Please read the description - The Player (1971) LOST FEATURE FILM w/Minnesota Fats [4K] [FTD-1462]
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- Опубліковано 30 бер 2024
- Today is FT Depot’s 4 year anniversary of uploading a new 35mm (and occasionally 16mm) scan every single day. Today we are releasing an entire LOST FEATURE film which we unearthed for today’s anniversary. To the best of our knowledge, this movie has not been seen in any form for over 50 years.
"The Player" is a 1971 feature film shot at Shopper's Pool Room in Baton Rouge, LA. It was written and directed by former professional billiards player Thomas DeMartini. The movie was a belated response to the success of the 1961 Jackie Gleason / Paul Newman film "The Hustler" which was based on Minnesota Fats. In this movie however, they got the real Minnesota Fats to play himself. It was produced by Gordon Ogden, president of the production company International Cinema. The Player was the production company's first film and it only played for one week before pulling it out of circulation from Gordon's theater chain Ogden-Perry Theatres. Reportedly only 30 prints were struck.
The movie's principal cast were a group of unknowns, but it also included some professional billiard players, most notably Rudolph Wanderone Jr. (AKA: "Minnesota Fats"), who at the time of the film's release was one of the most famous billiard players of all time, as well as professional billiards player Jack Colavita. Both actors played themselves.
Regarding this lost film, the best background we have been able to put together on the history of this specific 35mm print is that it played at a theater on its original release in 1971. It is unknown if the distributor abandoned the print or why it was never returned and instead sat in the theater for around 15-20 years until the theater closed. The theater’s projection service technician fortunately saw it was discarded and took it with him when he was removing the projection equipment.
Several years later the technician dropped the print off at a drive-in theater which he was also servicing. It was assembled onto a center ring for platter projection with the intention to watch it one night after hours. After a while the print was carried downstairs (still fully assembled on a platter center ring) and was propped up against the wall in the back of an outside storage room to get it out of the way until they decided to run it. However the drive-in never actually projected the print since their double features ended so late in the night and everyone was always too tired. This all happened an estimated 25 years ago.
This storage room is where we discovered the print. The room literally had a hole in the roof with rain water puddles on the floor and was completely exposed to the outside elements for what was likely a good 20 years.
Fortunately we found it when we did, as once we realized it was a lost feature and needed to put forth the effort to save it, a considerable amount of work and time at the Film-Tech restoration lab was spent just un-blocking it. Had it stayed there for another 6 months or a year, it would have likely been past the point of salvaging the complete feature.
The film is suffering badly from advanced stages of Vinegar Syndrome and most of the movie was physically “blocked”. (A blocked print is where all or a combination of high humidity, tight winding and/or warm temperature storage causes the layers of film to fuse together into one big solid mass.)
Even after we were able to unwind the blocked print, it was still suffering from heavy physical distortion. There was significant water damage in spots where parts of the image or soundtrack were not able to be saved (especially in the end credits). Custom modifications had to be made to the scanner to be able to keep the majority of the frame in focus during the scan due to the extreme level of shrinking, warping and buckling that the film was suffering from. You will see effects of this physical damage particularly in the first reel where the image stretches and shrinks horizontally in a repetitive pattern.
Please keep this in mind as the beginning of the movie is pretty rough, but does get steadily better as the movie progresses. The picture becomes generally stable in the second reel.
Most of the film’s colors were able to be preserved reasonably well, but there are sections where the tint shifts back and forth from the VS degradation. For those scenes we aimed for an “average” on color balance.
There was a lot of dirt physically embedded into the emulsion of the image as well. This would not come off due to the poor storage conditions the film suffered in for so many years. Although we do have more aggressive techniques to remove embedded dirt, there was a limit as to the measures we could perform on this print with it already being at the end of hospice.
FT Depot is pleased to be able to present this historically important 53 year old “lost” film, even with all of its defects.
35mm 4K film scan
Original theatrical release date November 5, 1971 - Фільми й анімація
*READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION. YOU DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB BRINGING THIS FILM BACK TO LIFE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOURS AND HOURS OF EFFORT TO SHARE WITH US!! TO THINK JUST 30 PRINTS AND HERE WE ARE OVER 50 YEARS LATER WITH TWO POOL GREATS!1*
The film is terrible, and not worth watching.
