It's been decades since I've seen "The Sting" and I decided to try watching it again. As a result of having seen it a couple times, I have some impressions I might not have had the first time. First, the film is awfully pretty--with some of the nicest titles and intertitle cards I've seen. It also is well-constructed--with several plots being interwoven quite well--a tribute to the director, George Roy Hill. The acting is quite nice and it's interesting that the film won seven Oscars--and none of them for acting! And, just like the first time, the Scott Joplin tunes are terrific. The only real negative is that because I'd seen it before, there were no surprises--and surprises are what makes this such an enjoyable film. Without the surprise, the film lacks something the second time--something that isn't true for all films. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", for example, seems to get better each time you see it--but "The Sting" does because the movie is so dependent of surprise plot twists.
The bottom line is that for first-time viewers, the film is very hard to beat and it's easy to see how this $5.5 million dollar film brought in over $159,000,000 domestically--making this is mega-mega blockbuster. It's an exceptional film in every way.
