The Sting

A meticulously detailed crime caper.The Sting (1973) is director George Roy Hill paying tribute to Carol Reed's The Third Man, William Friedkin's The French Connection, and many older crime thrillers of seamless realism and crafty concoction. David S. Ward's script is clever and unscrupulous in the thought that went into this twist filled plot. The Sting's narrative is structured with precision that is gripping to the last.George Roy Hill's direction is a phenomenal recreation of The Great Depression era Chicago. The gritty realistic setting and incredible sets that really capture an old Chicago crime feel are impressive. The older clothes, accurate accents, and vintage haircuts all work to make The Sting feel a sense of verisimilitude.Robert Redford is awesome as the cool con artist with a heart of gold. He feels likable and realistic with an air of sincerity. His youthful energetic keeps The Sting feeling like a rush of energy. Redford is perfect whether ripping off someone from their money with his slick words or wooing a woman with affectionate words. He is the ultimate cool criminal.Paul Newman is again hilarious as the criminal mastermind and elder con artist teaching the younger Redford. His goofy playing at alcoholic during the first card game of poker is entertaining as the scene is suspenseful. Newman is delightful to watch work his charm with his air of control. He plays perfectly alongside the charismatic Redford.Robert Shaw is unsurprisingly masterful as the villainous criminal cheat Lonergan. His subtle performance leaves you impressed at how nuanced he accomplishes his character acting. He walks with a limp, yet roars out orders with an unshakable control and imposing presence. His staring eyes are haunting as well. Shaw is just excellent in The Sting.I loved all the smaller supporting roles in The Sting. Eileen Brennan is great as the madame of a Chicago brothel named Billie. Charles Durning is shocking as terrifying as the corrupt cop Lt. Synder. Lastly, Dimitra Arliss is captivating as the waitress Loretta Salino. Everyone plays their part with a mystifying aura.The Sting's score is a lovely tribute to old vaudeville acts and early Americana. The music keeps you entertained and the movie moving along with a gleeful joy to life your spirits during the darker sequences.To conclude, The Sting is certainly worth watching for Robert Redford and Paul Newman, but also offers Robert Shaw's brilliant role and a ton of sweet songs. The chase sequences are otherworldly as are the scams and setups. You should give The Sting a chance!

I first saw "The Sting" in the theater soon after it was first released at Christmastime 1973. I was 18 at the time. Well I'm 64 now and I got it DVD and I appreciate it even more. The movie takes place in Chicago in The Great Depression era of the 1930's. It stars Paul Newman as Henry Gondorff, (based on an actual character,) and Robert Redford as Johnny "Kelly" Hooker as two professional con men. Robert Shaw is menacing as the gangster Doyle Lonnegan, Gondorff and Hooker go after to get revenge for the murder of their good friend. The terrific supporting cast includes Ray Walston, Charles Durning, Harold Gould and Eileen Brennan. Directed by George Roy Hill who directed Newman and Redford in "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" from 1969. Hill also directed Robert Redford in "The Great Waldo Pepper" from 1975 and Paul Newman in "Slapshot" from 1977 which were pretty good flicks. "The Sting" won the "Oscar" for Best Picture in 1973,(winning over "The Exorcist",) and George Roy Hill won Best Director honors. Scott Joplin's music "The Entertainer" and the soundtrack album went to the top The Billboard Charts. I got the album when I was 18 and I still have it ! "The Sting" was a big hit at the box-office also, in The Top 100 Box-Office Champions of All Time ,(adjusted for inflation as of 2020.) In 2005 The National Film Registry started by The Library of Congress in 1988 to preserve films that are " historically, culturally and aesthetically significant," put "The Sting" on that list. They add to it every few years. There are only 800 films on that list as of 2020. Quite an honor. The DVD features entertaining interviews with Newman,Redford and other members of the cast from 2002. The tagline for the movie poster read "All it takes is a little confidence."

