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Behind the Eight Ball

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To say billiards has its own language is not an exaggeration. While much of the lingo is known only by the sport’s true insiders, at least a few billiards words and phrases have become mainstream. Perhaps, the best example is the idiom “behind the eight ball,” which means to be in trouble or at a disadvantage. 

Behind the Eight Ball (Daily News, 1929)

Behind the Eight Ball (Daily News, 1929)

There is a misconception the phrase originated from the game of eight ball. But, as multiple historians have noted, the game “eight ball” was not described by that name until circa 1940, whereas the phrase “behind the eight ball” shows up as early as 1923 in a column published by the Buffalo Evening Times. More likely, the idiom derives from the game of kelly pool, which emerged at the turn of the 20th century. 

The phrase saw its peak use in the mid 1940s, though it still remains popular today. Scan the news headlines and you’ll see the phrase used in all sorts of contexts.  “Is Bradenton (FL) ‘behind the eight ball’ with utility rates?” (Bradenton Herald). “Rand Paul says GOP behind the eight ball in mid terms” (Washington Times) “As fentanyl crisis evolves, experts say US is still ‘behind the eight ball’” (Al Jazeera). “Liverpool baseball digs out from ‘behind the eight ball’ for first playoff win” (Syracuse.com).

Behind the 8 ball (1942)Given the idiom’s ubiquity, it’s not surprising that “behind the eight ball” eventually made its way onto movie and TV episode titles. The trend likely began with the Ritz Brothers’ 1942 film Behind the Eight Ball, which is not about billiards, and has continued ever since. There is Behind the Eight Ball (about a speakeasy boss who doesn’t play nicely);  “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the reality show Yukon Gold about a mining crew); “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the short-lived 1960s series Broadside); “Behind the Eight Ball” (from the equally short lived Australian series Willing & Abel); Behind the 8-Ball (about a coke addict whose life is crumbling) ; and on and on. I’ve opted to ignore such non-billiards titles and focus my review on only those Behind the Eight Ball films and shows in which billiards is relevant to the story.

“Behind the Eight Ball,” Top of the Heap (1991)

If you were playing Before They Were Stars Bingo, you might have scored well turning the channel to this “Behind the Eight Ball” episode. Joining Matt LeBlanc (in his pre-Friends role) is Joey Lauren Adams (pre-Dazed and Confused) and Pamela Anderson (pre-Baywatch). But, if you were looking for a decent billiards episode, Top of the Heap is truly bottom of the barrel. Complementing the robotic acting and cringeworthy jokes is a real heap of billiards gaffes, such as pocketed balls reappearing on the table or the game of 9-ball played incorrectly.  My advice: skip the view, read my review.

Behind the 8 Ball (2010)

Behind the 8 Ball (2010)The only full-length film on this list, Behind the 8 Ball is 102 minutes of soapy, saccharine, sentimental stupidity. Directed by Mike Graveline, this Canadian film, featuring a cast of unknown actors, tells the story of Sam Evans, a 35-year old coffee shop owner, who shortly after losing his mother learns that his estranged father, who he has not seen since he was four, wants to rejoin his life.

Interesting premise, but the film derails quickly as it takes Sam and Dad maybe one shared beer before they’re BFFing over a game of pool. Dad is a professional pool player – or at least, a road player – who refers to the pool table as his “church,” and lectures Sam that “pool is a game of precision and heart” and you need to “pick a cue like you pick a woman.” But, if Sam is a billiards beginner, it doesn’t take this tenderfoot more than a couple of days before he and Dad are competing together in a local pool tournament. 

Fast-forward a couple of weeks and Dad needs to take out a $25,000 loan to compete in the World Players Pool Championship, the “most exclusive tournament in North America” with 40 people competing for a $1 million prize. (We’ll ignore that it is held at a local barroom and is sponsored by Cue Ball Hair Design.) But, when Dad’s coronary artery disease acts up and he needs a coronary bypass, it’s Sam who seizes the cue and proceeds to beat the best players on the continent. 

Rounding out this film’s unwatchability is the poor cinematography of the actual billiards. Most shots are not filmed; only players’ reactions to making shots. The few shots that are filmed are both pathetically easy and recycled across multiple matches. An acclaimed two-table trick shot is made off-camera. And don’t get me started on how these world-class players clearly don’t know how to hold a cue or make a stroke. 

“Behind the Eight Ball,” Mystery Diners (2014)

Mystery DinersMystery Diners was one of many undercover reality shows that covertly monitors employees at work. In this 2014 episode, Kent Lewis, the owner of Uptown Billiard Club in Portland, Oregon, decides to go deep cover to evaluate the questionable tactics of his newly hired social media marketer. His covert reconnaissance also reveals that his bartender is hustling patrons. As I wrote in my review of “Behind the Eight Ball,” Mystery Diners always suffered from a lack of credibility, and for many reasons, this particular episode felt laughably staged. Less humorous is Mr. Lewis’ cloak-and-dagger operation apparently could not save his pool hall. In 2019, they closed after 24 years of operation.

“Behind the 8 Ball,” Timber Kings (2017)

Talk about a sweet deal. Richard, the owner of the Laughing Loon Pub in Williams Lake, British Columbia tells the team at Pioneer Log Homes that if they make him a customized cedar pool table, he’ll give them an extra pour of his signature craft beer. At least, that’s the setup for the “Behind the 8 Ball” episode of Timber Kings, a Canadian reality show about the team at Pioneer Log Homes, which makes some of the most exquisite, sought after log homes around the world. This fourth season episode is light on drama or tension, save for a temporary setback when the reinforced bed is a smidgeon too high for the bumpers, but it’s impossible not to respect the craftsmanship and innovation, including using magnum shells for the diamond inlays. The episode is available to stream on Tubi.

