Robert Rossen's scalding tale of drunken love and billiards is as powerful today as it was forty some years ago. Paul Newman, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, and The Great One (Jackie Gleason) all bring their roles to gritty life. Even Martin Scorsese's color follow-up, The Color of Money, with all its cinematic bravado, cannot hold a candle to the stark black and white-ness of this amazing cinematic treasure.