future spouse of Michael J. Fox) as pool-shooting Southern belle Mary Beth Phillips.  And, of course, like so many other billiards movies (e.g., The Color of Money; Up Against the 8 Ball; Kiss Shot), there is the culminating final tournament, in this case, the National Pocket Billiards 9-Ball Championship

And while the movie is rather hackneyed, it does introduce one aspect of pool that I’ve not seen in other movies – namely, the practice of ”jarring,” in which a player has his opponent’s drink spiked with drugs (e.g., amphetamine) to make him overconfident so that he’ll undertake impossible shots.  I couldn’t turn up much research on the practice, though a handful of message boards confirmed that “jarring” was done through the 1980s.  Of course, today in sports, the issue is less about drugging one’s opponent than it is about self-doping…yes, even in billiards.   Just ask German billiards champ Axel Buescher, who was stripped of his national carom billiards title in 2008.

The Baron and the Kid is widely available to rent or buy online.

The Baron and the Kid v2Additional information of interest:

Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool (Billiards TV Remake)

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This post is in honor of the Canadian actor Maury Chaykin, who played James “Fats” Brown in this Twilight Zone episode.  On Saturday, it will have been 3 years since his passing.

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the original “A Game of Pool” episode from The Twilight Zone that aired in 1961. It is arguably one of the best billiards TV episodes ever.

In 1989, that episode was remade as part of CBS’ short-lived, three-season revival of The Twilight Zone.  The remake of “A Game of Pool,” now in color, casts Esai Morales as local pool shark Jesse Cardiff (originally played by Jack Klugman) and Maury Chaykin as the deceased James “Fats” Brown (originally played by Jonathan Winters).  For the most part, it’s the same story about a life/death bet to be the best pool player.  But, it can’t hold a candle to the original episode.

For starters, Morales and Chaykin were not well-cast.  Morales, an award-winning actor best known for his role on NYPD Blue, is too anxious and overblown in his portrayal of Cardiff.  And Chaykin, who fans fondly remember as the armchair detective Nero Wolfe, lacks the gentlemanly cool and confidence that Winters nailed.  Instead, he seems just pugnacious.

The switch from black-and-white to color also does not help.  The bar room atmosphere no longer feels so chilling and claustrophobic. Instead, it feels ordinary, like a TV studio set.  (Check out this great article on the visual treatment of the original Twilight Zone.)  Similarly, the addition of the jazz horn as background music fails to create tension and rather seems contrived.

The pool-playing is also notably different, and not for the better.  Both Morales and Chaykin look downright uncomfortable holding a cue.  It’s hard to imagine Cardiff being “the best” the way Morales holds and jerks the cue (see 10:39).  It’s also surprising that both players rely entirely on an open bridge, generally preferred by less experienced players.

Another subtle change in the pool-playing is the game of choice.  In the original, they opt to play 14.1 continuous pool (i.e., straight pool).  In the remake, they play rotation pool, a game largely popular in Asian countries.  The objective of rotation pool is to score the most points by pocketing higher-numbered balls than one’s opponent.  However, like 9-ball, the cue must always first strike the lowest-numbered ball on the table.

Finally, the major difference that most people note is the choice of ending.  While I won’t give it away entirely, let’s just say it’s not the same player who wins in the original.  Interestingly, the remake actually reflects the author George Clayton Johnson’s original script.  Is it a better ending?  That’s a coin toss to me.  Is it a better billiards TV episode?  Not even close.

For additional commentary, check out  Postcards from the Zone.

[Wanted!] Lemon Tree Billiards House

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[Periodically, I will publish posts on movies that I have been unable to find and watch.  These are part of my “Wanted!” series, and this is my first post in that series. If you know how to find a “Wanted!” movie, please let me know.  I will be most grateful.]

In 1996, director Tim Savage premiered his billiards short film The Lemon Tree Billiards House at the Hawaii International Film Festival.  The film took first place in the short film category. It then aired on local Hawaii TV about 15 years ago in a time slot following the Super Bowl.  But, unfortunately, if, like me, you missed either of those showings, then you missed what was presumably a very entertaining tale that merged billiards with gangsters, and magical realism with local Hawaiian culture.

