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Synopsis

Johnny Hooker, a small time grifter, unknowingly steals from Doyle Lonnegan, a big time crime boss, when he pulls a standard street con. Lonnegan demands satisfaction for the insult. After his partner, Luther, is killed, Hooker flees, and seeks the help of Henry Gondorff, one of Luther’s contacts, who is a master of the long con. Hooker wants to use Gondorff’s expertise to take Lonnegan for an enormous sum of money to even the score, since he admits he “doesn’t know enough about killing to kill him.” They devise a complicated scheme and amass a talented group of other con artists who want their share of the reparations. The stakes are high in this game, and our heroes must not only deal with Lonnegan’s murderous tendencies, but also other side players who want a piece of the action. To win, Hooker and Gondorff will need all their skills…and a fair amount of confidence. –IMDb

Director

Original

George Roy Hill

Former Marine pilot George Roy Hill began his career as an actor, debuting with Cyril Cusack’s company at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He scored a personal success in Strindberg’s “The Creditors” (1950) at the Cherry Lane Theatre, before concentrating on writing and directing for American TV in the 1950s. He scripted and acted in his first work for NBC’s “Kraft Television Theatre”, the autobiographical “My Brother’s Keeper” (1953), inspired by his pilot’s experience of being “talked down” by a ground controller, and “A Night to Remember” (also for “Kraft”), a drama about the sinking of the Titanic, earned him 1956 Emmy nominations as director and co-author. Hill scored a huge success in his Broadway directing debut, the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Look Homeward, Angel” (1957,) and made his feature film debut helming the adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play “Period of Adjustment” (1962), which he had directed on Broadway.

Hill delighted reviewers (though the box office was meager… read more

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Ben Smith

13Feb12

This beat Mean Streets, Badlands and Serpico for best picture? The shit?

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Gerald

28Sep11

Did they make any money from that scam, or did they use it all to set up the scam?

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willmckinley

26Sep11

No doubt THE STING is an essential film. But for my (non-grifted) money, it doesn't hold up as well as some cinematic contemporaries. It's very stage-bound, Henry Bumstead's art direction is too pristine, & the cinematography by the great Robert Surtees looks flat & over-lit. The cast makes this film memorable, particularly Newman. If only they had been shot in B&W a la PAPER MOON. (9/24/11 Loews Jersey Theater, NJ)

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lolo341

21Sep11

Countless reasons to love this film: James Earl Jones's dad as Luther. Newman's Gondorff to Redford's Hooker when the first meet: "Glad to meet you. You're a real horse's ass." Gondorff later in the film: "No sense being a grifter if its the same as bein' a citizen." Robert Shaw's limp: real - he tore up his knee before they began filming. Eileen Brennan. Ray Walston. Harold Gould. The big con. And it's fun, too!

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The Sting (spoiler at the end of review)

By dope fiend willy on August 22, 2010

A very well made film, but I think that it falls just short of greatness.

The main item that keeps the film from reaching greatness is Robert Redford’s performance. Redford is simply not of…  read review

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