The Sting           

By Jeff Shannon

Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists (Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend and partner. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack. One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm.

Trivia!

Co-producer Julia Phillips became the first woman to win a Best Picture Academy Award.

Academy Awards

The Sting received Academy Awards for Best Picture (Tony Bill - Producer, Julia Phillips - Producer, Michael Phillips - Producer), Directing (George Roy Hill), Writing (Best Story and Screenplay based on factual material or material not previously published or produced; David S. Ward), Art Direction/Set Decoration (Henry Bumstead - Art Direction, James Payne - Set Decoration), Costume Design (Edith Head), Film Editing (William H. Reynolds), and Music Scoring Awards (Best Scoring: Original Song Score and/or Adaptation; Marvin Hamlisch). The Sting also received Academy Awards nominations for Actor (Robert Redford), Cinematography (Robert L. Surtees), and Sound (Ronald K. Pierce and Robert Bertrand).

Share Your Memories!

Is The Sting one of your favorite movies? What do you remember about it? Share your stories (or your reviews) with the world! (We print the best stories right here!)