Tag Archives: 8-ball

One Too Many 8 Balls

I will concede that if I were writing or producing a billiards movie, I might consider throwing “8-Ball” or “eight ball” in the title, such as Up Against the 8-Ball or Behind the Eight Ball or even the whimsical 8 Ball Stud. After all, the eight-ball is laden with symbolism, given its inherent neutrality in the battle of solids and stripes, as well as its association with both good and bad, depending on whether it leads to someone’s victory or defeat on the billiards table.

But, to name the movie just 8-Ball? Where’s the originality in that? This is a crowded market folks, and as difficult to believe as it may be, I uncovered five billiards movies and short films called 8-Ball, as well as a couple of non-billiards movies of the same name. Welcome to a world of confusion.

8-Ball

8 Ball MovieAt the top of my watch list is the forthcoming billiards crime drama 8-Ball, starring and executive produced by David Barroso.   Mr. Barroso promises the movie will borrow elements, narration, and plot elements from Godfather Part II, GoodFellas, The Usual Suspects, and The Silence of the Lambs. According to the movie’s Twitter feed, it’s now expected to hit theaters this fall. Fortunately, this is the only full-length film with the title 8-Ball.

8 Ball

8 Ball MovieLess about billiards as sport, and more about billiards as an allegory for life, is the 2007 short film 8 Ball, directed by Inon Shampanier. As Shampanier shared with me, the larger allegory is that “like balls on a pool table, the lives of strangers collide and change course.  The film poses questions about the accidental nature of these collisions and the sense of ‘order in the chaos.’”

8 Ball

This seven-minute Australian film, shown as part of the 2012 Aurora Short Film Festival, anthropomorphizes the 8-Ball as an enlightened maverick, fleeing the confines of a pool table to explore the outside world. (“There was nothing these suckers could do to stop me.”) While the concept is interesting, the dialogue is terrible, including the encounter with a female tennis ball. A far better movie that brings pool balls to life is Pool Talk, a two-minute 2009 short film.

8 Ball

This four-minute American film, made some time in 2012 or 2013, has no dialogue, no plot, and sadly, no purpose. Directed by George Monard when he was probably 17 or 18, it features a “dangerous” pool player who is unsuccessful in his intimidation of the other players. A match ensues; he loses, so he shoots his opponent. I didn’t get it either.

8 Ball

8 Ball MovieUsing billiards as a backdrop, this four-minute American film, made a few years ago, was directed by Garrett Gutierrez, while a graduate student at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University. It basically features two friends arguing about religion. The project was intentionally constrained to 3 pages, 2 characters, and 1 location.

OK, at this point, cinematic confusion should be setting in. But, now is when it gets really weird…

8-Ball

8 Ball MovieIn 2012, the short film 8-Ball was released in Argentina. Having nothing to do with billiards, the movie is about a man having a personal crisis who seeks solitude in a park, when a passing stranger named 8-Ball takes an unwelcome interest in him. The movie won a host of awards throughout the UK. Apparently, no one thought to question the inanity of the title.

8-Ball

8 Ball MovieFinally, there is the 2013 full-length Finnish crime film 8-Ball. It is about a single mother who, having just been released from prison, is trying to start her life anew. The return of her former boyfriend stirs up a past she preferred to leave behind. I don’t know why it’s called 8-Ball, but I’ll cut the director Aku Louhimies a little slack, since its original title is 8-Pallo.

 

So, the next time you’re thinking about making a film about billiards (or not about billiards for that matter), heed this advice:  There’s still an opportunity to cash in on the 5-Ball or 13-Ball. Just stay away from (un)lucky number 8.

8 For Vegas (billiards web series)

Ah, the “mockumentary,” that malleable film genre in which fictional events are presented in a documentary format as a form of parody.  While dating back to at least the late ‘60s, the format became immensely popular when Rob Reiner released This is Spinal Tap in 1984.  Ever since, topics of all niches, from Mormon boy-bands (Sons of Provo) and Dungeons & Dragons (Gamers: The Movie) to hairdressing (The Big Tease) and darts (Good Arrows) have been lampooned through mockumentaries, occasionally successfully (e.g., Best in Show; Borat; Man Bites Dog), but more often, terribly.

Unfortunately, 8 For Vegas, John Painz’s 2011 9-part web series about an NYC amateur pool league team, Show Your Balls, and its quest to win a trip to a national pool league tournament in Las Vegas, is one of the less successful mockumentaries in its un-funny portrayal of pool league players as vapid drunks, lecherous sloths, and one-dimensional sex-starved cardboard cut-outs.

8 For VegasAccording to Painz’s blog, the original script was written in 2002, and then it was dusted off and turned into a mockumentary ten years later after a little soul-searching and a desire to “get [his] name out there and at least have something to show people.”  In his yen for authenticity, Painz made some questionable decisions to cast a number of people who obviously don’t play pool and to create “realism” through having the boom microphone get in the way and shaking the camera a lot, among other annoying auteur preferences.

Painz also explains that “one of the challenges of writing the script [is that] after a while, pool is BORING. Not, you know, watching pros and all… but when you have a 2 playing against another 2, and they take 2 hours to play two or three games, you pretty much want to kill yourself.”  For this reason, he “made it a goal to make sure that the characters are what stood out in this project. Sure, you get to see some pool play. You have to. But the majority of it is really a comedy about friends getting together every week, and the things happening in their own lives, outside of pool.”