Behind the 8 Ball (2019)

Behind the 8 Ball (2019)In 2019, Behind the 8 Ball won the Award of Merit at the Southern Shorts Awards Festival. While I couldn’t find the film online, I tracked down the festival’s director, who connected me to the film’s director Alejo Perera. In 14 years of writing this blog, I’ve connected with many, many film directors, and every one of them – except one – was happy to share their film with me. But, Mr. Perera replied to my inquiry quite differently. “You do not have permission to publish or list the film in the 8 Ball on the Silver Screen webpage. Please stop making efforts to obtain it.” Was the film that bad? So, my search continues. If you know anything about the film’s whereabouts, let me know.

“Behind the 8 Ball,” Bar Rescue (2021)

Like many hospitality establishments that emerged from COVID to reopen their doors, Griff’s Bar and Billiards in Las Vegas financially struggled. It didn’t help that the owner, Mark Griffin, who had a double lung transplant, got sick and needed to rely heavily on his general manager, Gary. Mark suspected the issue was not his 26 pool tables spanning 10,500 square feet; the problem was food and alcohol. What’s an owner to do but “pull back the doors, bust open the books, and make a call for Bar Rescue.” 

Bar Rescue - Behind the Eight BallThat’s the premise of the 2021 “Behind the 8 Ball” episode. Unlike the “Empty Pockets” episode from 2013, this one doesn’t focus on revitalizing billiards. It’s all about food quality (and unit costs), operational efficiency, a signature cocktail menu, and a management shakeup.  (Host Jon Taffer’s prescription is a little surprising, since the pool tables always appear empty, but I guess that interfered with the story arc.) There is one innovative, billiards-themed drink introduced – the Pool Cue Punch – but looking at their drink menu today, that cocktail has since been replaced with other pool potables, including the South Dakota Kid, the Color of Money, and the Duchess of Doom. “Behind the 8 Ball” is available to stream on Paramount+.

Behind the 8-Ball (2021)

Aside from its mention on IMDB, there is no trace of Zaman Khan’s short film Behind the 8-Ball about a man (Vincent) who experiences some strange occurrences in his home during his pool game. If you know anything about the film’s whereabouts, let me know.

Behind the 8 Ball (2024)

Behind the 8 Ball (2024)Unfortunately, I’m not going to recoup the 11 minutes I spent watching the 2024 short film Behind the 8 Ball.  The premise is intriguing: a professional gambler schemes with a naive pool player, but they come into conflict with a secret society controlling the world with pool. Even if I gave a pass to the poor acting and writing, I’m retching  over the repeated use of the miniature, portable pool table. The only interesting moment is when the rack of the billiards balls is equated with other similar triangular symbols, such as the Great Seal of the United States with its floating Eye of Providence, the Freemason logo, and the Triquetra (or the Irish Trinity Knot). The movie is viewable from the director’s website. But, remember that the triangular shape also appears as the universal warning icon, as in, “Warning: Do Not Watch.” 

Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball (2025)

Mr Doom.v4In 2023, I interviewed Leif Johnson about his forthcoming movie Mr Doom. At that time, the film had no subtitle. Now, fast-forward to the film’s release in 2025, and the film’s marketing has appended the subtitle Behind the 8 Ball. It’s a baffling and ultimately pointless decision. For starters, the film can stand on its own. As I shared in my review, it’s an enjoyable homage to The Color of Money – a film that thankfully avoided any “behind the eight ball” addendums. Mr Doom is also a unique title within the billiards movie genre. Unless some poor sap mistook it for a 38th entry in the MCU, I’m pretty confident the film didn’t warrant a marketing tagline that screams, “I’m about billiards!”

Behind the 8 Ball (2026)

Behind the 8 Ball (2026)The most recent entrant to “Behind the Eight Ball” zeitgeist is the high school student film Behind the 8 Ball released this May. That’s not a typo. The film was made by Olio Road Productions, a film production company created and run by Jeremiah Follis, a teacher at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers, Indiana. An extension of the school’s Film Studio program, Olio Road Productions assembles students from across the high school and tasks them with every component that goes into making a full-length movie. Casting, acting, set design, scriptwriting, costumes, makeup, music, artwork – it’s all done by high school students over the course of the school year.  This year’s film is about a financially troubled high school senior who bets her future on a pool tournament, only to discover the real game is deciding what kind of life she wants to live. While I have not yet connected with Mr. Follis to watch the film, a trailer is available on the company’s website.

By this point, I hope you no longer feel ‘behind the eight ball’ about your knowledge of movies and TV episodes spawned by the popular phrase. I also hope it’s many years before I’m telling you about the next Behind the Eight Ball film, but I suspect it will likely only be months (or weeks). As for me, I’m going to resist the temptation to now explore the etymology of the phrase “behind the nine ball,” especially if the atrocious billiards movie Behind the Nine is any indication of what lies ahead.

96 Pounds of Dynamite

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I say this in the most positive way possible: there is nothing inherently novel about a pool player with disabilities. 

96 Pounds of DynamiteIn the early 1900s, “Handless” George Sutton, with no arms below the elbows, competed against professionals like Willie Hoppe. Across the pond, the one-armed champion Arthur Goundrill was making famous trick shots. Today, Jason Ruggirello competes in the Mid-Michigan American Pool Players Association, though he’s legally blind. William DeYonker is a world-renowned trick shot player who was diagnosed with autism at age 4. Mohammad Ikram is an armless snooker sensation from Pakistan. And, of course, Shane Van Boening is one of the greatest living players, though he is legally deaf. 

All of these individuals are impressive and admirable, and to this list, we should add 52-year-old Chad “Shorty” McDaniel, who was born with brittle bone disease (Osteogenesis Imperfecta), diagnosed to have six weeks to live, and today competes in regional and national amateur pool championships.

