 He ended all relations with the Party in 1949 . Rossen was twice called before the House Un @-@ American Activities Committee ( HUAC ) , in 1951 and in 1953 . He exercised his Fifth Amendment rights at his first appearance , refusing to state whether he had ever been a Communist . As a result , he found himself blacklisted by Hollywood studios as well as unable to renew his passport . At his second appearance he named 57 people as current or former Communists and his blacklisting ended . In order to repair finances he produced his next film , Mambo , in Italy in 1954 . While The Hustler in 1961 was a great success , conflicts on the set of Lilith so disillusioned him that it was his last film . 