Now, call me cynical, but if he believes pool is that “boring,” it’s probably not the best topic for one’s coming out party, film opus. Moreover, if the series is really about the friends, then, good lord, why is this octet of losers so odious?  You can meet each of them in the first episode show below, but here’ my rundown:  (1) John, the team captain, who can’t get dates; (2) Walter, the lazy wannabe comedian who uses his iPhone to take upskirt pics of (3) his teammate,  Jennifer, the “whore” who hates her ad copy job; (4) Ian, the super-gay guy who was once caught “trying to deep-throat a bratwurst”; (5) Leslie, the failed author who drinks constantly; (6) Nicole, who seems to puke constantly; (7) Heather, who wears shades, says nothing and knits; and (8) George, who we never meet because he’s in jail.  Quite the posse, eh?

The first season of 8 For Vegas consists of 9 episodes, each 10-12 minutes long, that each represent one week in the team’s quest to win the city championship and go to Las Vegas.   Most the episodes focus on a particular character, followed by 1-2 minutes of pretty bad eight-ball, shot on location at Society Billiards & Bar in Manhattan, against teams, such as Stroke This, Ball Breakers, and Stick It In.  I won’t give away the ending, but the team does it make it to the city championship, after winning the division finals against Balls to the Wall…but not before most the team had zogged out on Xanax.

You can watch the entire first season on YouTube.  Amazingly, there was also a second season that wrapped in March, 2013.

[Wanted!] The Player

Among the world’s greatest unresolved mysteries is the identity of the Zodiac serial killer, the location of the Bermuda Triangle, and the translation of the Voynich Manuscript.  But, equally high up on that list is another perplexing mystery:  Whatever happened to the 1971 billiards movie The Player?

The Player - billiards movieFor a while, the pursuit of this movie was a periodic topic of discussion within the most popular billiards forums, such as AZ Billiards and Inside Pool Magazine.  Often, the initial thread began with the question, “Has anyone heard of this movie The Player? I’d really love to see it.”  This was then followed by a bandwagon of “Me too!” or “I’m also interested” responses, before someone dropped the hammer and shared that he’s already been searching for this movie for some time and has run into nothing but dead ends.

What is the fascination with The Player?  Why does this long-lost billiards movie produce such passion, craving and rumors, whereas other “missing” billiards movies, such as Lemon Tree Billiards House (1996) or Running Out (2001) evoke nary a whisper?  Finally, does it still exist?

Here’s what we know: The Player, was directed and written by Thomas DeMartini, a man with no prior or posterior film credits.  The main cast included Jerry Como, Rae Phillips, and Carey Wilmot, all people who again had no previous or subsequent acting experience.

But, the remaining two cast members, who played themselves in the film, were a completely different story.  First, there was “Gentleman Jack” Colavita, a Tri-State straight pool champion.  And then there was Rudolf Wanderone Jr., aka “Minnesota Fats,” one of the most famous pocket billiards players of that era.  Though he never won a major tournament, he gained great fame in the early ‘60s by claiming the Minnesota Fats character in The Hustler was based on him.  And he then parlayed that fame into a series of book deals and television appearances, including the Celebrity Billiards with Minnesota Fats game show and a guest spot on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

While there have been many billiards movies that star pool professionals (e.g., Jennifer Barretta in 9-Ball; Jimmy White in The Legend of the Dragon; Efren Reyes in Pakners; Marcello Lotti in The Pool Hustlers) The Player is the only movie that starred Minnesota Fats.  Even juicier, it billed him as “The greatest pool hustler in the greatest pool movie.”

According to the Temple of Schlock’s “Endangered List,”  the movie was about a down-and-out professional pool player who, struggling with his relationship, hits the road, resorts to hustling, and makes a series of bad decisions (including challenging Minnesota Fats) that only worsen his situation.

Beyond the appeal of Fats and the hustler storyline, the excitement about this billiards movie has grown because of the confusion around its release.  For example, the Turner Classics Movie website mistakenly says it was released in 1972.  And, within online forums, some people incorrectly argue the movie was never actually released.  But, from the various first-hand testimonies I’ve read, it’s clear the movie showed at a few private screenings in 1971 and 1972 in the Southeast at theaters owned by the family of the movie’s producer, George Ogden, though it never had a mainstream release.

The Player - billiards movieBut here is where the story turns tragic, as it appears this billiards movie will never become viewable again, based on the investigatory work done by Craig Rittel, owner of Full Splice Billiards in Lakewood, Washington.  He has done considerable research, talking to industry professionals and tracking down people involved with the film.  According to his online posts (and some of my own research), we know:

  • There were management problems, presumably within International Cinema, the movie’s production company, that led to the film getting shelved. International Cinema no longer exists.  It was merged with RSL Entertainment in 1985 to form Alliance Entertainment, now the largest wholesale distributor of home entertainment audio and video software in the United States.
  • Producer George Ogden was believed to have the original film. He passed away years ago, and the only thing found among his estate related to The Player was a framed poster.
  • The Ogden Theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which privately screened The Player, closed in 1985.
  • There is no information that can be learned from the main cast and crew members. The director Thomas DeMartini is deceased (date unknown), Minnesota Fats died in 1996, and “Gentleman Jack” Colavita died in 2005.  In fact, Colavita’s son, Jack, has also unsuccessfully tried to find the film.
  • Even the Jackson Mall Cinema, another of the few venues that did a private screening of the film, is no longer around. It is now a medical center.

So, that’s where the story ends…or does it?  If there is a lesson to be learned from the 2012 smash documentary Searching for Sugarman about the hunt to find the singer Rodriguez, or the 2002 documentary Stone Reader, which details one person’s quest to find the author of a well-received novel from 30 years ago, it’s that maybe, just maybe, with a lot of sleuthing and a lot of luck, something seemingly gone forever will show up again one day.  We can only hope.

[Periodically, I will publish posts on movies that I have been unable to find and watch.  These are part of my “Wanted!” series. If you have any information about a “Wanted!” movie, please contact me.  I will be most grateful.]

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)

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

[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)

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

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.

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

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: