This was the winner of the best picture Oscar in 1973 (along with 6 others!) but as that’s nearly 50 years ago it may seem entirely irrelevant to a modern viewer. The Sting is broadly a caper movie – it tells the somewhat twisting tale of a pair of grifters who decide to extract revenge on a Chicago mob boss Doyle Lonegan (Robert Shaw) who kills one of their associates. Pairing Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff) and Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker) together again after their success in Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, director George Roy Hill weaves an entertaining story of intrigue, deception, and bluff to ensure that at no stage do you know exactly who is on whose side and whether everybody is entirely what they seem to be.
It’s an enjoyable ride back into the sepia-toned days of the 1930s depression, with Joliet and Chicago looking dusty and down-at-heel. The impression further compounded by a score using the ragtime piano themes of Scott Joplin in a distinctive and evocative way to give the feel of an updated, coloured movie of the time, and using Saturday Evening Post (Google it!) themed title cards at appropriate junctures to punctuate the action. It asks that you pay attention to an extensive cast full of vaguely familiar faces – don’t wander off to the loo or to get something from the kitchen half-way through – you’ll miss something – not necessarily vital or important but when you then ask 15 minutes later “who’s that guy?” it will leave any co-viewers grinding their teeth and stroking their eyebrows in frustration.
The movie leans heavily on the maxim of “you can’t cheat an honest man” to pay out just deserts, and a simple underlying theme of bad guys doing a good deed in spite of themselves. It’s a joy to watch and will leave you with a grin on your face and the knowledge of time well wasted. Entertaining to the final credits which are short but also are worth listening through – don’t let Netflix’s “algorithm” shove you over to some supposedly related Marvel movie after 15 seconds – watch the credits!
Certificate: A
2 hours 9 min
Netflix / Prime / YouTube
Director: George Roy Hill
Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