@@steves2241 then why are you here
Excellent find, and excellent job in doing what you could to get it as good as it is. Film-Tech isn't just a random person or outfit with a film scanner. You always go so far above and beyond.
Thank you for four years and zero nonsense.
Yeah right
Thank you SO much for this! I only wish my Dad were still alive. We spent many weekends in the 1970s watching Minnesota Fats every time he appeared on "Wide World of Sports." He was a big fan of '70s cinema and would have loved this. I will be watching the whole film thia this weekend and raising a glass to my Dad while viewing.
I play pool and love pool films and stories. I have never before seen the game of one pocket shown or even mentioned in any other film or TV show. This is certainly an important find for fans of one pocket.
I also was shocked when I heard them say one pocket That’s the main game I play Love that game
You should check out the film "Turn the River", it's pretty well done.
@@neuvocastezero1838 I just did. Not to bad
Woah! This I never expected.
Given how deteriorated the film was, the fact you managed to salvage it and make it watchable is nothing short of a miracle. Thanks for 4 years of awesome 35mm scans! Here's to the next 4.
4 years? It's like in high school. The high school was 4 years. There's no movie trailer for this movie and I hope this movie needs to be digital restoration in 4K on Blu-ray like Shout! Studios, Arrow Video, The Criterion Collection or something.
The fact that that this was done on 35mm film and someone, (that may or not has interest in pool), put the passion into restoring this!
Thanks so much. Anytime an old film is recovered, it’s always important. Thanks for preserving film
Happy anniversary, and congratulations on rescuing a lost feature! I've updated the film's trivia on IMDb to confirm it is no longer lost.
Well, the movie is awful, the restoration story is actually interesting!
Thanks!
Happy 4th, FT Depot! Keeping cinema's past alive with all those 35mm gems!
Wow, you absolute legends! You restored a piece of not only film history, but billiards history as well. Absolutely class.
The date threw me off, but the emotional journey of realizing this was real was indescribable. Wild find, and amazing that you were able to salvage it. I'll have to watch this in full later!
An amazing find! Who knew a movie consider to be "lost" would be found in the most unlikely of places.
Not to be confused with Robert Altman's great film of the same name 22 years later of course. This is such a good find that i hope some company might make this into a blu-ray release for everyone to see. Happy 4th, FT Depot! ^^
Like Shout! Studios, Arrow Video or The Criterion Collection and this movie needs to be digital restoration.
This is fascinating . I could see the label vinegar syndrome totally put this out on Blu-ray or 4K . I like the fact we get to see the old Budman character. Show up throughout the film in the background.
What a gem, capturing early 70s action, 1PKT no less.. soundtrack is unreal. Appreciate the hardwork on this ..
Absolutely amazing find! Let's hope this film stays up on UA-cam for as long as it can!
Thank you for doing this, anything saved is worth the effort.
Happy 4th Anniversary and thank you for all your hard work!!!!
I hope they gonna have the digital restoration of this movie.
@@Naminski1a ayyy I got a Naminski reply! Hope you're doing good too, homie 💜💜💜
It's funny that Fats plays a well known illegal push shot at 1:19:26 but then in the very next scene gets angry when the main character makes an illegal shot on the 9
Nice touch matching the credit font 1:32
Also they're loving you guys on the Letterboxd page for this movie
Oh Lou, what a fool. ;) Thank you so much for sharing this FTD, and for all involved in rescuing the film! What a find! Huge respect.
Even the rare 1994 Canadian feature widescreen film The Raffle with Mark Hamill and Jennifer Clement is a tough one to find.
Incredible work! Thanks for rescuing this!
Thanks for bringing this movie back to life.
A lost movie all about shooting billiards? Interesting.
Maybe it was due to that premise that it never saw that much of a wide amount of viewing. Still, I personally like it.
Congratulations on the anniversary and saving a lost feature! I'm sure billiards fans will be excited about this.
great film! one gripe i did have with the film is when this character brad talked badly about someone's dts audio rips and were acting jerkish and passive aggressively about it, that was uncalled for
I’m amazed it’s in scope!!! That blows me away.
Thank you for the hard work.
