The Sting

If there's one genre of movie I love more than anything else, it's horror. If there's two genres of movie I love, the other would be a coming of age movie. If there's three genres of movie I really like, the third would be a con/heist movie. I find it so enjoyable to watch the twists and turns and machinations of a big, elaborate con in a movie, trying to find the weak points, trying to figure out if an event is part of the con or an unexpected wrinkle. The Sting is, if you compare it to other con movies, not very complex. Part of that is by design. It isn't meant to be an elaborate web of conspiracy; the audience is supposed to be able to follow along, maybe to about 85%. There's a couple twists that experienced viewers will likely see coming (although there was one I did not), but I can't fault it for being a mostly straight-forward picture when that's its goal. Hell, that's refreshing; I never felt like the movie was trying to out-clever me. The lure here isn't "how elaborate is the con"; it's "can they pull it off?". To that end, watching the steps is enjoyable. The other part of The Sting's non-complexity comes from the setting. It's hard to make a con too complex when the movie is set in Depression-era Chicago. There aren't EMP devices and wi-fi and high-tech security systems. That lack of technological conveniences -- even technology available at the time of the movie's making in 1973 -- provides a significant portion of the movie's charm. It's hard not to get swept up in the cars and the suits and the slang and the overall aesthetic of 1936. Sure, this is a romanticized version of the time, but that's kind of the point; the movie doesn't hide from having shaved off the rough edges of the era. It's not trying to be realistic, with Dickensian orphans begging on the street. It sets a mood with the dress and the speech and the buildings and the cars, and it's a hell of a fun mood. Because sometimes, movies are just about fun, you know? And The Sting knows that. The other part of the movie's success is, of course, the cast. Robert Shaw plays a wonderful, loathsome villain in Doyle Lonnegan, oozing menace and anger through an Irish brogue. Supporting cast like Charles Durning, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, and tons more give the movie a fun grouping of wiseguys, tough dames, and slick con men. Of course, though, the main attraction are Robert Redford and Paul Newman. If I need to convince you of their abilities, welcome to your first day on Earth. Their chemistry -- well-documented in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, directed by the same man who directed this -- is delightful, and their individual characters are a hoot as well, with Newman playing the older, more experienced con man, and Redford as the young hothead with vengeance on his mind. Saying they're a joy to watch is like saying pizza is good or Freddie Mercury could sing; factually correct, but a massive understatement. And the direction definitely deserves note here, from the prominent use of ragtime in the soundtrack, to the fun use of title cards dividing up the movie into sections (with lovely hand-painted illustrations reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post), to the way shots are set up, it captures and frames the story the best that can be done. I did find the story somewhat muddled in certain points. The movie does eventually make everything make sense, but there were some points I feel like it was being obtuse when it didn't need to be. And I'd be lying if I said this movie had a fast pace; this is no Ocean's Eleven, with whiz-bang editing and a plot with a lot of energy. This is all about the long, slow con. I enjoyed it, but it's an acquired taste. Younger audiences more attuned to modern movies might find it quaint and dull. And perhaps, after a lifetime of seeing those more modern takes on the genre, that's why it doesn't connect with me as deeply as it did audiences in 1973. I still did have a good time with it, though. Short of a 15-year-old whose overstimulated brain can't cope without 27 edits in a 15 second sequence, or needs all the explosions and nudity to look up from their phone, I can't imagine an audience with patience and maturity not enjoying this. The setting, the chemistry between the leads, the overall direction, all of it adds up to a fun movie.