Lemon Tree Billiards House - Billiards Short FilmsTo learn more about the movie and potentially find a copy, I successfully tracked down Dana Hankins, the President of RedHead Productions and the producer of The Lemon Tree Billiards House. She’s been immensely helpful and our exchanges have only furthered my wish to see this film.

The film is based on a short story of the same name written by Cedric Yamanaka.  It was originally published in Honolulu Magazine 15 years ago for a fiction-writing contest. Now, the story is available in his eight-story collection In Good Company.

The story is about a college freshman, Mitch, who fancies himself somewhat of a pool hustler. After accepting an invitation to play 8-ball against an unknown opponent, he quickly learns that he will play the infamous, 265-pound Locust Cordero, widely believed to be a menacing, local hitman.  The wager: first person to win 6 games wins $500.  And while the pool game forms the “action” of the story, the real story ends up being about the similarities Locust and Mitch discover in one another.

Hankins shared with me that when she first read the story, she “loved the characters, the inclusion of pidgin (dialect), the quirkiness of the cultural beliefs and the element of magical realism.”  Local actors were cast, including a number of well-known Hawaiian comedians. That’s an interesting mix…probably the same way I might describe one of my favorite (non-billiards) movies of all time – Beasts of the Southern Wild — which amazingly and effectively used local actors, language, and cultural beliefs and interwove it with magical realism (particularly through the mind of Hushpuppy).

Hankins couldn’t promise me a date when the movie would become available once more, but she did say that she “intends to get the film cleared for internet streaming in order to share with long-time fans” and that it will likely be “combined with two other short festival films…all made in Hawaii…and all having moments of magical realism.”

If you’re as eager to see the film as I am, let me know or leave a comment.  I promise to share with her the feedback.

Kisses & Caroms (Billiards Movie)

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I remember the first time I saw Bob Clark’s 1982 movie Porky’s.  It felt like I was engaging in something forbidden, much like the oversexed high-schoolers do as they look through the peephole into the girls’ shower.

Looking at the poster of the 2006 billiards movie Kisses & Caroms (also known as American Pool), I assumed I would experience a similar feeling.  The movie’s titillating (pun intended) poster, featuring a woman’s private parts covered by a perfect rack (pun intended?), reminded me of the Black Crows’ Amorica album cover.  Like Porky’s, this movie screamed devilish and naughty in an R-rated, tongue-and-cheek manner.

Kisses and Caroms - Billiards MovieAnd for the first 5 minutes, I thought this might just be the Porky’s of Pool.  Zack, the slightly dim-witted owner of Breakingtime Billiards, a pool table and gameroom supply store, awakens in a ménage a trois arranged by his girlfriend (Jennifer) and her able-bodied close friend (Tara).  I thought, “Well, it lacks the prankish humor and build-up of Porky’s, but this could be interesting…”

But, the humor never surfaced, the sexual action never continued, and, still worse, the billiards never materialized.  Instead, we’re left with a contrived story about a pathetic guy who can’t make up his mind about his ex-girlfriend relationship, and as a result, channels his annoyance into progressively more hostile conversations with his store’s annoying patrons, including the “Chalk Guy” and the “Naked White Guy.”  Shot on a budget of $11,000, the movie aspires to be Clerks in a pool supply store, but the dialogue is stilted and uninteresting, making me wonder if Clerks director Kevin Smith really said the film was “a sexy little day-in-the-lifer.”

There is some intermittent billiards playing on the store table, but it’s clear none of the actors have used a cue stick.  And, there’s one random sequence in which Tara (played by Playboy bombshell Nicole Rayburn), who we learn is not just a willing threesome participant but also a local pool star, hustles some yokels in a neighboring bar, but it’s a pointless scene meant only to further highlight Tara’s sex appeal.  But, this woman has nothing on billiards’ true beauties, the Rack Starz.