But, that’s not what makes 96 Pounds of Dynamite, a 2026 documentary about Mr. McDaniel, so incredibly compelling. If the director Loren Goldfarb simply wanted to make a film about a disabled individual defying expectations by competing in pool, he could have chosen any number of people. In fact, billiards may be one of the only sports that has professional venues for disabled players, including the National Wheelchair Poolplayers Association (NWPA) and the World Disability Billiards and Snooker (WDBS).

Rather, 96 Pounds of Dynamite entertains and inspires because Mr. McDaniel is truly 96 pounds of dynamite – his self-coined sobriquet! Whether seated in his 300-pound Big Bounder wheelchair, or “scooting” across the room, Mr. McDaniel crackles with energy, humor, irreverence, and moxie. From the film’s opening words – “I’ve had people stare at me my whole life” – Mr. McDaniel demands that his viewer abandon any kind of pity party and instead not only respect him, but even envy him for a life that brims with love, friendship, and accomplishment.

“People are going to naturally go, ‘Oh, the poor little handicapped guy.’ Once I open my mouth, I shut that shit down real quick…Napoleon complex, here. That ship sailed off the other way a long time ago,” quips Mr. McDaniel. “I don’t see difficulties the way you normies see them…Adapt and overcome, that’s who I am,” he shares, repeating a refrain that easily could have been the film’s alternate title. 

96 Pounds of Dynamite - Chad at tableOn the surface, 96 Pounds of Dynamite is about Mr. McDaniel’s pursuit to compete in the American Poolplayers Association (APA) Championship, the world’s largest amateur pool tournament, with almost $1 million of prize money. Held at the Westgate Resort in Las Vegas, the tournament has more than 3500 players competing. 

Mr. McDaniel first began shooting pool at age 11. “That pool table don’t care if you’re 2’8” or 6’8”, the game’s the same,” he explains. He plays with a custom bridge that “evolved as an engineering project.” It was originally something his father made for him with PVC pipe; today it is a ¾ inch metal conduit with 10-penny nails welded at various positions. A custom cue with a 30-inch fiber extension allows him to get the necessary reach across the table. 

Throughout the film, Mr. McDaniel’s shot–making varies between amazing and terrible. “Some days you’re the dog, some days you’re the hydrant,” he japes. (The film is overflowing with such memorable witticisms.) It’s initially fascinating to watch Mr. McDaniel shoot, and then it’s rather mundane, much like watching any amateur player. 

But, Mr. Goldfarb prudently doesn’t allow 96 Pounds of Dynamite to get overweighted by the billiards; in fact, pool is probably less than a third of the film’s 79-minute runtime.

Instead, Mr. Goldfarb expertly weaves in a detailed medical explanation of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI); a brief history of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); and a return to rural Columbia, Mississippi, where Mr. McDaniel grew up and encountered discrimination first-hand, such as the school’s efforts to make him the trunk of the Christmas tree in the school play or to schedule the honor classes on the second floor, inaccessible because there was no elevator. Even his wheelchair became the topic of a lawsuit.

96 Pounds of Dynamite - Chad smilingAlong the way, we also meet Mr. McDaniel’s wife Allison (who also has OI), his mother Jensie, and his pool league friends. There is plenty of laughter and, sadly, plenty of loss concentrated in the short number of months when filming was underway.  

I won’t give away how the tournament concludes, but I will say 96 Pounds of Dynamite is a positive, upbeat movie that leaves no question that Mr. McDaniel “likes living life.” He “do[es] life.” May the rest of us follow his wheelchair tracks.

96 Pounds of Dynamite is now streaming on Amazon and AppleTV. It includes a cameo appearance by the “Striking Viking,” APA Ambassador Ewa Mataya Laurance, and is executive produced by Jeanette “Black Widow” Lee, who knows a thing or two about overcoming obstacles.

O Jogo Da Vida

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The silver screen is crammed with colorful, beautiful pool hustlers, ranging from the genre’s most famous sharks – Fast Eddie Felson (The Hustler), Vincent Lauria (The Color of Money), Johnny Doyle (Poolhall Junkies) – to the lesser-known, but equally eccentric and striking  players – e.g. Diana (Double Down South), Billy Joe Doyle (The Baron and the Kid), and Jesse (Hard Luck Love Song).

O Jogo Da VidaMalagueta, Perus and Bacanaço, the trio at the center of Maurice Capovilla’s 1977 Brazilian film O Jogo Da Vida definitely break the mold. They live on the periphery, in the underbelly, stealing food, wearing ill-fitting clothing, and barely eking out a living. Roaming dirty streets and decrepit pool halls, the threesome cannily survive, seeking out brief pockets of joy or lucre in an otherwise colorless and relentless São Paulo.

O Jogo Da Vida  is an adaptation of the 1963 short story “Malagueta, Perus e Bacanaço” by João Antônio. It is the titular centerpiece of his debut collection, Malagueta, Perus e Bacanaço, which examined the upheaval and transformation of 1960s Brazil through the eyes and actions of hustlers, gamblers, and pool sharks who flitter on the periphery of society, angling for a dollar and navigating an urban jungle of poverty, grift and marginality. The story presents the streets as unpredictable and unforgiving, but also as a central hub of misfit camaraderie. 

Critics loved the stories, heralding Antônio as the new voice of urban modernism. Perhaps, it’s therefore unsurprising that the director Capovilla assumed translating the story to the screen would be similarly profound. He cast a trio of highly acclaimed Brazilian actors as Malagueta, the inveterate gambler, Perus, the ex-factory worker who quit assembly-line labor to pursue billiards professionally, and Bacanaço, a cunning swindler. He also hired several of the country’s top sinuca players, including Carne Frita, Joaquinzinho, and João Gaúcho, as well as João Bosco to compose the jazzy score. And yet, with all that horsepower, the movie is…meh. You can watch it (in Portuguese) below. (1)

O Jogo Da Vida unfolds over a single night, beginning with Bacanaco observing Perus’ sinuca talent and recruiting him for some informal matches. Malagueta joins shortly after, and the peripatetic trio begin their late-night hustling odyssey. They win some games (early on), watch some games (midway through the movie), and lose some games (anticlimactic ending). And life goes on.

