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The Sting

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The Sting
The Sting movie poster
Directed byGeorge Roy Hill
Written byDavid S. Ward
Produced byTony Bill
Michael Phillips
Julia Phillips
StarringPaul Newman
Robert Redford
Robert Shaw
Charles Durning
CinematographyRobert Surtees
Edited byWilliam Reynolds
Music byMarvin Hamlisch
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
December 25, 1973
Running time
129 min.
LanguageEnglish
This article is about the 1973 film involving con artists. For other uses, see Sting (disambiguation).

The Sting is an Oscar winning caper film from 1973 set in September of 1936 and revolving around a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). The story, created by screenwriter David S. Ward, was inspired by some real-life con games perpetrated by the brothers Fred and Charley Gondorf and documented by David W. Maurer in his book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man. The movie was directed by George Roy Hill, who also directed Newman and Redford in the classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The title phrase refers to the moment when a con artist finishes the “play” and takes the mark’s money. (Today the name is mostly used in the context of law enforcement sting operations.) If the con game is successful, the mark does not realize he has been “taken” (cheated), at least not until the con men are long gone.

The movie is divided into distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards that resembled illustrations from the Saturday Evening Post. It was noted for its musical score—particularly its theme song, "The Entertainer," a piano rag by Scott Joplin, which was lightly adapted for the movie by Marvin Hamlisch.

The film was a major box office success in 1973, taking in more than US$160 million.

A less-successful sequel with different players, The Sting II, appeared in 1983. In the same year a prequel was also planned, exploring the earlier career of Henry Gondorff. Infamous confidence man Soapy Smith was scripted to be Gondorff's mentor. When the sequel failed, the prequel was scrapped.

A deluxe DVD, The Sting: Special Edition (part of the Universal Legacy Series) was released in September, 2005, including a "making of" featurette and interviews with the cast and crew.

Plot

The movie's protagonist is Johnny Hooker (Redford), a small-time con man (also known in the movie as a "grifter") from Depression-era Joliet, Illinois. Hooker and his accomplices Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) and Joe Erie (Jack Kehoe) manage to swipe $11,000 in cash from an unsuspecting victim or "mark". In the wake of this apparent success, Luther tells Johnny that he is retiring from his life of crime and moving to Kansas City, Missouri to work in a "mostly legal" business with his brother-in-law. He advises Hooker to seek out an old friend, Henry Gondorff, in Chicago, who will be able to teach him the art of the 'big con'.

Unfortunately for the three con artists, the man they robbed was a numbers racket courier, transporting the money to Chicago for crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Corrupt Joliet police Lieutenant William Snyder (Charles Durning) confronts Hooker, demanding a cut of the $11,000 and revealing Lonnegan's involvement. Realizing that he and his partners are in danger, Hooker pays Snyder in counterfeit bills, having foolishly gambled away his entire cut all at once at a roulette table . Hooker goes to warn Coleman, but he arrives too late to save him from Lonnegan's hit man. With nowhere else to turn, Hooker approaches Gondorff for help in avenging Coleman's murder.

The set-up

Gondorff (Paul Newman) is a seemingly broken-down con artist on the run from the FBI, living in the back of an amusement park that doubles as a tavern and brothel. He is initially reluctant to take on Lonnegan because "revenge is for chumps", and also because the New York gangster/banker has a reputation for ruthlessly killing his enemies. Gondorff nevertheless agrees to help Hooker run a sting on Lonnegan. Since Lonnegan is a shrewd man of few vices, and not to be taken in by a simple confidence scheme, Henry and Johnny will concoct an elaborate plan involving placing Hooker as the inside man in an off-track betting scam known as "The Wire."

The hook

First, Gondorff's lover and partner in crime, Billie (Eileen Brennan), picks Lonnegan's wallet aboard the famous 20th Century Limited train en route from New York to Chicago. Gondorff, posing as drunk, boorish Chicago bookie, "Shaw," then buys his way into Lonnegan's private high-stakes poker game on the train with the latter's own money. He enters the game late and feigns drunkenness, and boorishly proclaims to the other card players, "Sorry I'm late. I was taking a crap."[1] Gondorff, a cardsharp, wins the first few hands and, through arrogance and by mispronouncing his name, goads Lonnegan into cheating with a stacked deck to "break that bastard bookie in one play." Gondorff, having anticipated this, out-cheats a shocked Lonnegan, who loses $15,000 and, without his wallet, cannot immediately pay the debt.