In summary, the movie has all the right influences, but when it came time to execute, Kisses & Caroms is one big table scratch.  It is widely available to buy or rent as DVD or online.

8-Ball: Coming to a Theater Near You

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Suppose I told you there was an upcoming billiards movie that borrows storytelling, narration, and plot elements from Godfather Part II, GoodFellas, The Usual Suspects, and The Silence of the Lambs?

Yeah, I thought I might have your attention now.

Well, then get ready for 8-Ball, a billiards crime drama that is expected to be released at the New York Film Festival this September.

8 Ball - Billiards MovieI had the pleasure of interviewing David Barroso, the lead actor and executive producer of 8-Ball.  Though he was on only 2 hours of sleep, Barroso was incredibly personable and talkative about the film, and his passion and enthusiasm were contagious.

Barroso was rather secretive about the complete plot, but the gist of the story is that it begins 10 years ago with a fateful encounter at a pool hall in Queens, New York, between Ramone Torzo, the neighborhood mobster, who is a great pool player, and four neighborhood friends.  When a phony bet is made on a game of 8-ball, the situation goes horribly wrong, and Torzo is forced to flee across the country. As the film shifts from black-and-white to color, the story picks up a decade later with Torzo, having left his billiards life (among other things) behind, comfortably settled into the Hollywood lifestyle.  But, that ability to escape his past is threatened when a local cop, who is also a pool player, finds him, threatening to undermine his new lifestyle.

Seemingly, it’s a thriller that has the usual share of twists, suspense and dead bodies.  But, this story is based on the life of a real mobster, for whom “pool was his life.” And so while gangster movie fans will rejoice over the newest true crime biopic, billiards movies fans will equally celebrate a movie in which one-third focuses on pool (and was filmed on location between Rack Em-Up in Queens and Mr. Pockets in Manhattan Beach, CA).

The story behind the billiards movie is as compelling as the movie itself.  Much of the movie was filmed 10 years ago by David Manzano, the original director and writer.  But, the movie stalled when Manzano left to pursue his music career.  Fortunately, Barroso would not let the movie wither.  He says, “I wanted to get this movie done.  I owed it to a lot of people.” Along with cinematographer Adrian Manzano, Barroso committed himself to raising the financing and finishing the movie, which included filming the remaining 40-50%, attracting all-star talent like actor Paul Ben-Victor (who fans of The Wire will forever remember as Spiros “Vondas” Vondopoulos) and assembling a killer soundtrack with music from The Rolling Stones, James Brown, and Eminem.

So, whether you’re a movie lover or a pool player, keep your eyes open for 8-Ball.  Fingers crossed it will premiere at the New York Film Festival, before moving on to the Hollywood Film Festival (October), the 10th Annual Big Apple Film Festival (November) and the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City (January).  And, if all goes well, we should see it on the big screen in select cities around April, 2014.

For ongoing updates, check out the film’s Facebook page and homepage.

Twilight Zone: A Game of Pool (Billiards TV)

In almost 60 years of billiards TV, one episode is consistently – and perhaps, rightfully – lauded as the best:  “A Game of Pool” from Season 3 of The Twilight Zone.   Aired in October 1961, just 3 weeks after The Hustler was released on the big screen, this 25-minute show is about “the story of the best pool player living and the best pool player dead,” according to Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling.

Jack Klugman stars as Jesse Cardiff (the best pool player living) and Jonathan Winters stars as James Howard “Fats” Brown (the best pool player dead).  That’s it.  Two great actors in a single room pool hall on Randolph Street in Chicago. How these two come to play pool is because Jesse yells aloud, “I’d give anything, anything to play him one game!”  And, since this is the Twilight Zone, the deceased Fats suddenly appears, saying to the dumbstruck Jesse, “[Am I] dead?…Not really…as long as people talk about you, you’re not really dead.”