O JogoAlong the journey, Capovilla attempts to humanize the characters by weaving in flashbacks with spouses and girlfriends: Malagueta was recently evicted from his shanty, rendering him homeless. Perus is unable to reconcile his decision to swap a career in construction for billiards with the needs of his marriage. Bacanaço has a history of small-time cons and abusive, troubled relationships. 

The characters are gritty and tenacious, but the narrative has little movement and a plodding pace. We neither root for nor against this trio; we simply observe. Even the scenes focused on sinuca, which is a billiards variant specific to Brazil, lacked oomph. In fact, one scene was literally just watching the professional player Carne Frita clear the table in front of a group of onlookers.

O Jogo.2O Jogo.4O Jogo.3O Jogo.1O Jogo.5Apparently, the movie was released with little fanfare or critical reaction, except for one key voice: the story’s original author João Antônio. Upon the film’s release, he publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the adaptation, “contending that the filmmakers had modified the original text excessively, altering key narrative elements and character motivations in ways that diluted the story’s raw, proletarian edge.”(2)

 

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  1. As someone who doesn’t speak or understand Portuguese, I recognize my review is both limited and flawed and cannot appreciate the full film. I did my best to understand the movie through a combination of watching the film with Chrome’s accessibility settings (i.e., live translation, live captioning) enabled, and reading articles about the film.
  2. https://grokipedia.com/page/o_jogo_da_vida#ref-18

Snooker Man

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Perhaps as a subconscious tribute to the late Rob Reiner, director of This Is Spinal Tap, the greatest mockumentary ever made, I am kicking off 2026 with a review of the 2024 UK film Snooker Man, which won’t be entering the pantheon of great mockumentaries any time soon.

Snooker ManThat’s not to say the premise isn’t clever:  Johnny “Snooker Man” Bonnar, the 17th-rated lookalike for the great world snooker champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, stumbles into an avocation in miniature snooker and pursues a path to challenge the reigning champion Wolfgang in the World Championship of Miniature Snooker (WCMS).

Humorously, the genesis of this original film concept began with Snooker Man director Pete Casserly winning a “best adult short film award” at the Dorking Film Festival in 2020. Casserly’s film was about someone trying to audition for a role as Rodney Trotter, the lead of a musical version of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. In Casserly’s film, the lead actor, Nick Hayles, is said to look like Bruce Campbell, the star of Sam Raimi’s famous cult film Evil Dead. While it’s a decent resemblance, Casserly’s mother said Hayles looked much more like Ronnie O’Sullivan. And, so the germs of the mockumentary Snooker Man were born.

Snooker Man starts on a high note. The opening credits pay tribute to the James Bond movie Skyfall with the fluid graphics, dissolving and reassembling motifs, balletic characters, and super-imposed silhouettes (of a snooker player!). The title song “Snooker Man,” sung by Nekane, also harkens to Adele’s “Skyfall” in musical tone, though hardly in lyrics (“The ladies want him | The gentlemen want to be him | He’s a snooker man”).

But, it’s not too long before you not only realize the film has nothing to do with James Bond, aside from featuring a Daniel Craig impersonator who acts out scenes from Casino Royale, but also that the rest of the movie is not nearly as clever.

Nick Hayles

The 17th-rated Ronnie O’Sullivan lookalike

First, we are introduced to Johnny Bonarr (Nick Hayles) and his pitiable career starring in terrible movies, such as The Girl With Two Masks; To Kill a Princess; and Chihuahua Man. (Making this even more twisted is these clips are from real movies created by Casserly, who shared in an interview that by inserting these clips, “I kind of made fun of how terrible they were as an apology to the actors who unfortunately had to take part in them!”)

Ronnie Photo

The real Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan

Johnny made these films with Barry Keane (Stephen Sheridan), an unaccomplished director who unsuccessfully aims to double for British stage thespian Toby Jones. When that fails, Keane launches Prestige Lookalikes, the UK’s lowest-rated lookalike agency, and hires Johnny to double as Ronnie O’Sullivan. He’s the 17th-ranked lookalike, which everyone agrees is pretty pathetic, given he’s impersonating the world’s #1 rated snooker player.

Johnny’s deteriorating career takes an unsuspecting u-turn, when he needs to emulate The Rocket by shooting on a 36” snooker table. His performance, or rather the fact there is a film crew on the premises capturing his cue strokes, enrages  the sport’s reigning foul-mouthed champion, Wolfgang, who challenges him to a future match. Soon, there is a new miniature snooker wunderkind making waves, and his name is Snooker Man, a player even capable of running a 147 break in under four minutes.

Now, I’m more than happy to watch a competitive match of a miniaturized sport, especially one that I love as much as billiards. And, miniature sports are not as outlandish as one might think. Fun fact: there are real, professional world championships of miniature golf, miniature soccer (i.e., foosball), table hockey, and Subbuteo table football. And, as the director Casserley notes in an interview, there are also world championships for everything from cup stacking to Rubik’s Cube solving to air guitar playing. So, is miniature snooker really such a stretch? 

Snooker Mani image1

Notice something missing from that table?

But, match after match after match starts to get downright dull, a far cry from the “nonstop thrill ride of ball potting action” that the WCMS marketing promises. A rogue’s gallery of opponents, including The Ambassador and Hong Kong’s reigning champ Queenie, does little to enliven the atmosphere. And the final match, pitting Snooker Man against Wolfgang, is predictable, unenjoyable, and unforgivable for not even having the right number of balls on the snooker table.

