The Sting

The Sting, American caper movie, released in 1973, that was one of the most popular films of the 1970s and the second on-screen pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It won seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture.

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Classic Closing Lines

The movie begins in Joliet, Illinois, in September 1936. Two men, Johnny Hooker (played by Redford) and his partner, Luther (Robert Earl Jones), trick a courier out of $11,000, unaware that the money was to have been given to powerful mobster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Luther intends to retire with his share of the money, and he recommends that Hooker partner with con artist Henry Gondorff (Newman) in Chicago. That evening, a crooked cop, Lieut. William Snyder (Charles Durning), accosts Hooker, telling him that he knows that he stole money from one of Lonnegan’s men, and demands a cut. Hooker gives him $2,000 in counterfeit bills and then goes to warn Luther, only to find that his partner has been killed.

Hooker escapes to Chicago, where he finds Gondorff living with his girlfriend, Billie (Eileen Brennan). Gondorff agrees to help Hooker run an elaborate confidence game to financially ruin Lonnegan. They devise a scheme to create a fake offtrack betting parlour, where Lonnegan will make a large bet that they will then steal. In addition to Billie, the men enlist the aid of various criminals, including Kid Twist (Harold Gould) and J.J. Singleton (Ray Walston). While their plan is being put into action, Lieutenant Snyder, seeking revenge for the counterfeit money, follows Hooker to Chicago, where he is picked up and taken to FBI Agent Polk (Dana Elcar). Polk tells Snyder that the FBI is after Gondorff and that he wants Snyder to bring Hooker in so that Polk can use Hooker to get to Gondorff.

After surprising Hooker in his apartment, Snyder takes him to Agent Polk, who threatens to imprison Luther’s widow if Hooker refuses to cooperate. Hooker agrees to give up Gondorff as long as the FBI waits until the sting against Lonnegan has been completed. Hooker spends that night with a waitress (Dimitra Arliss), and when he awakens the next morning, she is gone. He later sees the woman approaching him in an alley, but someone behind Hooker shoots her dead. The gunman explains that the waitress was actually Lonnegan’s hired assassin, Salino, and that she had been ordered to kill Hooker for the Joliet heist. Furthermore, the gunman had been asked by Gondorff to keep an eye on Hooker.

The action then shifts to the fake parlour, where Lonnegan, acting on a tip from Kid Twist, makes a $500,000 bet. As he waits for the horse race to be called, Lonnegan is joined by Kid Twist, who informs him that he was supposed to have bet on Lucky Dan to place (come in second), not to win. As Lonnegan attempts to change his bet, the FBI agents, led by Polk and Snyder, arrive. Polk tells Hooker that he can leave, but Gondorff shoots Hooker in the back. Polk then shoots Gondorff. As Lonnegan looks aghast at the carnage, Snyder hustles him out of the building. After they leave, Hooker and Gondorff, both unharmed, stand up. It is then revealed that Polk was also part of the con.

The Sting reunited actors Newman and Redford with director George Roy Hill four years after that team struck box-office gold with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). The score, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch from songs composed by Scott Joplin, ignited a vogue for ragtime music, though the musical form’s heyday predated World War I. Legendary costume designer Edith Head earned her eighth and final Oscar for her work on the film. The Academy Award ceremony was enlivened when a naked man raced across the stage shortly before The Sting was announced as the best picture. The movie was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2005.

Production notes and credits

• Studios: Zanuck/Brown Productions and Universal Pictures
• Director: George Roy Hill
• Writer: David S. Ward
• Music: Marvin Hamlisch

Cast

• Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker)
• Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff)
• Robert Shaw (Doyle Lonnegan)
• Charles Durning (Lieutenant Snyder)
• Eileen Brennan (Billie)
• Harold Gould (Kid Twist)
• Ray Walston (J.J. Singleton)

Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)

• Picture*
• Lead actor (Robert Redford)
• Art direction*
• Cinematography
• Costume design*
• Direction*
• Editing*
• Music*
• Sound
• Writing*