Faced with an once-in-a-lifetime (literally) opportunity to play Fats, Jesse accepts the terms of Fats’ deal: “Life or death.  You beat me, you live; you lose, you die.” And so begins a game of 14.1 continuous pool (i.e., straight pool, same game in The Hustler) to 300 points.  For those that don’t know, straight pool is played by pocketing any called ball into a designated pocket.  Each pocketed ball is a point.  For a given rack, when one ball is remaining on the table, the opponent re-racks the remaining 14 balls before game play continues.

While the filmed pool playing is at best average (except for a couple nice three-cushion shots), there are two aspects of the billiards that are noteworthy.  First, there’s nothing brief about straight pool.  As one reviewer noted, given the final score approaches 299-266, that translates into about 40 racks, or easily 5-6 hours of play. It’s no wonder both men are sweating considerably.

The second aspect is the trash-talking. Pool, like so many sports, is a true mental game.  And pool players will often do what they can to rattle their opponents.  In this match, the taunting starts before play even begins, as Fats says to Jesse, “You like to play with fire, but you don’t like to cook…deep down you know you’re second rate.” As the game progresses, Fats condescendingly lectures Jesse that “pool is geometry…a science of precise angles and forces.”  And, in the final points (for reasons we only understand at the very end), he resorts to cheap tactics to distract Jesse.   Since this is the Twilight Zone, we know there will be a final twist.  I won’t give it away.  Watch the episode.

The full episode of “A Game of Pool” is available to watch above.  “A Game of Pool” was also remade in 1989, starring Esai Morales and Maury Chaykin.

And as a final postscript, let us say R.I.P. to Jonathan Winters, who passed away just 3 months ago.

The Pool Hustlers

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For those who believe “billiards” and “pool” are synonymous, it’s well-worth checking out The Pool Hustlers (1983, Italy, also known as Io, Chiara e lo Scuro), a romantic comedy that prominently features a little-known form of carom billiards called goriziana (or 9-pins).

Io-Chiara-e-lo-scuro - goriziana movieIn goriziana, nine pins sit in the center of a 284 cm x 142 cm pocketless table. Two cue balls and a red ball are used. Each player attempts to hit the opponent’s ball and, from there, scores points by striking the red ball, or by making the opponent’s balls or the red ball knock over the pins. Play continues until someone reaches or surpasses a pre-set number of points. Unlike most billiard games, players alternate turns, regardless of how they shot.

Directed by Mauricio Ponzi, The Pool Hustlers focuses on Francesco (or “The Tuscan”), a shaggy-haired goof who has a meaningless hotel job, but is an incredibly skilled goriziana player.  As he says, “I either play billiards or I’m at work thinking about billiards.”

The movie opens with the Tuscan walking into a billiards hall to challenge Scuro (played by real carom billiards legend Marcello Lotti), the reigning goriziana player.  As the Tuscan refuses to bet for money, he gets Scuro to agree to a wager of “spiked coffee.” The Tuscan wins, giving him great happiness and confidence.  But, the situation quickly turns when he is obligated to give Scuro a rematch, and he breaks his own no-betting rule.  To no surprise, he quickly falls into debt, and can only pay off the debt by stealing from the safe deposit boxes at the hotel where he works.  His only chance to break out of his Ponzi-like financial obligations is to play in the International Single Set Goriziana Championship, where he will compete once more with Scuro.

As far as rom-coms go, the film is pretty weak.  His relationship with the gorgeous Chiara feels paper-thin, and it’s hard to understand how the relationship gets serious so quickly, especially since it begins with him stalking her.

But, the billiards playing, both in the opening scene and at the championship, is extraordinary, especially since the spin, angles, and shot complexity, are almost exaggerated in goriziana. A love of billiards also permeates the movie.  It’s impossible not to smile as the Tuscan explains how God, a “leftie billiards player,” created the universe in one shot.  Or, how an aluminum cue (preferred by the Tuscan) is different from a wooden one since an aluminum cue initially “has no heart” and thus once a player wins the cue over, the cue’s heart belongs to the player forever.