The movie’s post-credits, which include Snooker Man embarrassingly performing his new K-pop single “Baegman Janga (Millionaire J)” that reached 287th in the Korean music charts, only cement the film’s downward creative spiral from its opening credits.

Snooker Man is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. For a limited time, it is also currently streaming for free on YouTube.

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O Canada, Our Home of Three Billiards Short Films

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No disrespect to Alex Pagulayan, Cliff Thornburn, or “Big Bill” Werbeniuk, but Canada is not often top-of-mind when one thinks about global billiards hot spots. So I always get a bit excited when I stumble across billiards movies from our neighbors to The North. 

Granted, there is very little actual billiards across these three Canadian short films – Pool, Face Cachée, and The Billiard Shot – but each nonetheless tips its toque to the sport, and therefore deserves review.

Pool

Canadian billiards film - PoolDirector Clayton Holmes makes every second count in his three-minute short film Pool from 2015, which is available to watch on Vimeo. As a countdown clock perilously ticks, our tattooed hero must sink every ball on a glass-topped pool table before it fills up with water and drowns the bikini-clad woman trapped beneath it. This may sound like Ian Fleming spyfare, but credit to Mr. Holmes who avoids any dialogue and uses our hero literally diving into the pool table to time shift and alert us that we’re in fact watching the imaginative mind of a shy tween, who only wants to gather up enough courage to talk to the young girl of his dreams stepping out of the swimming pool. 

Mr. Holmes shared with me that he was in VFX school and came up with the idea of a guy diving into a pool table.  “It took forever to finish the shot so I figured I would make a short film around it.  The visual effects were tricky but the hardest part of all was finding someone with a swimming pool in Vancouver.”

The Billiard Shot

Canadian billiards film - The Billiard ShotFast forward three years, and director EJ Levy releases The Billiard Shot at the end of 2018. Filmed in Calgary, Alberta, the three-minute film depicts “a mob boss who sends out a hit on the man who is suspected of killing his brother, and meets his own fate when confronted by the grieving brother of the murdered suspect.”

Shot in black-and-white, with minimal dialogue, and plenty of jarring camera angles and out-of-focus shots, the film stumbles in its attempt to mirror the eerie, melodic desperation of Bessie Smith’s “My Sweetie Went Away” that plays in the background. The billiards balls and break are part of the smoke-filled background, but serve no real purpose in supporting the film’s narrative or mood.

Face Cachée

Canadian billiards film - Face CacheeRounding out the trinity is Nicolas Lecavalier’s 2024 student film, Face Cachée, produced by O’Sullivan College in Montreal. Translated to “Hidden Faces,” the six-minute film is about a mysterious murder in Colonel Mustard’s basement that forces three friends to discover the killer. The possible suspects include Mademoiselle Scarlett, Professeur Plum, and Madame Pervenche, so you’re right to think it’s an alternate take on the popular board game Clue. The film is available to watch below.

Unfortunately, much like Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 eponymous movie, there’s very little billiards played in the film (and worse, there seems to be two 3-balls on the table), but it’s hard not to appreciate these students having a fun time making this literal whodunit. Personally, my favorite part of the film was the Saul Bass-style animated end sequence credits, with the abstract cut-out figures playing pool as the Shtriker Big Band rewards our ears with the song, “Play, Play, Play.” Smart decisions all around, just like Madame Pervenche’s winning pronouncement.

Mirrors in Triumph

Canadian billiards film - Mirrors in Triumph

Finally, if you can’t get enough from the Land of Maple Leaf, then buckle up in your Beaumont, and get ready for the feature-length film Mirrors in Triumph. The movie premiered in January 2025 at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario. It played at some festivals, won some awards, and most likely will be moved to a fully public status on YouTube, according to its writer and director Era Era Films.

The movie’s genesis started a decade ago, when the director, an Ottawa native, spent the latter half of their high school career at The Orange Monkey pool hall. That planted the seed for the movie’s concept, which subsequently turned into a script. On a shoestring budget, filming began in mid-2022 and post-production continued through most of 2023. Described as an “unapologetically Canadian project,” the movie focuses on a billiards fanatic, who struggles to adjust to the ever changing world around him.

Learn more about the film here and watch the trailer below.  The director sent me a private link to the film, so I look forward to sharing my review in the near future.

 

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Ronnie O’Sullivan: Seventh Heaven

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I have uncovered a blogging blind spot.

While I’ve posted about billiards players, from Jeanette Lee to Alex HIggins, from Willie Hoppe to Willie Misconi, from Cisero Murphy to Wilson Jones, I’ve noticed a glaring omission.

Not only is this player the focus of two separate documentaries and (loosely) one parody movie, but he also has traveled across the ocean for a documentary mini-series on pool hustlers, headlined his own TV show, co-authored three crime novels, and been involved in multiple video games. 

Yet, in 13 years of blogging, I’ve never written about him until now.

Seventh HeavenTo “The Rocket” Ronnie O’Sullivan, I say I’m sorry. You will be the focus of a lot more blog entries coming soon.

But, now that I’ve appropriately apologized, I’m tasked with reviewing Ronnie O’Sullivan: Seventh Heaven, the first major documentary to profile the seven-time World Snooker Champion, and it’s not too pretty.  

Produced by Eurosport and aired in 2022, Seventh Heaven is a one-on-one interview between O’Sullivan and Alan McManus, a retired professional snooker player, who is now a Eurosport pundit. Chronicling O’Sullivan’s life, primarily from his first World Championship win in 2001 against John Higgins to his seventh win in 2022 against Judd Trump, Seventh Heaven blurs the line between documentary and hagiography. Enraptured with O’Sullivan’s career and accomplishments, McManus gushes and glows with admiration and adulation for the Rocket. His feats and records are magnificent; his faults and shortcomings are minimized, if not ignored. Indeed, this is the story of St. Ronnie ascending the pearly gates. 

