It’s all about this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam
Of course to “hustle” has always had two meanings. Especially here in America. On the one hand, someone who hustles is often applauded for being in alignment with the American Dream. You make it here if you work hard, if you’re willing to pay your dues, if you bend over backwards to make something of yourself. Everything is said to revolve around individual effort. So, if you are one of the winners you earned it; and, if you are one of the losers, you have no one to blame but yourself. Conservatives of course love this particular narrative.
Liberals, on the other hand, are often more in tune with the other meaning. This one: hustling as something that involves conning others, exploiting others, using others for your own personal gain and then dumping them along the side of the road [to riches] when you have used them up.
Anyway, the second meaning is something that folks from other countries often don’t even have a translation for:
The American term “hustle” has no direct translation in many other languages. The studio approved the alternative titles American Bluff in France, American Dream in Israel, American Scandal in Argentina, American Sting in Portugal, and American Scam in Quebec. IMDb
In “reality” of course each point of view may or may not be relevant depending on the individual involved and the circumstances in which he finds himself. Or herself. There are just too many complex variables involved here. And always they are open to interpretation. And even then only to the extent that you understand them or are able to actually control them.
In other words, what a cluster fuck this 1] either turned out to be or 2] almost turned out to be.
On the other hand, these two [three? four? more?] were real slimeballs. You sort of have to be when the whole point of your business to is to prey on desparate people.
Of course “hustling” can be just as much personal as political and economic. All the games that are played on the suckers. But then we often find ourselves wondering: Am I the sucker? Oh, and never get emotionally involved with the mark. Not even if it’s just male bonding.
IMDb
[b]The film is a fictionalized telling of the Abscam (short for Arab scam) scandal of the late 1970s and early 1980s, an FBI operation that began as an investigation of trafficking in stolen property, but was later expanded to include political corruption.
The fight scene that takes place in the bedroom between Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence is completely improvised. A version of it had been written in the script, but the actors were struggling to connect with it, so director David O. Russell ultimately decided to allow them to say what they wanted.
According to Christian Bale much of the movie was improvised. So, during the shooting of the film he noted to David O. Russell, “You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track.” To which the director replied, “Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that’s it.”
Tied with Gangs of New York (2002) and True Grit (2010) for second-highest number of Academy Award nominations with no wins at 10, following The Turning Point (1977) and The Color Purple (1985) at 11.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Hustle
trailer: youtu.be/ST7a1aK_lG0
AMERICAN HUSTLE [2013]
Written in part and directed by David O. Russell
[b]Title card: Some of this actually happened.
…
Irving [voiceover]: Did you ever have to find a way to survive and you knew your choices were bad, but you had to survive? I learned how to survive when I was a kid out on the streets. And I would rather be on the taking side then the getting taken side, any day of the week. Especially after I saw my father get taken. I mean, seeing that scarred me for life.
…
Irving: Is that Duke Ellington, on your bracelet?
Sydney: Yeah, as a matter of fact it is. He died this year, you know?
Irving: I know. I doubt anyone else here knows or cares about it.
Sydney: Well, I care about it. He saved my life many times.
Irving: Mine too. Which one?
Sydney: Jeep’s Blues.
Irving: Jeep’s Blues?
Sydney: Yeah. Jeep’s Blues.
Irving: You wanna hear it?
Sydney: Right now?
Irving: Yeah.
…
Cosmo Interviewer: Our cover story right now is about cunnilingus. What do you think about that?
Sydney: I like it.
…
Irving [voiceover]: I felt like we had a secret. Just the two of us. You know, like that thing when you just wanna be with the one person all the time. And you feel like just the two of you understand that nobody else gets. I could just tell her everything about myself. And I never had anybody like that in my life before. It felt like, finally, I can truly be myself. Without being ashamed without being embarrassed.
…
Sydney [realizing Irving’s angle]: Everybody at the bottom crosses paths eventually in a pool of desperation and you’re waiting for them…
Irving: How about we?
…
Irving [voiceover]: As far as I can see people are always conning each other to get what they wanted. We even ‘Con’ ourselves. We talk ourselves into things, you know. We sell ourselves things whether we do need or want. You know, we are dressing 'em up. We leave out the risk. We leave out the ugly truth. Pay attention to that. Cos, we are always conning ourselves in one way or another. Just to get through life.
…
Rosalyn: We fight and then we fuck, that’s our thing.
Irving [voiceover]: She was the Picasso of passive-aggressive karate. She was better than any con artist I ever met. Including myself. And she had me like nobody had me…I was her mark.
