"With respect, I do not see the movie as Eddie's triumph. At the end of the film the system/pool hall/capitalism is intact: it has successfully dealt with the threat of Sarah and her values. Eddie is expelled for not following the rules, Bert has not suffered and Fats will still be his minion. The only loss in the film is that of Sarah and her humanistic anti-competitive vision. My emotions at the end of the film are not those of triumph and victory, but of sadness and loss."
You make many excellent and insightful observations -- and I agree with all of them. Also, I am not familiar with the novel, so I was not aware of the drift of the changes made by the director. It has been a while since I've seen this movie and I had forgotten some of the things you bring up. I had also entirely missed this point: "Also, the final pool game is shot so briskly that any sense of accomplishment/triumph is non-existent (as compared to the excitement of the first match between the two men)." Looking back on it, I'd say you're exactly right. I guess then the only thing I'd have to say in defense of my original post is that for some reason Eddie has to win that final game--like you have to show that you can beat the system in order to have some credibility when you walk away. Compare this with the end of "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner," (Tom Courtney/English/sixties), a film addressing a similar theme, in which the protagonist drops out of the race at the end of the movie, or compare with Satyajit Ray's "The Middleman" in which the whole concept of "competition" as a moral sorting-out mechanism is revealed for the obscenity it is.
But, mostly you're right. "The Hustler" is really one of the great Hollywood movies, and I take it all back about "Rocky."
By the by, I went to see "Lost in Translation" and recommend it. It's as good a movie as can be made in America today; its treatment of "love in the age of consumption" is damned good.
Joanna