Paul Newman died yesterday…

Fast Eddie: Cause, ya see, twice, Sarah… once at Ames with Minnesota Fats and then again at Arthur’s, in that cheap, crummy pool room, now why’d I do it, Sarah? Why’d I do it? I coulda beat that guy, coulda beat ‘im cold, he never woulda known. But I just hadda show ‘im. Just hadda show those creeps and those punks what the game is like when it’s great, when it’s REALLY great. You know, like anything can be great, anything can be great. I don’t care, BRICKLAYING can be great, if a guy knows. If he knows what he’s doing and why and if he can make it come off. When I’m goin’, I mean, when I’m REALLY goin’ I feel like a… like a jockey must feel. He’s sittin’ on his horse, he’s got all that speed and that power underneath him… he’s comin’ into the stretch, the pressure’s on ‘im, and he KNOWS… just feels… when to let it go and how much. Cause he’s got everything workin’ for ‘im: timing, touch. It’s a great feeling, boy, it’s a real great feeling when you’re right and you KNOW you’re right. It’s like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue’s part of me. You know, it’s uh – pool cue, it’s got nerves in it. It’s a piece of wood, it’s got nerves in it. Feel the roll of those balls, you don’t have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody’s ever made before. I can play that game the way… NOBODY’S ever played it before.

Sarah Packard: You’re not a loser, Eddie, you’re a winner. Some men never get to feel that way about anything. 

It’s not so much the great actors are all going now…though that’s sad enough.  It’s that good films with good writing take second place to cheap thrills anymore.  When I was a kid, the cheap thrills were the ‘B’ movies.  Now they’re the ‘A’ list productions that get millions spent on them and the flicks with good stories and great characters are the ‘B’ movies.  Sigh.

People remember Newman and Redford in Butch Cassedy and the Sundance Kid.  But for me it’s The Sting.  And what I really liked about The Sting is that it snookered the audience as thoroughly as Newman and Redford did crime boss Doyle Lonnegan.  And they even give you a glimpse of the sting they’re about to play on you.  There’s a scene right before the big finale where Newman’s character is getting dressed up in front of a mirror, and he puts something in his mouth.  A small capsule of something.  I was sitting in the audience and I saw it and I wondered what it was.  Well, I found out.  Swear to god…I was completely taken in.  It was fun.

When asked why he stayed married to the same woman for 50 years, he said "I have steak at home, why go out for a burger."   I really envy folks like him.  You’re a winner Eddie…