Tom Sizemore Movie:

Editorial Review:
Hustle is a taut, engrossing made-for-television feature about the downward spiral of Pete Rose in the late 1980s, when the baseball legend's gambling addiction led to his banishment from the game. Tom Sizemore perfectly captures Rose's blithe, avuncular public personality and more secretive, worrisome signs of eroding integrity as betting losses lead the Cincinnati Reds' manager to start wagering on baseball itself--including the fortunes of his own team. Peter Bogdanovich (Saint Jack) directs an excellent cast (including Dash Mihok as the stooge who gets suckered into paying Rose's debts to a lethal bookie), and teases out a fascinating psychodrama about the depths of denial and depravity ordinary people will reach to bask in a superstar's sunlight. Melissa DiMarco makes much of a thin role as Rose's wife, Carol, whose faith in her husband's essential goodness never wavers even as she retaliates against his degeneration. --Tom Keogh

Hustle Reviews:
Poor biography of Pete Rose's fall
2007-07-31 - Tom Sizemore has been in some outstanding performances but I for one do not feel that he resembles Pete Rose. In some ways yes, he evokes the anger and power trip as well as the fan friendly appearance that Rose was known for, but in the end I did not feel that Sizemore should have been cast as Rose, to me it just was not the best fit.

The movie portrays a lot of truth but one has to wonder how much is actually embellished. It was interesting to get a behind the scenes look into how a gambling addiction can consume a person and destroy everything and everyone around them. For the most part this is just a made for T.V. movie and although interesting at times, I came away disappointed with it.


Boring
2005-04-21 - Its like watching a bad saturday movie but its cheap so it the cost out ways any recentment that its a bad movie. like to see them do a movie about the big red machine, but not if its as boring as this

All You Need To Know About Pete Rose
2005-04-01 - This movie does a pretty good job of showing what Pete Rose is about.....himself. He may have admitted to betting on baseball and the Reds after fourteen years of denial but he believed then and now that he is bigger than the game. The movie shows this.
The special features on this DVD are very good. It has interviews with the investigator John Dowd, Fay Vincent & Paul Janzen who was dumb enough to listen to Pete. Also included is the press conference with Bart Giamatti & the interview where he admits his guilt but STILL denies that they showed him the evidence that they had against him. Just check out these interviews and the movie and you'll agree that Pete doesn't belong in the Hall Of Fame.

Eye opening
2005-03-25 - I saw this movie on ESPN several times. It is an eye opener, if factually correct. Tom Sizemore plays Pete Rose and depicts him getting stooges to place bets for him. Rose's complicity in gambling on baseball is no longer in question, indeed, the movie closes with actual footage of Rose making admissions. What was a revelation to me was the depiction of Rose as a totally self centered user. Dash Mihok is very convincing as a sucker Rose uses to place bets for him and, as Rose gets more deeply involved, Rose cajoles him into laying out money on his behalf. Rose was smooth and he was adept at sucking others in and assuring them that all is OK with breezy assurances and back slapping. He had no real friends, only poor suckers who, starry eyed at being part of a celebrity's inner circle, were taken advantage of. They were Rose's "friends" only so long as they were useful to him. Otherwise, Rose would dump them and not return their calls.

Rose comes across as a prize BS artist who, cajoles and gets the celebrity stricken hanger on, played by Mihok, to do his dirty work. Rose's sin of betting on baseball, and particularly the Reds, was unforgivable but, not nearly as unforgivable as was his use of others. He ends up smooth talking his stooge rather than paying him back the money he owed. In fact, through his lawyer, Rose attempted to make it appear that he was doing the poor guy a favor when he paid back only a portion of the debt. Being involved in gambling was not half as bad as dragging others in with him and then attempting to leave them holding the bag. I am fully aware that filmakers resort to dramatic license but, if Rose's amoral use of others is subtanially true, then he certainly should never, ever, be allowed into baseball again. Perhaps, he should be allowed into the hall of fame, so long as his plaque does not gloss over his misdeeds. However, he should never be allowed on a baseball field in any official capacity.