To be clear, O’Sullivan’s accomplishments are beyond incredible. His skills on the table, which are wonderfully clipped throughout the film as each World Championship win is packaged to perfection, are jaw-dropping. His 147 maximum break at the 1997 World Championship is a Guinness record in competitive play. He has achieved more than 1300 century breaks in his career. He has also won a record eight Masters titles and a record eight UK Championship titles for a total of 23 Triple Crown titles, the most achieved by any player. 

For those who follow the sport, O’Sullivan’s superhuman skill is not news. And, indeed there is joy in watching Seventh Heaven as a highlight reel. But, how much more interesting would this documentary have been if it had adequately dressed O’Sullivan’s darker side, such as his drug and alcohol abuse, his experienced depression, or his controversial comments that have led to him getting disciplined multiple times?

RonnieThankfully, there are a handful of times when McManus presses pause on the canonizing, such as when O’Sullivan discusses the loss of his father, his “backbone,” when a “part of [him] disappeared…and [he] lost his mojo.” Or, O’Sullivan briefly speaks about his panic attacks in 2000 that led to his first “snooker depression” against John Higgins. McManus even tsk-tsks O’Sullivan for disrespecting Alan Robidoux at the 1996 World Championship when he started to play him left-handed.

But, these moments are fleeting. Too much of Seventh Heaven is a paean to the Saint of Snooker. It’s a greatest hits of World Championship footage that is otherwise overcrowded by surface-level homilies and genuine reflections that don’t exactly rock the baize. 

If you’re a snooker fanatic, Seventh Heaven is probably canonical viewing; for the rest of us, let’s hope Ronnie O’Sullivan: The Edge of Everything, the documentary from Studio 99 that aired one year later, proves to be a more compelling watch.

Night To Be Gone

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Tell me if this sounds familiar:

A guy walks into a pool hall, plays some games for money, and promptly loses. With a little luck, he wins on an “impossible” shot and then doubles his earnings by again making the same impossible shot. Feeling cocksure, he seeks out the best known player in town for a much bigger pot.  He goes on a roll, winning multiple games, but then gets psychologically battered and ultimately loses everything. Determined to regain his stature, he tries to make some quick buck hustling. It goes well for a while, until he hustles the wrong person and gets his arms fractured. A woman rehabilitates him, loves him, and helps him regain his confidence. He returns to finally beat the best known player, but his victory comes with a very painful price.

Night to be GoneOf course, I’m summarizing The Hustler.  Except I’m not. (Perhaps, the fractured arms rather than broken thumbs was the giveaway). I’m actually describing Night To Be Gone, an English-language billiards movie from Loren David Marsh that first released in Germany in January 2024, and is now available to watch on Amazon Prime.

Night To Be Gone is the story of Omer (Alpha Omer Cissé), a young West African refugee with a difficult family history, and Carine (Sylvaine Faligant), a recovering heroin addict from Marseille. They are itinerant grifters who both bring a lot of metaphoric baggage to the baize. Pool hustling is a path to fast cash. They arrive in Berlin so they can ultimately challenge The Sultan, a notorious and mysterious pool hustler to an all-night showdown of 10-ball with a minimum pot of 10,000 Euros. Each game is 1,000 Euros, and the match is not over until the money runs out or both players decide to quit.  Not surprisingly, they get hustled by The Sultan, who preys on their egos and erodes their cool veneer with racist and suggestive taunts. They lose all their money, forcing them to re-evaluate their get-rich-quick plans and ultimately their relationship with one another. 

Let me start with the favorable, as there are a handful of elements in Night To be Gone that are impressive – and distinct from The Hustler. The boldest and most interesting decision is that Omer is a dark-skinned, outsider from West Africa. He is an alien, a cypher to everyone he meets. But, this allows Omer to engage in some very intentional social engineering. Pool hustling is already a form of psychological manipulation. Omer compounds it by assuming racial identities that further this psychological influence. (This is both ironic and interesting, given the Sultan’s “African Prince” jeers contributed to Omer’s initial unraveling.) Among the conservative Bavarian businessmen, Omer is a welfare recipient. Playing against the liberals, he is a poor African whose village burned down. He is a drug dealer in one game, a bebopping hipster in another. Ever the racial chameleon, Omer engages people in underestimating him, which becomes their weakness, at least until it backfires on Omer when two Bauerntrampel don’t appreciate being hustled. 

Night to Be Gone.1Night To Be Gone is also a beautifully shot film. With its atmospheric black-and-white photography by Vlad Margulis and Florian Wurzer, and its eerie electronic scoring by Paul Brody, the film evokes a noirish 1940s aesthetic. Further contributing to this style is the movie’s pacing, selection of settings, and unsettling camera techniques. It works especially well for the filming of the billiards shots. Nothing feels rushed or manic; the shots are not contrived. It’s a game played for an audience of no one.

Unfortunately, these positives get overshadowed by billiards movie déjà vu, that gnawing sense we’ve seen this exact movie before. Night To Be Gone doesn’t feel like a tribute to The Hustler, certainly not the way the recently-reviewed Mr Doom felt like an ode to The Color of Money.  Rather, Night To be Gone feels like it’s trying to be The Hustler. As such, there is no suspense, no uncertainty, no question what will happen or how it will end. 

Arguably, Night To Be Gone is better classified as a remake of The Hustler. The British director Mark Murphy says, “a successful remake requires a delicate balance. It must simultaneously respect the original, bring something new to the table and feature effective casting. When these elements coalesce, the end product is a film that pays tribute to its predecessor while confidently standing on its own.” 