Happy 4-Year Anniversary FT Depot. 🎉🎉🎊🎊
$20 A GAME IN 1971 IS ABOUT $100 - $150 A GAME TODAY. MINIMUM WAGE WAS ABOUT $2.00 AN HOUR. 10X MINIMUM WAGE THEN, VS 10X MINIMUM WAGE NOW 4/7/2024
Not a bad movie....could have used a LOT less background music. A great find though....thank you for restoring it !
Thanks for the find and your hard work!
Too bad you didn't find the trailer too, since that's your specialty. You could've teased us, for once, with a trailer for a movie that you were going to upload in its entirety.
But seriously, great find, great work and congrats!
This is incredible. Thank you.
This movie would be incredible RiffTrax material.
My favorite part is when they play billiards.
Happy Anniversary, and thank you for your service!
I lived in Memphis from age 13 to 21 starting in 1973, in Whitehaven there was a place called Funland that a guy lived few doors down from us had. Me and the owner's son spent way too much time there. Tons of road players came through, and my father would often sleep in his car there as to not miss too much action.
Pretty special. At 1:33:30 the main character pulls out a model M Palmer, that most elaborate one in the catalogue. Palmers are like Balabushkas
please never take your videos down. i’ve grown so attached to them it’s not even funny. i understand why you’re semi-retiring(?) but you’ve done so much that i don’t think it will be worth it to just throw it all away. i’m thankful for what you’ve unearthed for us for so long.
Fantastic work, as always! Watched the opening credits, and while this isn’t my sort of film, it’s brilliant to see the work and dedication put in here to make it available in the best quality possible. Thank you FT!
While it's fun to see the shots made as well as see the real Minnesota Fats doing his thing, the acting is awful, the music sounds like it's from a grindhouse porno flick, and the direction consists of the director aiming the camera at eye level for most of the flick. Had the script and acting been better, it might have been like a cheaper version of The Color of Money, but it was not to be.
Props to the people who did their best to restore this film, though. THAT is a labor of love.
I was waiting for John Holmes to show up.
You as well?
He was Fats's cue.
😂
FATS: BETTER DUST THIS TOMATO OFF JR.
Quite some damage.
This is wonderful. Thank you so very much!
The dialog is appalling but the pool shots, visuals and soundtrack are great.
Happy 4th to the greatest channel on UA-cam!!!
Amazing find, thanks so much for sharing this with everyone!
You should put this on Internet Archive!
Ah the Internet Archive. Here's another great idea. Check out our channel's "about" description!
@@FTDepot Your channel's 'about' section only states that [other people] shouldn't rehost your videos on other websites, it says nothing about your position on doing that, yourselves. I'd suggest adding something about that to the 'about' section.
@@escape209 That was sarcasm. If we wanted it on the Internet Archive, we would have submitted it ourselves.
I read these comments, however the TRULY GREAT EDDY TAYLOR told me that one day when he first started traveling the country up north somewhere, he sat and watched a the fat man "BANK AND RUN OUT" for hours and then realized "he's playing my game". Whether you like it or not Taylor was the best all a round player to ever walk the earth, and that is a fact not an opinion. The fat man could actually PLAY but liked to HUSTLE more. I believe EDDY before any living or dead human because i'm a witness. Richie Brown AKA Lodi Richie, Paramus Richie or Rockaway Richie
Great movie. A 70s gem
24:00 That's a big slip stroke. Nicely done.
At 1..13 the best cry scean ever they guy in gold shirt
1:42:30 the damage makes it sound like somebody is ripping paper during the recording
thank you.
WOW! congrats
Really beautiful images. What film scanner does FT Depot use?
The LaserGraphics ScanStation.
I located a pic of the movie billing poster/flyer...but cant seem to get it here to the comments. Looked up the main two actresses and dont see that they are credited with any other work.
Bravo!
You guys doing okay? Havent seen you upload for almost a month
read their community post, tldr theyve stopped doing daily uploads due to people not respecting ft depot's wishes on how the film scans should be used (they've been at it daily for 4 years, they deserve a break)
@@funnystoneman5323maybe next month
@@funnystoneman5323 FT Depot is doing so much for the community. They deserve the break. Awesome people
I thought the movie was terrible but the pool playing was definitely done by accomplished players. I would say Minnesota fats pool scenes were the only very un realistic playing in the movie.
