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The DVD ‘The Baron And The Kid‘  starring Johnny Cash is about to be released in the UK on the 26th January 2009.  As we eagerly await the release of this DVD please find a brief synopsis below.  We will provide a DVD review in due course.

Synopsis:
The legendary Johnny Cash stars as William Addington - `The Baron’ - a former pool pro whose lifetime of boozing has cost him his career and family. In a final effort to straighten out his life, he quits drinking and plays pool for charity.

Billy Joe “The Cajun Kid” Stanley (Gregg Webb) is a brash, but gifted, young pool player. Managed by Jack Streamer (Darren McGavin), he travels from hall to hall swindling rivals.

Incredibly Cash discovers that “The Kid” is really his own son and now he has the chance to make amends for the errors of his life. He determines to try to guide the boy while keeping his real identity a secret.

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Newman, Cruise and a whole lot of pool action

Martin Scorcese directs this sequel to the 1961 film ‘The Hustler’.

Anyone who fails to get excited by the start of the opening line ‘Nine-ball is rotation pool….’ must not appreciate pool.  It is the beginning of the cinematic

The ‘Color of Money’ is certainly a more modern take on the game than what the ‘Hustler’ showed us.  This duality has without a doubt enriched both films, as I believe they compliment each other perfectly.

The camera angles are fantastic and there are a few shots to look out for.  I especially like the shot as the camera looks down on the hall of tables (I think there are around 30?) or when ‘Fast’ Eddie is getting his eyes tested.  Cinematography at its best.

‘Pool Excellence is not about excellent pool, it’s about becoming something’

The music in the film is provided for by artists such as Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Don Henley, Robert Palmer and of course not forgetting Warren Zevon.  The songs fit perfectly to each scene e.g. the Warren Zevon ‘Werewolves of London’ scene.  The music helps set up the atmosphere of the film with it’s dingy backroad pool halls and bars.

At the end of the day the films mean different things to different people, but to me both movies were about regaining faith in your art, pool in this case.  The ‘Hustler’ and ‘The Color of Money’ are very different films based on the same subject spaced 25 years apart.  Some people, like me will love ‘The Color of Money’ but there are going to be others who don’t want to destroy the purity of the original.  If you’re a pool player that wants to watch a pool film without cringing then you should seriously consider adding this to your collection.  All we need now is a really good special edition.

Buy the Color of Money DVD here:
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Buy the Hustler DVD here:
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Amazon.co.uk