…
Richie [to Sydney]: I know you think - look at me, hey, Edith - I know you think Irv loves you. I know you think you know him. You think that he sees the world as this cold, dark place. He cares about nobody but a very few people on a short list: His son, his father, Rosalyn, and you. You think you’re on the top of the list? What if you’re not? What if you’re not on that list? What if you’re not even on that list at all? He’d be in here right now if he took the cheque, but no, you did. God, it’s so clear to me, it’s crazy, it’s clear to me, but it’s not clear to you. He uses you, Edith, to protect himself, to protect his son, and his wife in Long Island. No? Yes. He put a ring on her finger, he adopted her son. They have a huge house and they have two huge cars, what does she do all day? I’ll tell you what she does: She plays with her nails, she watches TV, and she spends your money; the money that you make. I don’t like that you’re in jail while he’s going free, I don’t like any of that, I want to help you. All the razzle-dazzle that he does? It’s not good, it’s not real, it’s fake, it’s not real. Who you are is who you are, between you and God. You and your soul, that’s what matters, that’s what counts, that’s what I’m about. That’s what I see in you. Tell me you didn’t feel it the first time we saw each other? Am I crazy? I don’t think so.[/b]
Cons on one side of the law trying to con cons on the other side. Meanwhile the biggest cons are often perfectly legal in the United States of crony capitalism. Federal, state and local. And that’s before we get to the Mob. And these guys go all the way back to Nucky Thompson. For all practical purposes.
[b]Sydney: Rosalyn will never let you go. She used Danny against you. Because she’s too messed up to let you leave.
Irving: I can’t leave him. I love him, alright? He is my son.
Sydney: Richie said you will say that.
Irving: Richie? The cop?
Sydney: Yeah.
Irving: You’re on a first name basis?
Sydney: Yes, I am. I am not even on your list, am i?
Irving: What list?
Sydney: Your list. Your short list…your long list. I’m not even on any of your fucking lists. I thought that you loved me.
Irving: I do love you.
…
Richie: How do you know the Sheikh?
Irving: Because he’s my friend Al, from Queens.
Al “the Sheikh”: I do aluminium siding and roofing.
…
Irving [in a museum]: I wanna show you something. This Rembrandt here, people come from all over the world to see this.
Richie: Yeah, he’s good. Yeah.
Irving: It’s a fake.
Richie: But, come on, it’s impossible.
Irving: People believe what they wanna believe. The guy who made this was so good that it’s real. To everybody. Now, who is the Master? The Painter…or the Forger?
Richie: That’s a fake?
Irving: This is the way the world works. Not black and white like you say. Extremely grey.
…
Irving [voiceover]: The crazy thing about people: the more you say ‘no’ the more they want in on something. It is so stupid.
…
Irving [to Richie]: I’m like the fucking Vietcong, man, all right? I’m in and I’m out. I was there the whole time. You don’t know it, all right? That’s the fuckin’ art of becoming somebody who people can pin their beliefs and their dreams on.
…
Richie: You playing me? You doing this… or are you playing him? It would be very bad for you if you’re playing me.
Sydney: You’re gonna have to decide for yourself, kid.
…
Irving: I believe that you should treat people the way that you want to be treated. Right? Didn’t Jesus say that, or something?
Carmine: He may have.
Irving: Also, I think you should always take a favour, over money. I think Jesus said that as well.
…
Rosalyn [to Irving]: You wanna be more like Carmine? Why don’t you build something, like he does? Instead of all your empty deals; they’re just like your fuckin’ science oven. You know, I read that it takes all of the nutrition out of our food! It’s empty, just like your deals. Empty! Empty!
…
Sydney [to Irving]: You’re nothing to me until you’re everything.
…
Richie: You got any other questions?
Paco: Yeah, I think the name of this operation is offensive. What, Abscam? “Arab-scam”? It’s racist!
Irving: Are you fucking kidding? What do you care? You’re Mexican.
…
Irving [voiceover]: What are the fucking odds, you got an italian guy from Miami knowing Arabic. It turns out, he’s got casino investments, in the middle east.
…
Sydney: What the hell do you think you’re doing?
Rosalyn: What do I think I’m doing? What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You’re going to come in here and judge me for flirting with someone else when you’ve been fucking my husband for how many years?
Sydney: You don’t have any fucking clue what’s going on!
Rosalyn: I have a ring on my finger. We have a child together!