50:47 acting chops
You Found The Longest Filmstrip With The Lost Movie You Found
first of all - now i can really see why theatres everywhere had the balls to decline this film due to its absurd infestations than any other flick (hell even the rating card couldn't be able to hold it together at the start of this snipe lmao)
and secondly - additionally because it has even been the last 2 weeks since you haven't posted a new snipe, just hopefully you're feeling okay and you feel like you're ready to bring out another snipe from your vault the next time pal (well unless if this is actually the last snipe to ever be posted on this channel-)
Paint my nose red and call me Rudolph. Thank You for sharing this-- I had no idea it existed.
Amazing
Now this is lost 😞 media in the public domain
@@kascnef Just because it was "lost" doesn't mean it's public domain
The hustler was NOT based on Ruldolf Wanderone.
Might watch later after work is it any good?
She's cute. Thats about it.
How did you made 4K?
It's celluloid film, you scan it at that res
Yep. Film theoretically has an infinite resolution, but 4K captures almost all of 35mm's details.
woaaaah
that polyester.
Was this handled by an archivist at the Eastman House in Rochester NY?
Still waiting on an answer.
Minnesota fats couldn’t beat the bar maid ~ Jimmy Mataya
Is the guy who voiced Tex Avery's George Bear played as Phil?
How much did this movie make at the box office
75 playillion dollars
i realise I am watching the worst film ever made, and the best.
Nah the worst film ever made was a scifi aliens film set at a light house off the coast of Santa Barbara Calif in 1978. Trust me here. It's a fact. It had zero best in it unless you can call being over a best.
It's Been One Month Since You Upload Lost Movie Called The Player (1971) Could You Upload More Video Please
YAD SLOOF LIRPA.
A good selection for April Fool's.
Ladies and gentlemen (of youtube)
I like to say....
"And now our feature presentation!"
The Player (1971)
It's another lost media. Put this movie on 4K Blu-ray.
Funny how times have change for worse. Nowadays, I'll bet you anything this movie would get an R rating, while back in 71 is was rated GP, the predecessor of PG.
Now, a couple of instances of implicit sex plus one bit of violence, and it wouldn't even get a PG-13.
NSFW
Where?
Hay kid you looking to get broke
This is for James R.
You wrote this:
"I'd like to buy your idea in the third paragraph but you reveal in the second that you don't know pool. If you spot someone the 8 or 9 in 8 or 9 ball you are giving them the game as those are the b..."
You are dumb beyond words, I have played pool for 35 years, at the master level, and won over 250 tournaments in my life, while hustling pool 5 to 7 days a week for 10 years from 1985 to 1995. I have also played in every pool league there is, as the highest handicap you can be, APA, ACS, CIPL, you name it.
And I have played people and gave them the 8 and the break in 8 ball as a spot, and yes I know the 8 is the game winning ball in 8 ball. But if I spot you the 8 ball, all you have to do is make all your balls, and get to the 8 ball, and you win, that is the spot, doofus.
If I spot you the 9 in 9 ball, all you have to do is get to the 9 ball, and you win, that is the spot, dork.
It is clear you know nothing about pool let alone pool hustling. So get lost, clown.
*NEEEEEERD!!!!*
@@The_X-PO_Center
The cholesterol.
Are you dead?
No. They’re just taking a break from uploading due to people stealing their videos.
But they’ll return… eventually.
I hate when someone doesn't upload for a short amount of time and someone just thinks they're dead.
Please Upload Two Nickelodeon Theatrical Shorts: CatDog: Fetch! and Action League Now: Rock-A-Big Baby
It's part of lost media. Be careful. Don't let get copyright blocked by Paramount.
Do they even have access to those??
And Don't Forget Edwurd Fudwupper Fibbed Big Nickelodeon Short Film Before Rugrats in Paris the Movie
@@jamesmckeown4862 bro 💀
Congratulations, but please remove the watermark
They don't have to. Read the description and realize how much hard work they put into making this actually viewable.
54:47
Such entitled stupidity. Pay them some money if you want a copy without the supposed watermark.
I know it was hard work but personally I feel like people should not put a watermark over the only copy of lost media
@@Undertalepotatochip In the channel's about page: "PLEASE UNDERSTAND IF OUR WORK IS RE-UPLOADED BY OTHERS OR SOLD ON PHYSICAL MEDIA TO PASS IT OFF AS THEIR OWN, WE WILL HAVE NO OPTION BUT TO *WATERMARK* (it did starting with this one thanks to the thieves without linking the FT Depot's videos, even with the taken down videos) OUR FUTURE VIDEOS OR TAKE OTHER ACTION."
