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The Color of Money

1986 · directed by Martin Scorsese · 119 min
23,879 feet · Prominence
844th of 15,261 films scored
The Rewatchables‘The Color of Money’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey

How this film scores

Draw58

$52m worldwide in 1986 — $157m in today's money.

As released$52mIn 2026 money$157mRank1,976 of 8,589In 198620 of 117

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise87

Critics 82, awards 58. Half each, so Praise lands at 87.

Critics82 → 41Awards58 → 29

Oscars1 won Actor3 nominated Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design
How Praise works

Half critics, half a tiered award record where Picture and Directing carry most of the weight. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy42

Judged directly: Newman's Oscar, sequel to a classic.

Verdict42 of 100IMDb7 from 98kWikipedia31k views a monthAge40 years

Scored beside it · 1,123 of 3,430 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 58 praise 87 legacy 42averages 62, which places it at23,879 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

In these careers — elevation for this film

Paul Newman22,768 ftTom Cruise22,516 ft