STING, THE

(December 1973, U.S.)

In 1973, I was six years-old, which means I basically knew nothing about the movies. I knew not what was hot and what was not, and as far as I was concerned, "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin was a new and popular tune and the history of the Great Depression was still an education that was years away. Paul Newman and Robert Redford were unknowns to me, as well. In fact, it's pretty safe to say that in 1973, the only entertainment that existed for me were SESAME STREET and MISTER ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD on PBS Channel 13. THE STING would not exist for me until the night of November 5, 1978 when it premiered on the ABC Sunday Night Movie. I remember it began an hour earlier than the usual broadcast start time of 9 pm, which meant I could stay up to watch a lot more of, if not all, of the movie on a school night.

Although I had some knowledge of what a con artist was (though as a kid, I would have called such a person a cheater), I didn’t fully understand the intricate plotting of the cons and scams that took place in the old city of Chicago during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Still, there was a degree of fun and pleasure involved in watching a group of men that included Newman as Henry Gondorf and Redford as Johnny Hooker, who were scheming to con a large amount of money from Chicago gangster Doyle Lonnegan (played by Robert Shaw) who was responsible for the murder of their friend, Luther Coleman, a con artist and grifter himself. The film took its time in developing up the sets, the schemes and the performances that would ultimately bait Lonnegan into believing that he was betting his money on legitimate horse races. In the end, when they managed to pull off their con and I learned that Hooker was only pretending to be dead after Gondorf only pretended to shoot him, I felt a huge smile develop on my face, as if I’d been privileged to be let in on the whole thing in the end. This was, perhaps, the first time I learned what the craft of the twist ending and the big pay-off meant in screenwriting. In this case, it meant the good guys won and the bad guys lost, and that’s what was most often fun about the movies, even on television.

Today, the late George Roy Hill's film continues to prove just how effective the on-screen chemistry was between the late Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It was their second (and last) film together after BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID in 1969, and it’s a real shame they never worked together again. It’s a simple film that easily influenced others like it of crime, cons, scams, and heists, though none of them, in my opinion, come close to the charm and grace of THE STING. It can be called a stylish costume piece, but there’s also that right touch of deception and nastiness to remind us that it’s not just a tale of the innocence of a forgotten era, but rather a twisted reminder that in life, it’s not necessarily how you play the game, but how you ultimately win it.

THE STING won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1973. As much as I love the film, I still think that honor should have gone to George Lucas's AMERICAN GRAFFITI (with all due respect to THE EXORCIST!).

Favorite line or dialogue:

Doyle Lonnegan: "Your boss is quite a card player, Mr. Kelly. How does he do it?"
Johnny Hooker: "He cheats."