To summarize the only community post: If you notice with other thieves like "D.M" stealing drive-in theater snipes and placing bootleg DVDs as well for others filtering the video by fake sharpening, motion smoothing, simulated high frame rate and other vomit-inducing as "restored" by them ended up with the DNR and AI usage which forced the channel to cease daily uploads AND place more watermark in the future scans to show it is not the thieves' "restoration" of the scan (but the origin of FT Depot's). In other words, the user does not want to place watermark to the channel, but left with no choice.
Also the channel may forced to move into Vimeo later on. If the thieves continues on it, that how why *viewers cannot have nice things to this channel's abandon the future uploads entirely.*
This might be the worst movie ever made, the script is horrible, and the actors are terrible. If Fats was not in it I would not have even watched a minute of it.
When you spot someone in pool you have to spot them balls, like in 8 ball you could spot them the 8, or in 9 ball you could spot them the 9, or the 8 and the 9, something like that. To say I will spot you $175 to my $200 is no spot at all, it's just less money you have to pay when you lose, which is no spot at all, and it's nothing but an old hustler's trick.
If I am a better shot than you are, and I know it, I will spot you your $175 to my $200 all day, because I know you are almost never going to get my $200, while I take your $175 over and over, because that is not a spot at all.
And real pool hustlers do not hustle people like the guy in this movie, he lets them win and take a bunch of his money, then he says lets bump it up, and the other guy says ok, then he shoots lights out and takes all his money. That is how you get hands and fingers broken, or worse, because you show them you are a pool hustler.
A real pool hustler will hustle you out of your money, and you will not even know he is a pool hustler. You just play a little better than the guy you are playing, and take all you can from him, until he quits, then you find someone else to do the same thing to.
If I play a guy for $20 a game, and I am up $200 on him, and he suddenly says hey let's play for $50 a game, or $100 a game, I say no, because you know the guy is a hustler. It's the dumbest thing you can do, and as soon as you try to bump up the money you are saying I am a pool hustler, and nobody will play you.
This movie is just dumb, and I can not believe Minnesota Fats had anything to do with it. If I were you I would retire it, or burn it, the whole movie is a joke. At 39:45 he tries to unscrew his cue and he can not do it, he tries to unscrew it 2 or 3 times, and he can not do it, so he just lays it on the table, lmfao, what a joke.
In the straight pool scene, Jack does offer a spot: he says, "I'll make a hundred to your seventy-five for two-hundred". The nuance of the pool scene does not translate well in this movie, due to poor acting and subpar line delivery, but they do make an attempt to showcase action.
@@jonathanludwig8547 I got it, I was a pool hustler for 10 years, I know how it works. And like I said, a money spot is NOT A REAL SPOT.
Read what I said. A spot is if we play 8 ball and I give you the break and the 8, that is a spot, a real spot.
If we play 9 ball and I give you the 9 ball, that is a spot.
If I play you by the game and I say I will pay you $100 if you win, but you only have to pay me $75 if I win, THAT IS NOT A REAL SPOT, it is a hustlers trick to make you think you are getting a spot.
I know, I did it a hundred times, and the suckers would fall for it.
The pool truther has been unleashed
@@steves2241 The spot is 25 points in a game to 100. Not $25.
I'd like to buy your idea in the third paragraph but you reveal in the second that you don't know pool. If you spot someone the 8 or 9 in 8 or 9 ball you are giving them the game as those are the balls that win the respective games. Unless of course this is another 'hustle on your part'. Plus on the money deal it's the other way around. They lose they pay $175 but you still pay the $200 if they beat you. A 1/8th discount is saying that your opponent is a strong player or as you say pumping his ego as you know his odds of beating you are 1 or 2 out of 10.
CAN SOMEONE TURN THE FUCKING MUSIC OFF
It kind of sounds like porn music 😂
Late-90's English-dubbed anime music in a nutshell
Fats was a silly myth any real pool player knows that he was at best an APA 6 🤡
lol he was a lot better than that. Not the best by a long way, but very good. Eddie Taylor didn't seem to think Fats was a weak player. Neither did Fred Bentivegna.