The Blu-ray version of this classic caper looks great*, but the wonderful Oscar-winning interpretation of Marvin Hamlisch's adaptation of Scott Joplins piano rags were futzed with. For instance, the number over the opening credits, "The Entertainer", had a very specific, old fashion sound in the theatre (on the previous DVD, release, as well)... and here the number is lifted from the soundtrack released on CDs (and back in the day: LPs and cassettes), which had a different sound. Beautiful music, of course, but that special STING sound that I'm certain director George Roy Hill wanted is now missing. This is also evident in "Pineapple Rag", the number we hear when Gondorff's right-hand men (J.J. Singleton, Kid Twist and Eddie Niles) are being gathered by Gondorff via the famous finger brushed aside the nose. The one featurette is fun, but the special features are lacking, here. For example, nobody talks about the beautiful artwork that bookends the film and headlines each "chapter" of the movie. Nor is there any mention of Albert Whitlock's wonderful matte paintings.*Back to the look of the film on this Blu-ray edition, there is a moment early on when Johnny Hooker is walking with Eerie Kid after visiting Luther. The color of Hooker's suit is incorrect (it looks black when in reality it is rust-colored with stripes). Once Lt. Snyder drives up and attacks Hooker, though, the proper color has returned. I wonder what happened there!

The Sting is the first movie that opened the viewer's eyes to the inside of a con. And the acting is excellent.They actually researched the c0o9n man's world and then interpreted it for the viewer. Who ever heard the expression, "The quill"? Yet we understand it by the positioning and context given when Kid Twist says it.And John Scarne was the hands for Paul Neuman on the train! How about that?The selection of the music was incidental and perfect. And today how many people know that brushing the side of the nose to show silent agreement came from this movie?This is a film you should see if you like acting, plots, twists and good cinematography.

The film is wonderful, why bother replacing blu ray with 4k if it wasn't?Quality is rather variable - scenes outside, particularly when it's sunny, are clearly a noticeable step up. Scenes indoors a little less so, and scenes at night don't look better than blu ray to me. Not sure if it's HDR or Dolby Video, but dynamic range is better so things that should be bright are definitely brighter.I think it's worth it, but don't expect it to look like a modern 4k film.

I expected to much from this 4k bluray.Sadly the PQ is dire.What's wrong with it?PQ varies massively from scene to scene. There's also a problem with picture focus.This 4k bluray is very difficult to watch as the picture quality varies from scene to scene. The PQ is never stable for more than a few seconds which is most disconcerting.I've never seen a 4k bluray (or blu ray) before where the PQ varies so frequently.The sting on 4k bluray is one the most disappointing releases I have.The movie itself is absolutely brilliant.This is a 5 star film with a zero star picture quality.

Some people would have you believe that The Sting did not deserve it's 1973 best picture Oscar, that maybe it should've gone to the Exorcist. They are wrong The Sting is a brilliantly made and performed movie, it is a delightful film led by it's 2 lead stars at the height of their fame who spark off each other wonderfully just as they did in Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid. But it is not only the stars who recommend the film the supporting cast is very strong with lots of familiar character actors such as Charles Durning in excellent supporting roles. Also Robert Shaw provides a suitably roguish villain and director George Roy Hill evokes the style of old films with cards appearing on screen to announce the next stage of the film aping silent movies, then there is the use of editing wipe cuts that again evoke an earlier type of film making and finally to enhance the atmosphere of an earlier age there is Marvin Hamlish's arrangements of Scott Joplin's ragtime music.The film is a tale of revenge, how some con men take revenge on a gangster who has killed one of their friends and the story is about how they achieve that revenge, the script creates an intricate and satisfying plot and the performances of Robert Redford and Paul Newman are the epitome of a star performance, very charismatic and enjoyable. So the film is a brilliantly constructed piece of entertainment that was well worth it's best picture Oscar and is a movie that is well worth seeing.

This is a pleasant enough film, the main attractions of which are the character actors and the nicely done period touches.On the other hand, the plot is somewhat too contrived to really convince and the ending is rather a damp squib.Some people have said that the ragtime arrangements that form much of the background to this film are intrusive, but this probably comes down to whether you like this style of music or not. A more substantial criticism is probably that it is a little too much studio bound, with the train scenes looking rather cardboardy.It's probably not a bad film to keep, but the more you play it, the more evident are the holes in the plot. And after a few re-runs, these do get a bit annoying. I don't think my DVD has been played since about 2011 and it's probably about time it went in the charity bag.

This is a near-perfect movie, which remains one of my all-time favourites. First and foremost it has some terrific acting performances notably from Paul Newman and Robert Shaw, both of whom are in scene stealing form. The poker game on the train is the undoubted highlight for me. Newman's pretend drunk is one of the best I've ever seen and Robert Shaw's unspoken fury is brilliant. Thanks to the script, the film, which is over over two hours long doesn't have a wasted frame.The bluray is good and for a 40+ year old film it looks as good as I've ever seen it. There were a few places where I thought they maybe could have made a bit more effort, but overall its well worth having over the DVD. Extras are not exceptional, there are some interesting interviews, but the main reason to buy this is the film itself.