The Sting [PG]

When mobster Doyle Lonnegan murders small-time con artist, Johnny Hooker’s partner in crime, Luther, Johhny sets out to get revenge. Teaming up with big-time con artist, Henry Gondorff, Johnny and Henry’s myriad of friends on the Chicago streets come up with the greatest con in history, sure to deliver a nasty “sting” to Lonnegan. But, with a con so big, there is no room for error or distraction and a city cop is hot on Hooker’s tail, hell-bent on putting him behind bars. 

Four years earlier, director George Roy Hill brought audiences the wonderful buddy team of Newman and Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Now, the dynamic duo is back playing street-smart con artists in a 1930s post-Depression Chicago. We’re talking dime stores, pinstripes, hustlers, cigars, and poker; and the plot is so intricate and deceptive, it’s fantastic! The Sting is a great movie, winning 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture back in its day. 

When mobster Doyle Lonnegan murders small-time con artist, Johnny Hooker’s partner in crime, Luther, Johhny sets out to get revenge. Teaming up with big-time con artist, Henry Gondorff, Johnny and Henry’s myriad of friends on the Chicago streets come up with the greatest con in history, sure to deliver a nasty “sting” to Lonnegan. But, with a con so big, there is no room for error or distraction and a city cop is hot on Hooker’s tail, hell-bent on putting him behind bars. 

I have to say, straight off the ladder, that I really loved the way that the film is segmented into chapters, a lot like a storybook. The movie is depicted in various stages of the operation with an illustrated book page literally separating each chapter and stage of the con: “the setup”, “the lockout”, “the sting” etc. I found that really fascinating and an excellent way to divide the film’s sequences without resorting to overused techniques such as blackouts and fade-outs and the like. It’s really good. 

Paul Newman is Henry Gondorff, stone drunk when we first meet him and, similar to his portrayal of Butch Cassidy four years prior, the brains behind the operation. His blue eyes and genial air welcome the audience as soon as they meet him and he delivered a performance that was charming, witty, funny, and intimidating and interrogating when needed. I love Paul Newman. 

Robert Redford’s face shines clean-shaven as Johnny Hooker, a kid from the street learning to play in the big leagues. He played the role of a newbie very well and gave a performance that was determined, funny, charming, affable, and conflicted (or at least seemed conflicted). 

Starring Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, John Heffernan, Dana Elcar, Jack Kehoe, and Dimitra Arliss, The Sting is a wonderful hustle caper filled with drama, friendship, revenge, deception, money, comedy, and features a beautiful slow ragtime soundtrack by Scott Joplin. Seriously, that soundtrack is gorgeous and is so perfect and fitting for this equally as gorgeous film.