Review: The Sting

Set in the mid-1930s, Robert Redford is Hooker, a small-time con man in league with the elder Luther (Robert Earl Jones), who has hopes of getting out of the game soon. Sadly, he’s out permanently when they unknowingly con an associate of big-time racketeer and (cheating) gambler Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), a no-nonsense gangster who has Luther killed. Hooker gets the hell outta Dodge and heads for Chicago to look up an old associate of Luther’s named Henry Gondorff, apparently Luther’s mentor in the con game. Gondorff seems a grumpy drunken bum, but when he sobers up, he and Hooker devise a big-time con to take Lonnegan for all his worth (setting up a completely fake horse-betting joint!), with a little help from friends such as J.J. Singleton (Ray Walston) and Kid Twist (Harold Gould). Representing the law are Charles Durning as a crooked cop, and Dana Elcar as an FBI man. Jack Kehoe plays an associate of Hooker’s, Eileen Brennan plays a friend of Gondorff’s, Dimitra Arliss plays a tired-looking waitress Hooker chats up, and Charles Dierkop is Lonnegan’s chief goon.

 

One of the all-time greatest entertainments, this 1973 George Roy Hill (“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”, “Slaughterhouse-Five”, “The World According to Garp”) caper is practically flawless and a joy from start to finish. It’s one of those films like “The Great Escape”, “Jaws”, “Star Wars: A New Hope”, or “Raiders of the Lost Ark” that it’s virtually impossible not to like it. If you don’t find it wholly entertaining, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe it’s you?

 

The film is most well-known for its Scott Joplin ragtime music, adapted by an Oscar-winning Marvin Hamlisch (“The Way We Were”, “The Spy Who Loved Me”), and yes it is indeed unforgettable. Sure, it’s a little out of step with the time period actually being depicted, but unless you’re a musical nerd, you won’t know that and it nonetheless feels right, even if it technically isn’t. The rest of the period stuff- costumes, cars, sets etc., all convince as authentic to the 1930s so far as this 1980-born person can tell (Some of the film is set in Chicago, some is the Universal backlot in California. I certainly bought it!). Meanwhile, the casting of such character actors as Ray Walston (whom I could listen to delivering dialogue all day long), cynical and dry-witted Eileen Brennan, and the dapper Harold Gould (best dressed person in the film by far) also seems to evoke a much earlier era than the period in which the film was actually made. However, for all of the jaunty ragtime music and fun con games the film features throughout, it is actually depicting a time and place that is harsh, violent, and dangerous to be messing around with criminal bigwigs. People seem to forget that about the film, and it doesn’t actually get in the way of the entertainment, it’s part of it. Throw in the always intense gaze and hardened demeanour of Robert Shaw as the lead villain/mark and you’ve got a film that is as tense as it is fun. It’s a tricky balance, but Hill and Oscar-winning screenwriter David S. Ward (writer-director of minor but enjoyable comedies like “Major League” and “King Ralph”) seem to make it look effortless. And cool. This is quite simply one of the coolest films you’ll ever see. It’s so much fun watching these guys work their magic and trying to put one over on Shaw’s Irish-American racketeer.

 

Robert Redford and Paul Newman are absolutely perfect in this, with Redford very much taking the lead, and Newman essentially having a supporting role. I’ve seen this film about 10 times, and it was only on this most recent viewing that I realised how little he’s in the film. It’s Redford’s film, and he gives one of his best-ever performances as the cocky, impatient upstart to Newman’s washed up but not finished veteran con man. Newman is clearly having a ball here, particularly when his character impersonates a drunken, crass American in a card game with a clearly none-too-bloody-impressed Lonnegan. His arrogance and refusal to get Lonnegan’s name right is priceless (and a perfect fit for Newman). The latter’s obvious volcanic rage just below the surface is hilarious in a film that isn’t exactly a comedy so much as a caper. In fact, as great as Newman and Redford are, it’s Robert Shaw for me who steals the show with a frighteningly intense stare that makes one feel like they’ve been stabbed fifty times in the eyeballs. Shaw might be playing the straight man here, but he’s a great villain. All of the cons in the film are great fun to watch (and most, if not all, seem to be pretty plausible to me), with the ‘big con’ being not just on the villain, but also the audience. If it’s your first viewing of the film, it’ll really surprise you. Speaking of surprises, an actress named Dimitra Arliss provided the biggest one for me the first time I saw the film. What happens with her will remain a secret from me, but suffice to say I was floored on first viewing. It’s a very well-guarded surprise. In other turns, perpetually middle-aged character actor Jack Kehoe is rock-solid as always, and Charles Durning is terrific as a hard-nosed jerk cop, whilst hulking Charles Dierkop (who looks like a “Dick Tracy” villain without the need for elaborate makeup) has the funniest reaction shot in the entire film during the fixed card game on the train.

 

This is the best of all movie capers, it’s a perfect mixture of light and dark, great music, terrific performances up and down the line, and is a must for…well, everyone as far as I’m concerned. It fully deserved its Best Picture win at the Oscars. One of the best movies of any genre you’ll ever see, certainly one of the most entertaining. And good luck getting the music out of your head afterwards!

 

Rating: A+