The Sting (1973)

Two grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writer:

David S. Ward

Stars:

Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw

Top Rated Movies #100 | Won 7 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Newman	...	Henry Gondorff
Robert Redford	...	Johnny Hooker
Robert Shaw	...	Doyle Lonnegan
Charles Durning	...	Lt. Wm. Snyder
Ray Walston	...	J.J. Singleton
Eileen Brennan	...	Billie
Harold Gould	...	Kid Twist
John Heffernan	...	Eddie Niles
Dana Elcar	...	F.B.I. Agent Polk
Jack Kehoe	...	Erie Kid
Dimitra Arliss	...	Loretta
Robert Earl Jones	...	Luther Coleman (as Robertearl Jones)
James Sloyan	...	Mottola (as James J. Sloyan)
Charles Dierkop	...	Floyd - Bodyguard
Lee Paul	...	Bodyguard

Storyline

Johnny Hooker, a small time grifter, unknowingly steals from Doyle Lonnegan, a big time crime boss, when he pulls a standard street con. Lonnegan demands satisfaction for the insult. After his partner, Luther, is killed, Hooker flees, and seeks the help of Henry Gondorff, one of Luther's contacts, who is a master of the long con. Hooker wants to use Gondorff's expertise to take Lonnegan for an enormous sum of money to even the score, since he admits he "doesn't know enough about killing to kill him." They devise a complicated scheme and amass a talented group of other con artists who want their share of the reparations. The stakes are high in this game, and our heroes must not only deal with Lonnegan's murderous tendencies, but also other side players who want a piece of the action. To win, Hooker and Gondorff will need all their skills...and a fair amount of confidence.

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Plot Keywords:

con | con man | caper | scantily clad woman | national film registry | 

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Taglines:

Recapture "the STING Experience". REMEMBER HOW GOOD THE FEEL WAS THE FIRST TIME (re-release)

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Sting

Filming Locations:

Hugus Alley, Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$159,600,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zanuck/Brown Productions, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Johnny Hooker before Robert Redford changed his mind and decided to play it.

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Goofs

After Synder smashes his gun through the phone booth and hits Hooker on the side of the face, Hooker's hat falls off to the right and Hooker traps the hat between his head and the inside wall of the booth. In the next shot, Hooker is wearing his hat as if it never fell off.

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Quotes

Johnny Hooker: I gave him the breakout just like you said.
Henry Gondorff: And?
Johnny Hooker: 'S good. He threatened to kill me.
Henry Gondorff: Hell, kid, they don't do that, you know you're not getting to 'em.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are animated like a storybook.

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Connections

Spoofed in Eraser (1997)

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Soundtracks

Listen to the Mockingbird
(1855) (uncredited)
Music by Richard Milburn
Played at the carousel

User Reviews

Working The Big Con

The Sting, evoking a bygone era of gangsters and con men, was the deserved Best Picture of 1973. The Sting won that Oscar plus a whole flock of technical awards. One award it didn't win was for Robert Redford as Best Actor.

That must have been tough for the Academy voters because to single out Redford as opposed to Paul Newman must have felt a bit unjust. For though Newman was nominated many times over his career and finally did win for The Color of Money, did not get a nomination for The Sting.

Robert Redford is a small time grifter who while working a bait and switch street con takes off a numbers runner carrying the weekly take. The orders come down from the head man himself, Irish-American gangster Robert Shaw to kill those who did this as an example.

Redford's mentor, Robert Earl Jones, is in fact killed, mainly because Redford starts spending a lot of that newly acquired loot that tips them off. Redford wants revenge so he looks up big time con man Paul Newman who himself is dodging law enforcement as is Redford also.

They work the big con on Shaw and it's a beauty. The scheme they have is something to behold. They also have to do a couple of improvisations on the fly that lend a few twists to the scheme.

The costumes and sets really do evoke Chicago of the Thirties and director George Roy Hill assembles a great cast to support Newman and Redford. My favorite in the whole group is Charles Durning, who plays the brutally corrupt, but essentially dumb cop from Joliet who nearly gums up the works and has to be dealt with.

Special mention should also go to Robert Shaw. He's got a difficult part, maybe the most difficult in the film. He's not stupid, he would not have gotten to the top of the rackets if he was. But he also has to show that hint of human weakness that Newman, Redford, and the whole mob they assemble that makes him vulnerable to the con.

During the sixties and seventies Robert Shaw was really coming into his own as a player, getting more and more acclaim for his work. His early death was a real tragedy, there was so much more he could have been doing.

Can't also forget another co-star in this film, the ragtime music of Scott Joplin that was used to score The Sting. It probably is what most people remember about The Sting. Music from the Theodore Roosevelt era, scoring a film set in the Franklin Roosevelt era made while Nixon was president. Strange, but it actually works.

The Sting still works wonders today.