Hustler

EU-only digitally re-mastered and expanded edition includes 21 bonus tracks. This release contains Kenyon Hopkins' complete original soundtrack for Robert Rossen's 1961 film The Hustler. Based on the 1959 novel by the same name, and adapted for the screen by Rossen and Sidney Carroll, The Hustler starred Paul Newman (as Fast Eddie), Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, and George C. Scott. Walter Tevis' novel had been optioned several times, even once by Frank Sinatra, but attempts to adapt it to the screen were unsuccessful. According to director Rossen's daughter Carol Rossen, previous adaptations focused too much on the pool aspects of the story and not enough on the human interaction. Rossen, who had hustled pool himself as a youth and who had made an abortive attempt to write a pool-themed play called Corner Pocket, optioned the book and teamed with Sidney Carroll to produce the script.