In this case, the “something new” is race – not just the casting of Omer, but the use of race as it pertains to hustling. Such terrain has been covered in other con artist/hustling movies – e.g., White Men Can’t Jump; Six Degrees of Separation; The Distinguished Gentleman – but never in billiards.

This feels like an accurate take on Night To Be Gone, except the director Marsh disputed it, claiming The Hustler is “an inspiration,” nothing more. If it’s not a remake, why does it feel like one? If it is a remake, why not lean into it?

Ultimately, it probably doesn’t matter. This cinematic conjecture is the milieu of film critics who can work themselves into a tizzy parsing meaning and pontificating to an audience of no one, when the real question is whether the film is entertaining. And, on that topic, Night To Be Gone holds its own. 

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Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball

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Every pool hustling movie lives in the shadow of The Hustler and its sequel The Color of Money, the modern apotheosis of the genre, which is ironic given the film was released almost 40 years ago. Most of these films are cinematic wannabes, kowtowing to TCOM without much originality or innovation. 

Mr Doom.1Certainly, that was the reaction within the billiardsphere earlier this month when it was announced that Robert DeNiro and Jenna Ortega would star in Shutout, a forthcoming movie about a seasoned hustler guiding a talented young player in the world of high-stakes pool. To quote Billiards_Watch from the AZ Billiards Forum, “That’s the most played out script and looks to be another Hollywood recycle…This is The Color of Money remade except it’s rebranded with another title.” 

So, director Leif Johnson is walking the plank a bit with his new billiards movie, Mr Doom: Behind the 8 Ball. Released on Amazon this past March, Mr Doom doesn’t try to hide its lineage; on the contrary, the film embraces it, starting with the title, which is an overt reference to the name of Vince’s Balabushka cue in TCOM. The film’s marketing is even more explicit, referring to Mr Doom as “reimagining The Color of Money in a small-town setting.” 

While the idolatry is on full display, Mr Doom ultimately carves out original ground and a touching story about the unlikely friendship between the film’s two main characters, Charlie and Jack, that both harkens to the relationship between Fast Eddie and Vince and still feels distinctly different.

Mr Doom.v4Charlie (Danny Parsons) is the Fast Eddie of this pairing. Emitting a smoothness somewhere between Jason Statham and Idris Elba, Charlie is a seasoned hustler, who sees an opportunity to score big if he can tame Jack (Danny Sutcliffe), a self-destructive sot who is surprisingly adept with a cue stick. Jack is the movie’s Vince, except he looks like a Northern English Wavy Gravy; a hippie version of “Bobby Elvis” Munson from Sons of Anarchy; a drunken mix of Captain Lou Albano and The Dude from The Big Lebowski.  Except the megawatt smile and the arm candy named Carmen have been replaced with a rats nest of a food-caked beard and a front-seat handjob from a hooker.

Initially, Charlie and Jack seem like they’re from different worlds. Disgusted by Jack’s boorishness and vulgarity, Charlie hustles him, taking advantage of Jack’s inebriation while pretending to also drink. (There is also a drunken spinoff of Vince’s “Werewolves of London” chest-thumping scene from TCOM.) Having humiliated Jack, Charlie then attempts to harness him, putting him in his debt while teaching him how to hustle pool. Echoes of TCOM abound.

But, the movie turns an emotional corner as we realize beneath Charlie’s cool exterior is his own wreckage of ruined relationships; similarly, behind Jack’s ogrish veneer are pockets of warmth and loyalty to something other than a vodka bottle. As their two backstories collide into one another, a fragile tie starts to unite them and ultimately cements itself in a final 9-ball match against a former partner of Charlie’s. 

Interspersed throughout Mr Doom is a hefty dose of blackball (English 8-ball) and 9-ball, which is interesting, given the tendency of most British billiards films to focus exclusively on snooker. (Perhaps, a bit more puzzling is the decision to film with a spotted cue ball.) While the games aren’t novel, the filming of the games is fast-paced and dynamic, a style intended to emulate that of Edgar Wright, according to Mr. Johnson. 

I’d be challenged to call Mr Doom groundbreaking or even a great movie. But, for those that enjoy entertaining characters, a well-crafted story, and a fresh take on a familiar film, then Mr Doom is worth the watch.

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ChuckleVision – “Big Break”

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I’ll give the viscount credit. He’s got a lot of patience.

Consider: mud is tracked all over his Persian rug; his early Bronze Age sculpture gets broken; his Carrara marble cherub statue is stolen then damaged; the foundation of his mansion partially collapses; his Rembrandt painting is used as a serving tray; and he is deluded into thinking his pet fish was fried and served for lunch.

But, all of that pales into comparison to the real horror committed by Barry and Paul Chuckle, the two  brothers who have been contracted to install the viscount’s new snooker table .

That’s the premise of the “Big Break” episode of ChuckleVision, a British children’s comedy series that ran for 292 episodes from 1987 to 2009. It starred real-life brothers, Barry and Paul Elliott, as the Chuckle brothers, a pair of endearing half-wits who often get into laughable trouble due to Paul’s oversized confidence and Barry’s attempts to clean up his mess.  “Big Break,” presumably named after the popular Big Break snooker game show, aired in 2007.(1) The full episode is available to watch here.

For children watching this episode, there are some obvious lessons. Don’t serve food on a Rembrandt. Don’t serve food from Barney’s Chippy to “a bunch of posh people.” But, the snooker care lessons may be a little more obfuscated, so let’s dig in.

For starters, you really don’t need to worry about two dunderheads absconding with your snooker table. It’s just too heavy. Given the viscount’s social standing, he presumably ordered the installation of a full-size 12’x6’ snooker table. Even if the Chuckle brothers mistakenly built it on the patio rather than in the basement, they could never undo the mistake by moving it by themselves, as it weighs approximately 2,755 pounds. 

