The Sting

George Roy Hill, USA 1973, 129 minutes

Following the huge popularity and success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Newman and Redford team up once again in this film. Not so much a sequel to Butch Cassidy as it is reinterpretation; the same director placing the same outlaw characters in a different era - 1930s Chicago.

Here we have Redford as a chirpy young small-time con operator who, together with his long-time partner and mentor, unwittingly rips off a large sum of money belonging to snarling racketeer Robert Shaw. When the aforementioned partner is then killed by one of Shaw's hit men, Redford is thirsty for revenge. He tracks down washed-up souse Henry Gondorf (Newman) and convinces him to come out of retirement for one last con, a huge-scale operation intended to break Shaw for good.

When confidence trick movies work (see The Grifters or House of Games), they are nothing short of exhilarating. The real delight comes from being in on the secret, and watching with glee as a meticulously crafted scheme clicks together and traps a slimeball who didn't see it coming until it was too late. This is the quintessential example of such a film. Newman and Redford are cocky, charming and above all highly skilled young men. There is inevitable exchange of wisecracks, not to mention the odd punch, between the two as they relax back into roles that could have been written for them. Redford is great as the eager young golden boy on a mission, but the real joy here is Newman. His twinkling, sly, world-weary old pro is a truly magnificent creation. He is a sheer joy to watch, and the scene in which he brashly (and drunkenly) fleeces a fuming Shaw in a game of poker on a train is perhaps one of the best scenes in cinema history. This film swept the board at the Oscars in 1973 (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Art Direction and many more, including a Best Actor nomination for Redford) and it isn't hard to see why. A delight.

"The three stars make the difference between simply a good film and a superior one" - Variety

Review by Ben Stephens
Taken from EUFS Programme 1996-97