I also appreciated the director’s clear homage to The Hustler, from the overall storyline to the character of Scuro, who is modeled after Jackie Gleason’s Minnesota Fats in everything from his impeccable attire to his gentlemanly aura.  And while the Tuscan is no Fast Eddie, Chiara does pay him the ultimate compliment when she says he “looks like Paul Newman” when he plays billiards.

For those that want to continue their goriziana education, The Pool Hustlers was followed by Casablanca, Casablanca (1985, Italy), and then much later by Il signor Quindicipalle (1998, Italy).  Assuming I can track down copies, both these movies will be reviewed in future posts.  The Pool Hustlers is difficult to find in any format except VHS.

Wandering Ginza Butterfly

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the combination of television and American film imports threatened to shut down the Japanese movie industry, a new genre of film exploded in Japan to reclaim its audience.  Variously called “pinku eiga” or “pinky violence,” this exploitation genre was a cinematic cocktail of sex, eroticism and ultra-violence.   It’s also home to a little-known billiards movie:  Wandering Ginza Butterfly (original title: Gincho wataridori).

Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2 - Billiards MovieDirected by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi and released in 1972, Wandering Ginza Butterfly is the story of a young woman, Nami, who is released from prison after serving 3 years for killing a yakuza boss.  When she returns home, she finds a living with her uncle, who owns a pool hall and taught her to hustle.  To help pay back the woman who had her sentence commuted, she gets a job as a hostess in Ginza.  But, she cannot shake her criminal past.  When a local yakuza threatens to take over the bar, Nami challenges him, first in a battle of three-cushion pool (!!) and then via an all-out massacre.

The movie’s lead is Meiko Kaji, Tokyo’s rising pinky violence outlaw at the time.  Having starred in Mini-Skirt Lynchers (1969) and Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (1970), she was cast in Wandering Ginza Butterfly to “awaken sleepy audiences” and because of her “gorgeous eyes,” according to the director.  She subsequently starred in the Female Convict Scorpion series (1972-1973), Lady Snowblood (1973), and ultimately, about 100 movies.  For those that might roll their eyes, consider that Lady Snowblood was a major influence for Quentin Tarantino in creating O-Ren Ishii’s character in Kill Bill.  (In fact, Tarantino’s connection to Meiko Kaji extends even farther, as he included two of her songs — “Song of Hate” and “Flower of Carnage” – in the final scene and closing credits of Kill Bill Volume 1.)

But I digress….after all, this is a blog post about a billiards movie.

Throughout Wandering Ginza Butterfly, characters walk in and out of pool rooms, but the major scene is a three-cushion billiards showdown between Nami and a junkie henchman named Third Eye Ryu.  Three-cushion billiards, one of the most popular and challenging cue sports in the world, consists of three balls and a pocketless pool table.  The object of the game is to carom the cue ball off both object balls, but to make sure the cue ball hits the rail cushion at least three times before hitting the second object ball.  (This is the same carom game featured in Carambola (2003), the topic of a future blog post.) The extended scene shows off some incredible billiards shots, and it is not a surprise that the director specifically cited the scene as one he was “very proud” of. He also pays homage to The Hustler by prominently featuring a poster of the film above the pool table.

Though there is limited pool in Wandering Ginza Butterfly, the film earns its placement in the billiards movie canon for the same reason that Turn the River, the 2007 movie starring Famke Janssen (and the topic of a future blog post) is on every billiards movie list.  Both feature strong female, embattled protagonists who are “forced” to use their pool hustling skills to right an unfavorable situation.  A climactic match occurs (of one-pocket in Turn the River), our hero wins, only to find the win to be fleeting.  Of course, in Wandering Ginza Butterfly, the game is followed by an all-out sword massacre, including impaling someone with a cue stick (this does not happen in Turn the River) , but hey, there needed to be at least a little violence in this otherwise subdued film.

