Special Features:
French Soundtrack

FILM
This is one of the Scorsese films, like Cape Fear, that when you first hear about it, you imagine that he is making it for the studio so he can get funding for some more personal project. What is great about both of these films is how much he is able to subvert what could be a bad remake and turn each picture into a visual and character tour de force.

The Color of Money is a look at the character of Fast Eddie Felson 25 years after The Hustler. If you have never seen The Hustler, at the end of that movie, Eddie is told that his life is in danger if he ever steps into a pool hall to play for money again. (Go rent the movie to get a better understanding.) Eddie has since turned into a successful liquor salesman and it isn't until he meets a young, hotshot pool player named Vince (Tom Cruise) that the old fire for competitive pool is rekindled.

At first he just decides to stake Vince on a six week pool hall tour with an eventual tournament in Atlantic City. His hope is to hustle a lot of money and get Vincent in shape for the tourney. Problems immediately develop with Vince. Vince does not understand the art of the hustle and instead just wants to go out and tear every player to shreds. This is great if you want win a hundred bucks, but to make the real dollars you have to sandbag for a while. This brings in a whole other set of players that think they can beat you. Once the money is out there, you go in for the kill.

The unthinkable then happens when Fast Eddie is actually hustled, and it is at this point he decides he has had enough. He gives Vince and his girlfriend, Carmen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a couple thousand dollars to find their way to Atlantic City and heads back to one of his old pool hall's to get his skills back in order. For those of you who have not seen the film, I will not give away the couple of turns the story takes after this point, but what most impressed me was that Scorsese does not let the ending fall into sports picture cliches.

Unlike some Oscar's that are given for past slights (ie. Al Pacino winning for Scent of a Woman over Denzel Washington as Malcolm X), Paul Newman deservedly won the Oscar for best actor. You feel the sense of loss he feels from the decision he made 25 years ago.  He could have been the greatest. He also has one of the great lines in recent films and that is that "money won is twice as sweet as money earned". Tom Cruise also gives an outstanding performance as the brash, hot shot Vince. There are certain roles that fit Tom Cruise perfectly and this is one of them.

Not to be overlooked is Martin Scorsese's direction. There is no director who has the ability to put you in the middle of a situation better than Scorsese. Whether it is Casino, Goodfellas, Kundun or Raging Bull, I always feel like I have been opened up to a new world after watching one of his films. The most amazing thing is not only that it is something new, but I actually feel like I have become an insider. This film is no exception.

VIDEO
The back cover of this DVD proudly states in a couple of places that the transfer is Enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. This is a complete lie, which really pisses me off. It is obviously a new transfer and why they did not flip the switch to make it Enhanced for Widescreen TV's is beyond me. That being said the picture quality is pretty good. The blacks are not washed out, which gives good overall detail. There are a few scenes where a few digital artifacts creep in, but they are minimal and do not distract ones attention from the movie. 

AUDIO
The back cover states the audio is 4.1 surround but I doubt this. It would be a first for this to be normal Dolby Surround with a LFE (Low Frequency Effects) track. If they went through the trouble of adding the LFE they might as well have made it a full 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack. The sound is quite solid. Everything is up front with solid bass and nice atmospheric use of the surround channels.

EXTRAS
Pathetic.

SUMMARY
Except for the mislabeling on the cover this is a quality disc. Great characters and acting along with Scorsese's masterful directing make this a must have DVD.