The Hustler (1961)

Piper Laurie: Sarah Packard

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Fast Eddie is bothered because Bert called him a born loser] 

  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.

• Fast Eddie : What are you writing?

  Sarah Packard : Oh, it's a story. A story I'm making up.

  Fast Eddie : Give it to me.

  [reads it] 

  Fast Eddie : What is this supposed to mean?

  Sarah Packard : Give it back to me.

  Fast Eddie : What's this supposed to mean? "We have a contract of depravity. All we have to do is pull the blinds down."

  [crumples up the story] 

  Fast Eddie : Write yourself another story!

  Sarah Packard : Well, what else have we got? We never talk about anything. We stay here in this room and we drink and we make love. We're strangers. What happens when the liquor and money run out, Eddie? You told Charlie to lay down and die. Will you say that to me, too? What happens, Eddie?

• Sarah Packard : I'm a college girl. Two days a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays - I go to college.

  Fast Eddie : You don't look like a college girl.

  Sarah Packard : I'm the emancipated type. Real emancipated.

  Fast Eddie : No, I didn't mean that... whatever that means. I mean you just don't look young enough.

  Sarah Packard : I'm not.

  Fast Eddie : So why go to college?

  Sarah Packard : Got nothing else to do on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

  Fast Eddie : What do you do on the other days?

  Sarah Packard : I drink.

• Sarah Packard : I love you, Eddie.

  Fast Eddie : You know, someday, Sarah, you're gonna settle down... you're gonna marry a college professor and you're gonna write a great book. Maybe about me. Huh? Fast Eddie Felson... hustler.

  Sarah Packard : I love you.

  Fast Eddie : You need the words?

  Sarah Packard : Yes, I need them very much. If you ever say them I'll never let you take them back.

• Sarah Packard : How did you know my name was Sarah?

  Fast Eddie : You told me.

  Sarah Packard : I lie. When I'm drunk I lie.

  Fast Eddie : Okay, so what's your name today?

  Sarah Packard : Sarah.

• Bert Gordon : How's your hand?

  Fast Eddie : Fine.

  Bert Gordon : Good. I'd hate to think I was puttin' my money on a cripple.

  Fast Eddie : Hey, whaddaya say somethin' like that for?

  Sarah Packard : It's alright, Eddie. I'm sure Mr. Gordon meant no offense. It was a figure of speech.

  Bert Gordon : That's right, Miss Packard.

  Sarah Packard : And a fact is a fact.

  Bert Gordon : Smart girl, Eddie.

• Sarah Packard : Eddie, look, I've got troubles... and I think maybe you've got troubles. Maybe it'd be better if we just leave each other alone.

  Fast Eddie : I have my things over at the hotel. I'll bring them over later.

  Sarah Packard : I'm not sure. I don't know.

  Fast Eddie : Well, what do you want to know? And why?

• Bert Gordon : Miss Ladybird, you're here on a rain check and I know it. You're hangin' on by your nails. You let that glory whistle blow loud and clear for Eddie and you're a wreck on a railroad track, you're a horse that finished last. So don't make trouble, Miss Ladybird. Live and let live! While you can. I'll make it up to you.

  Sarah Packard : How?

  Bert Gordon : You tell me.

• Fast Eddie : I - could always get us a bottle

  Sarah Packard : No.

  Fast Eddie : A fifth of Scotch.

  Sarah Packard : What do you want me to do, just step out in the alley, is that it?

  Fast Eddie : No. I'll take you home.

  Sarah Packard : All right.

• Sarah Packard : [after being slapped by Eddie]  Are you waiting for me to cry? You bum. You pool room bum.

• Fast Eddie : You look different, more relaxed.

  Sarah Packard : It's the lights - and the Scotch.

• Fast Eddie : Thanks for the breakfast.

  Sarah Packard : Two ships that pass in the night should always buy each other breakfast.

• Fast Eddie : Can I sit down?

  Sarah Packard : Why not? We already know each other's secrets.

• Fast Eddie : It's a nice joint. You look very pretty.

  Sarah Packard : I feel pretty.

• Sarah Packard : I made you up, didn't I, Eddie? You weren't real. I made you up like everything else.

• Sarah Packard : What do you want me to do just sit here and wait? Faithful little Sarah. Pull the shades down and sit. When you feel like coming back, you'll come back and love me. And then you'll go away again. Is that your idea of love?

  Fast Eddie : I've got no idea of love. Neither of you, I mean, neither one of us would know what it was if we saw it coming down the street.

  Sarah Packard : I'd know it, Eddie. I'd know it. For God's sake, what are you doing to me? I love you.

  Fast Eddie : Well, what's your idea of love? Chains?

• Sarah Packard : Doesn't all this come through to you, Eddie? Doesn't any of this mean anything to you? That man, this place, the people. They wear masks, Eddie, and underneath the masks they're perverted, twisted, crippled.

  Fast Eddie : Shut up!

  Sarah Packard : Don't wear a mask, Eddie. You don't have to.

• Fast Eddie : What time does the bus leave?

  Sarah Packard : What bus?

  Fast Eddie : Your's.

  Sarah Packard : Eight o'clock. That wouldn't give us much time, would it?

  Fast Eddie : You're right, I guess it wouldn't. Hello and goodbye.

• Sarah Packard : I only live three blocks from there. Where do you live?

  Fast Eddie : Around.

  Sarah Packard : I know where you live. In a locker in a bus station. What's it like living in a locker?

  Fast Eddie : Cramped.

• Sarah Packard : What should my name be?

  Fast Eddie : I don't know, whatever you like it to be.

  Sarah Packard : I like it to be what it is. It's Sarah. That's a Biblical name. Do you want to know its meaning?

• Sarah Packard : Eddie, where do you go when you go out?

  Fast Eddie : Museums, art galleries, concerts.

• Fast Eddie : Stop talking about yourself like you're a lush or something. I don't like it. You ought to go to a clinic, and get some treatment.

  Sarah Packard : I'm getting treatments right here.

• Fast Eddie : Sarah, I'm going to Kentucky to play pool with a guy by the name of Findley. Now, I need the action and I need the money. I told you I'd be back.

  Sarah Packard : If you were going to come back, you wouldn't have taken me out tonight, you wouldn't have bought this dress. You're hustling me, Eddie. You've never stopped hustling me.

• Bert Gordon : I want to talk to you.

  Sarah Packard : Do we need words?

  Bert Gordon : Yeah, I think we do. We could try to cut each other up, but that'd be bad for everybody. Bad for me, bad for you, and worst of all it would be bad for Eddie.

• Sarah Packard : You're a Roman, Bert. You have to win them all.