Sydney: He doesn’t love you, Rosalyn. He loves me. And you know it, and I know it, and he knows it. And it might be done now, but it was beautiful, and it was real…
Rosalyn: Stop it.
Sydney: …and we loved each other.
Rosalyn: Shut up.
Sydney: You scare him, and you manipulate him, and you use your son!
Rosalyn: Well, he must like it on some level. He must want it, because he keeps coming back for it. It’s like that perfume that you love, that you can’t stop smelling even when there’s something sour in it. Can’t get enough of it. Well guess what? He’s never gonna leave me. He’s always going to want me, and I will make you so sorry, Edith. I will make you so sorry for what you’ve done to my family. Mark my words!
Sydney: That is fucked up! I would never say anything that fucked up to anybody, but you do because you’re gross inside. You’re so fucked up and gross.
Rosalyn: Oh, I’m gross inside?
Sydney: Yeah!
Rosalyn: Maybe you’re gross inside. What, robbing people and all that shit that you do? Maybe we’re both gross inside. That’s what Irving loves about us. At least he’s consistent. You know, sometimes in life, all you have are fucked up, poisonous choices.
[She kisses Sydney and laughs]
But not for long.
[b]Richie: I love you. It is real now. I just…I just said it. So, now is the time. Look at me, look at me. I love you. I love you. I just said that.
Sydney: Do you want the truth? Do you want real?
Richie: I’m ready for real.
Sydney: This is real. Do you hear my voice? This is real. This is real. I want you to hear what’s real.
Richie [startled by her change of accent]: What?
Sydnay: This is me.
Richie: What do you mean? Well, you’re doing an accent? Your american accent?
Sydney: No, there is no English. There’s only American. There’s no English.
RIchie: What are you talking about? Stop it, you’re Edith. Your birth records say…
Sydney: I falsified my records back to birth. I falsified them. My name is Sydney Prosser. I am from Albuqurque, New Mexico. I’m not Edith Greensly. There is no Edith Greensly.
Richie: You’re…freaking…me…out.
…
Rosalyn: Life is ridiculous. And you know that I would never say anything bad about your father in front of you, but your father is a sick son-of-a bitch.
Danny: Daddy’s a sick son-of-a-bitch?
Rosalyn: Don’t repeat that…but yes.
…
Carmine: Irving…look, I’m a good person.
Irving: You are a good person.
Carmine: I’ve been doing this for a long time. For twenty years! Do you think I would’ve taken that money. If it wasn’t the right thing to do?
Irving: You’re a good person. I know that, but in all honesty…
Carmine: You said that was the only way Irv. You chased me, you remember?
Irving: They fucking made me do it. I was asked to do that or go to jail.
Carmine: You made me go back to the plaza, To take that money. You piece of shit! I was gone! You fucking prick! You motherfucker!!! You fucking chased me, you piece of shit! I was gone! I left!!
…
Sydney: People believe what they wanna believe, Richie.
Richie: No, because you conned me. That’s why. Because you fucking conned me. You did.
Irving: That…that doesn’t sound so good either. You know what I mean. But, let’s just assume you wanna go with that story. Really? That’s the story, you wanna go with? That’s what you want the New York Times to hear. That you got conned by the very con men who you forced to entrap the members of congress in the first place. That’s what you wanna go with? That doesn’t sound so good for your whole thing does it? How ironic…that the ones who’re working hardest to get the economy of New Jersey’s going…those are the ones you round up. Why? Because they are the easiest to go after? What about the real bullshit artists? You didn’t even come close to the big leagues. Those big guys. The money men.
Richie: That’s what I was trying to go after.
Irving: Well I’m sorry to telling you, you got none of 'em.
…
Irving [voiceover]: We took down some very big guys. Some of whom, they were just doing business as usual, helping their communities or their states, but some of them knew they had larceny in their blood, and they even admitted it. But in all, it was six congressmen, one United States senator, and my friend Carmine Polito. We gave the two million back, so that Carmine got a reduced sentence, 18 months. The loss of his friendship would haunt me the rest of my life. When the story was written, Richie DiMaso’s name was never mentioned. Syd and I, we moved in together. Rosalyn? She would always be interesting. Our conning days were behind us. You can fool yourself for just so long, that your next reinvention you better have your damn feet on the ground. We got a loan from a bank and were able to go gallery-legitimate. The art of survival, is a story that never ends.[/b]
Next up: Jeep’s Blues: youtu.be/uUcEGOLfUTE