Since Synapse Films recently transferred and released Wandering Ginza Butterfly on DVD, this billiards movie is now widely available to buy and rent online.  Also look out for its sequel — Wandering Ginza Butterfly : She-Cat Gambler (1972), starring Sonny Chiba (but, sadly, no more pool).

Wandering Ginza ButterflyOther worthy blogs on Wandering Ginza Butterfly:

Death Billiards: Anime and Pool

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The newest entry to the pool movie genre is not Anthony Palma’s 9-Ball from 2012 (the subject of a future post), but rather the March 2013 anime work Death Billiards, directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa and produced by anime juggernaut Madhouse Studios.

Death Billiards - billiards short filmThis 26-minute psycho-fantastic film is one of 4 anime works that each received 38 million yen (about $480,000 USD) from the “2012 Young Animator Training Project,” an animation labor group, funded by the Japanese government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs, that distributes the bulk of its funds to studios which provide on-the-job training to young animators.

The rather hallucinogenic plot involves a young man and an old man, who are brought to a cavernous, stained glass bar to compete in a game of billiards and to “play as if their lives depended on it.”   Aside from the two men, there is a somewhat scantily clad hostess and a mysterious, laconic bartender who explains the rules of the game. With no idea of how they got to the bar, the younger man proceeds to wig out and the older man stoically accept the stakes.  They compete in a game of 8-ball with balls that are adorned with images of the players’ organs.  As the two men play, it becomes apparent that the older man is the far better player, as he demonstrates with two trick shots and a jump shot.  Ultimately, a fight ensues, a players is presumed dead, no rules are broken, and a bunch of viewers are left scratching their head about what just ensued.

Judging from online forums, this cryptic ending is not unintentional.  Through the melee, we learn about the players’ backgrounds and that both men have led imperfect lives.  And while each player’s outcome is open for debate, the final scene suggests that other individuals will be subsequently summoned to this billiards purgatory to have their fates determined.

To my knowledge, Death Billiards is the only anime member of the pool movie genre. Fortunately, it’s a great inaugural member, as the animation and art is beautifully done, with rich background detail, a gorgeously dark palette of colors, vivid facial expressions, and accurate pool showmanship.

Death Billiards is widely available to watch for free online.  The full movie can be watched above.  Also, for the most thoughtful interpretation of the movie, I suggest reviewing the Panda’s blog – “A Different Point of View,” which impressively deconstructs the movie’s symbolism and equates it with Noh theater.

Death Billiards v2 - billiards short filmOther worthy blog reviews on Death Billiards:

The Understudy: Graveyard Shift 2

Alas, not every film in the pool movie genre is like The Hustler.  On the other end of the spectrum — and I mean way far down the next block of the spectrum — is The Understudy: Graveyard Shift 2, a low-budget, straight-to-VHS vampire horror film from 1988.

Graveyard Shift 2 - billiards movieHard to follow and painful to watch, this sequel, by Canadian director Jerry Ciccoritti, is about a macho vampire named Baisez, who slowly seduces the cast and crew of Blood Lover, a movie about a vampire pool hustler named Apache Falco. This movie-within-a-movie is shot in a pool hall, and from the opening scene zeroing in on a spill of blood being wiped away, we know this won’t be any ordinary game of billiards.  As the movie insufferably trods along, we continually return to this pool hall setting, where the actors struggle to correctly hold cue sticks, and where the lead actress is seduced on a pool table.  As Baisez gains power and finds a corporeal form, he apparently becomes blessed with Mosconi-like pool prowess and the ability to make gunfire-loud pool shots.  The film concludes with a winner-takes-all billiards match, and perhaps the film’s sole silver lining, a decapitation by pool stick.  Now that’s something you don’t see every day in a billiards movie.

Amazingly, The Understudy: Graveyard Shift 2 is not the only billiards movie to focus on vampires.  In a previous blog, I discussed the far-better vampire pool musical Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire. The late ’80s television show Monsters also featured pool in an episode entitled “Pool Sharks.” But, that’s a post for another day…

The Understudy: Graveyard Shift 2 is difficult to find, except for VHS.