Now, admittedly, the table does look rather small, so perhaps the viscount cheaped out and bought a six- or seven-foot table. Even at that size, the table would weigh 375-450 pounds, much too much for Paul and his pipsqueak brother to carry.

Even if one could move a fully assembled snooker table,  never try to move it down stairs without taking it apart. Barry surfaces unharmed when the table he’s carrying down the stairs falls. But, in practice, even a small table would have a gravitational acceleration of 9.8 m/s² (assuming a 10-foot vertical drop), which would release 6000 joules of energy – the equivalent of a severe car accident or a significant blunt trauma event.

ChuckleVisionBut, somehow the Chuckle brothers do get the fully installed table into the basement, only to put it in a room with insufficient space around the table to properly set up shots. At a minimum, this table requires a 15’x12’ sized room; instead the table is stuck in a tight storage room. It’s no wonder Paul damages the walls attempting to pot a ball. 

The large hole in the wall introduces a new problem, which is compounded by the mansion’s collapsing foundation. The table is now exposed to outside temperatures.  But, indoor tables, made of hardwoods, felt, and other delicate materials that are prone to damage, require a controlled indoor environment with a constant temperature and low humidity levels. No one is playing world professional snooker on this table. It doesn’t require a 21 degree Celsius playing surface, but surely greater temperature control is necessary.

Finally, wherever you install your table, don’t put it directly under a fish tank. Water can cause stains, warping and, worse, mildew. Even our lamebrain contractors know that, as it’s only when the tank’s water starts pouring out of the ceiling onto the table does Barry suggest to the viscount an alternative to playing snooker: “How about some pool?”

*****

  1. “Big Break” was not the first ChuckleVision episode to reference snooker. As early as the season one (1987) “Sport” episode, the brothers were reporting on the sport.

Extraction, USA

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Extraction 1Here’s the good news: aside from the similar title, there’s no confusing the low-budget, quasi-billiards movie Extraction, USA with the $65 million Chris Hemsworth one-man-army action movie Extraction. In fact, the sum of the “action” in Extraction USA is a man getting beaned in the head with a billiard ball. 

Here’s the bad news: if you thought Extraction was a painful watch (and I’m not referring to all the literal pain Hemsworth afflicts on the Bangladeshi hooligans and drug lords), then you’re in for a difficult 90 minutes with Extraction, USA.

Directed by Mike Yonts and released on Tubi last November, Extraction, USA tells the story of Marni (Leanne Johnson), a single mother, and Steph (Marlee Carpenter), a mysterious drifter, who initially connect by hustling pool and then form a romantic relationship that is tested through the discovery of an underground drug ring. Underpinning all their sharking and derring-do is an urgent need to escape Extraction, the metonymic town named for the industry that supports it, and start a new life far, far away.

The industry, whether it’s fracking or something comparable, contaminates the air and water, creating an urban stink and making the city borderline unlivable and mostly impoverished. The typical lament is that there are a “few extraction millionaires and the rest of us fighting over the scraps.” Against this polluted backdrop, it’s no wonder that Leanne hustles pool for a few extra dollars so she can keep her son in school and avoid having him become a “muck kid.” 

Extraction, USAThen, along comes Steph, a platinum-haired gypsy, whose sojourn somehow has led her to the Time Out Lounge in middle-of-nowhere Extraction, and it’s love at first break. The chemistry dials up to 11 quickly, and pretty soon our sapphic duo are living together, telling lies to Marni’s uber-gullible son, sneaking into deep-pocket pool games, and eventually planning a heist to steal some drugs that “are like rocket fuel for the mucks” to get them to work harder.

Plotwise, it’s preposterous, but nothing is as absurd as the pool-training and pool-playing sprinkled throughout the first half of the film. After learning that Leanne is the best player in town, Steph trounces her and then becomes her Fast Eddie coach, showing her how to make… wait for it… straight-on shots. It’s Pool For Dummies, with high fives abounding after the simplest of shots. In case the nod to The Color of Money was missed, Leanne quotes Paul Newman’s character on two different occasions: “money won is twice as sweet as money earned.”

The games involving hustling are nominally more interesting, solely because of “quake rules” (i.e., if there is a tremor caused by a local extraction and the balls move, they’re played wherever they land). But, those games are filmed unimaginatively, with a sole jump shot breaking the monotony.  (I don’t know how much Tammy “Lefty61935” Anderson, the credited “billiards trainer” earned for this film, but she was overpaid.)

It’s not that Extraction, USA lacks heart or grit. The makers of the film said it was “one of the toughest tasks any of us ever attempted. Like most indie film crews, we put in some long days and endured all sorts of uncertainty about locations, vehicles, and funding.” 

But, shoestring budgets can yield great films. Look at Rocky or Mad Max or Halloween.(1) So, that’s a challenge to conquer, but not the underlying issue.

Extraction 2Rather, it’s the film’s desire to be a little of everything that ultimately turns it into a mishmash of nothing.  Per the makers, “On one level the film is about crime and action, but if you look a little deeper, it says some interesting things about income inequality, the environment, and men and women in the workplace.” 

Therein lies the problem. Extraction, USA triples-down on its multitude of identities. Go to the movie’s website, and the three themes (or “flavors”) – heist, romance, dramedy – are highlighted, each with its own movie poster.

In the zeal to genre-bend and create a movie that is intended to appeal to multiple types of viewers, Extraction USA fumbles through its competing storylines, short changing any real dramatic tension or character evolution.  And by making billiards seminal to the story’s arc, without investing in making the billiards remotely realistic or interesting, the movie completely fizzles, leaving just the stench of extraction in the air.
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  1. Rocky (1976) was made for $1 million and brought in $225 million worldwide. The franchise has grossed $1.9 billion. Mad Max (1979) cost $300,000 and hauled in $100 million. Halloween (1978) was created for $300,000 and raked in over $70 million worldwide. (source: Collider.com)