File:Redford2.png
Redford earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Johnny Hooker.

Gondorff tells Lonnegan that he will "send a boy" to his room to collect the money, who turns out to be Hooker, posing as a disgruntled employee of Shaw's, and calling himself "Kelly."

The tale

"Kelly" plays on Lonnegan's desire for revenge by asking for his help to break Shaw and take over his business. Johnny convinces Doyle that he has a partner in the Chicago Western Union office (portrayed at a meeting by con man "Kid Twist," played by Harold Gould), and that he can use this connection to win large sums of money in the off-track betting (OTB) establishment run by Shaw by past-posting. All of this, including the OTB establishment itself, is in reality a hoax instigated solely for Lonnegan's benefit; for example, the con men get the supposed play-by-play from a surplus tickertape wire and then have an accomplice in the back (the con man "J.J.," played by Ray Walston) read it through a microphone to make it sound as if it were live on the radio; meanwhile, Erie manages to prove his own worth as a con man, posing as a regular gambler in "Shaw's place" to help convince Lonnegan of the reality of the place.

In addition to luring Lonnegan into this con as Kelly, and eluding the assassins Lonnegan has sent to kill him as Hooker, Johnny must continually avoid Snyder, who has followed him to Chicago, looking for either his cut of the original $11,000 or revenge on Hooker for cheating him. Snyder's efforts are derailed when FBI agents make their presence known to him and Hooker. Snyder is brought into a warehouse serving as a front for FBI operations. Special agent Polk is discussing strategy with another agent in the foreground, heard plainly by the film audience though not necessarily by Snyder at first. Snyder observes while special agent Polk coerces Hooker into helping them capture Gondorff. Snyder is to be part of that operation also.

Meanwhile, Hooker begins a romance with a local waitress named Loretta. Unbeknownst to Hooker, Lonnegan has grown frustrated with his own men's inability to find and kill Hooker, so he arranges for a professional killer, "Solino," to finish the job. A mysterious man with black leather gloves is seen following and observing Hooker.

The sting

All the pieces of the elaborate puzzle come together on the morning planned for the sting that is planned to swindle Lonnegan. Various players are seen making preparations for the day. Then the action begins:‎

  • After Hooker had spent the night with Loretta, he wakes up alone and begins walking to work. He sees Loretta coming toward him, so does not see the black-gloved man behind him, lining up to fire a gun in his direction. The bullet hits Loretta and kills her instantly. It turns out that the hired killer was "Loretta Solino," who was carrying a concealed gun and was preparing to kill Hooker at that moment. The gloved man, who had been hired by Gondorff to protect Hooker, drives him to work. The reason Loretta had not killed him in her room is that the nosy old lady next door had seen Hooker go into her room.
  • After getting word from Kid Twist to "place it on" a particular horse, Lonnegan brings a briefcase containing half a million dollars to bet on the horse to win. Although "Shaw" argues that the bet is too large, Lonnegan calls him a "gutless cheat;" so Gondorff, feigning stung pride, accepts the bet.
  • Kid Twist drops by and quietly asks Lonnegan how it's going. Lonnegan informs him that he has half a million dollars on the horse to win. Kid Twist feigns shock and tells him he was supposed to bet on the horse to "place," as it was going to finish second. The angry Lonnegan goes to the window and demands his money back. The clerk begins to argue that that is against the rules.
  • Just then the FBI and Snyder burst in and order everyone to freeze. In the noise and the chaos, Polk is seen stepping up to Gondorff and saying, "Hello, Henry, it's been a long time!" However, this is spoken out of earshot of Lonnegan. Only Gondorff (and the audience) hear that statement.
  • Polk gestures to Hooker and says, "You can go," seemingly revealing to all that he had betrayed Gondorff to the FBI. Hooker starts to walk toward the door but Gondorff pulls a gun and shoots him in the back. Polk then shoots Gondorff. Polk orders Snyder to get Lonnegan out of there. Lonnegan realizes that, for his reputation's sake, he cannot allow himself to be involved in this incident; but he is torn, because he has left half a million dollars inside, as he tries to explain to Snyder while the detective whisks him away.
  • With Lonnegan and Snyder safely away, Polk leans over Hooker's body and says, "He's gone!" Hooker opens his eyes and gets up, as does Gondorff, to the cheers and laughter of the rest of the group. Not only have Lonnegan and Snyder been stung, so has the film audience. Gondorff expresses as much as "Polk" helps him up: "Nice con, Hickey. I thought you were Feds myself, when you first came in." Hooker and Gondorff then proceed to nonchalently walk out of the ally way with the large sum of money left by Lonnegan, as the rest of the players and members of the Sting strip the room of its contents before Snyder, and/or Lonnegan and his men come back to retrieve the money, and members.

