The Sting

The Sting (1973)

Runtime: 129 minutes

Directed by: George Roy Hill

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Eileen Brennan

From: Universal

You know, I swear I once reviewed this once before on this page, way back when. But, when I tried searching for it using more than one method, I struck out. Thus, I figured I should watch this tonight when they showed it on TCM (which is spending Tuesday night's all month showing Redford films) so I could talk about it here and on Letterboxd. That review is below and I'll return tomorrow night.

Each Tuesday night this month (January 2015) TCM is showing Robert Redford movies and this is the first one. I have seen it a few times before (including once on the big screen, like 6 or 7 years ago) but I figured it was time to watch it again and this time talk about it on this site.

I am sure that most of you are familiar with the plot so I'll be brief: Johnny Hooker (Redford) is a grifter, a con-man in the suburbs of Chicago, 1936. He and two other guys pull off a scam... but they rip off the wrong person, a crime kingpin known as Doyle Lonnigan (Robert Shaw). In retaliation one of the trio is murdered. Hooker meets up with Henry Gondorff (a master at scamming people) and eventually they agree to pull off a elaborate parlor trick involving many people and a lot of effort in order to pull a fast one on Lonnigan and it involves staged betting on fictitious horse races.

While I admit the whole scam is rather wacky due to how much exertion and acting that was required to make it work, it's really a moot point when the movie is as well-done as this is, where you want the two charming leads to succeed, the story's so entertaining, there's a panoply of memorable scenes, the entire cast performs really well, the 1930's feeling shines throughout (even in the film-making itself, such as the editing) and of course there's the jaunty ragtime music from Scott Joplin that's unforgettable and it sets the mood also.

In short, the movie is just fun to watch and it is still effective even if you have seen it before, with a quite satisfying ending. It's always engrossing and there are many twists and turns but while it's elaborate it's never confusing, so it can be enjoyed by a wide variety of audiences.