Never Enough Paul Newman: The Sting (1973)

Today I almost went to the theater, but it all kinda fell apart and I took the opportunity to watch a movie with my friend that I've been wanting to see before the year was out. That would be 7 time Oscar winner The Sting starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. This pair was also teamed up in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and once I found out they were in another movie together, I knew I'd have to see it. The fact that it's set in the 1930s, with a gangsters and gamblers sort of theme, that just made it sound all the more intriguing. Hit the jump and see what I thought of what will likely be my final Paul Newman film of the year.


The Sting is all about a group of con men trying to pull off a big con on a crooked banker. Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) was just a small time con artist. He had a scheme or two that would usually just net him some extra pocket money, but one time it ends up fooling a courier for Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), and he and his partners end up with the $10K the courier was transporting across town from a gambling ring. The hit goes out on his name, but luckily they don't know what he looks like. When his partner gets taken out, he flees across town to big time con man Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) for safety, but also for revenge. Their target will be the same Doyle Lonnegan who killed their mutual friend, and they're going to hit him where it really hurts: his wallet.

Robert Redford plays Johnny Hooker. A con man in over his head.

There are a lot of good things going for this movie. Mainly it's the great con plot and story going on, but its also got great actors to back it all up, as well as a wonderful script, writing, and it's also a great period piece. I don't think I have to go into any detail about how good Robert Redford and Paul Newman are. We all know they're great, right? The only thing I probably could say about it at all would be that I've never seen Paul Newman quite like this before. He seemed like a different person altogether, and it was great to watch.

Paul Newman looking older, and a little worse for wear.

Period pieces are usually pretty great. There's plenty of photographic examples of those times to really allow the film to nail the 1930s perfectly. From the clothes to the the cars, it all was dead on. Another great touch was the way they talked. It seemed like everybody had a nickname they were called by, and we got so into it, that we started making up names for the characters ourselves. If you watch this movie, keep a look out for "The Glove" and "Jimmy the Nose"! The second one may be a little tricky to nail down, but give it a shot (hint: he's not named Jimmy at all, haha).

They clean up real nice. Time to put the plan in action!

Both my friend and I enjoyed the story, but while it may have been hard to tell which way things were going to turn when it first came out in the 70s, I think we've just seen this kind of story play out too many times before. Because of that, we were easily able to tell how pretty much everything was going to go down, so there weren't any surprises for us. Even so, it was still pretty good.

I think that what made this movie good for me was the acting and performances by the cast, and the elaborate con they work throughout the movie. It reminded me a little of Ocean's Eleven but set in the 1930s. They get a team of con men and actors together all for the sake of the long con on Lonnegan. The fact that Lonnegan's hit men were also constantly after Hooker while at the same time Hooker was always so close to Lonnegan himself was also entertaining.

Hooker (middle) gets really close with Lonnegan (right). Too bad they didn't make the cars bigger.

I'd definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes films set in that era, but also to people who like Paul Newman or Robert Redford. Both of them are great in this, and you'll get to hear them say things like "Do what I say and everything will be Jake." Give it a shot. It's a fun movie, and if you need any more convincing, keep in mind it did win Best Writing, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Music, Best Director, and Best Picture for the 1974 Oscars. Those are some pretty good odds if you ask me!