Cast

File:PaulNewmanTheSting.jpg
Paul Newman as Henry Gondorff.

Awards

Wins

Nominations

Music

The soundtrack album contained the following selections, most of which are Scott Joplin ragtime pieces. There are some variances from the actual film soundtrack, as noted. In reality, Joplin's ragtime music was no longer popular during the 1930s. The two Jazz Age style tunes written by Hamlisch are chronologically much closer to the film's time period than are the Joplin rags:

  1. "Solace" (Joplin) - orchestral version
  2. "The Entertainer" (Joplin) - orchestral version
  3. "The Easy Winners" (Joplin)
  4. "Hooker's Hooker" (Hamlisch)
  5. "Luther" - same basic tune as "Solace", re-arranged by Hamlisch as a dirge
  6. "Pine Apple Rag" / "Gladiolus Rag" medley (Joplin)
  7. "The Entertainer" (Joplin) - piano version
  8. "The Glove" (Hamlisch) - a Jazz Age style number; only a short segment was used in the film
  9. "Little Girl" (Hamlisch) - another Jazz Age style number; not used in the film
  10. "Pine Apple Rag" (Joplin)
  11. "Merry-Go-Round Music" medley (traditional) - "Listen to the Mocking Bird" was the only portion actually used in the film, along with the second segment of "King Cotton", a Sousa march, which was not on the album
  12. "Solace" (Joplin) - piano version
  13. "The Entertainer" / "The Ragtime Dance" medley (Joplin)

The album sequence differs from the film sequence, a standard practice with vinyl LPs, often for technical reasons having to do with the varying rotational speed of the disk and/or for perceived aesthetic reasons. Some additional content differences:

  • Selected snippets of Joplin's works, some appearing on the album and some not, provided linking music over the title cards that were used to introduce major scenes. (The final card, "The Sting", introducing the film's dramatic conclusion, had no music at all.)
  • Some of the tunes in the film that appear on the album were different takes than those on the album.
  • The most obvious Joplin tune used in the film but not appearing in the soundtrack album was "Cascades". The middle (fast) portion of it was played when Hooker was running away from Snyder along the 'L' train platform.

Other production information

  • Plans were made for a prequel to The Sting. The film was to be based on the early days of Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman). His mentor was to be the infamous 19th century confidence man Soapy Smith, known as "the king of the frontier con men." Plans were scrapped after the failure of the sequel, starring Jackie Gleason.
  • Harold Gould's character, "Kid Twist," shared that nickname with (though apparently not the profession of) at least two different mob hit men, Max Zwerbach and Abe Reles.
  • At the beginning of the film, Robert Redford finds Paul Newman where he and his lover supposedly operate a carousel in Chicago. As the scene starts, they show the carousel building from a far shot with a city scape in the background. The shot is actually the Carousel on the Santa Monica Pier [1] in California and the city scape in the background has been painted in and over what is actually the Pacific Ocean.
  • In the original theatrical release and on the Laser Disc and early VHS releases the scene in the bathroom where Hooker is talking to Gondorff about what happened to him, Gondorff says "Luther didn't tell me you had a big mouth." Hooker replies "He didn't tell me you were a fuck-up either". In all future releases Hooker's line has been re-dubbed to be "He didn't tell me you were a screw up either." If you watch Redford's lips you can tell that he did indeed say "fuck up".
  • At the beginning of the film, the Universal Pictures logo from 1936 (the glass Art Deco globe with the words "A UNIVERSAL PICTURE") is used instead of the contemporary version to establish the film's time setting.
  • In 1974 The Big Con author David Maurer filed a $10 million dollar lawsuit claiming at least part of the film's story had been taken from his book. The matter was resolved out of court in 1976.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Sting.

References

  1. ^ IMDb quotes from The Sting Retrieved March 20, 2007.
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