The Sting

This 1973 movie joined Paul Newman and Robert Redford for the first time since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. Set in the depression it is the story of a couple of con men that are trying to engineer the big sting, the one worth doing, the one that will be talked about for years to come.

Redford is at his handsome and dashing best. Newman is as perfect an actor as you can get. As a down and out con men convinced to go for one last big score he plays the part perfectly.

Underrated in the movie is Robert Shaw as Doyle Lannegan. He is the mob boss who in a fit of pique over a scam, inadvertently run by Redford's character Hooker, on one of his money runners, kills Hooker's current scam partner. As he dies he sends him to Chicago meet with Henry Shaw Gondorff his former partner. Gondorff, as stated, is played by Newman in a way that surprisingly did not win an Oscar.

The plot is twisted and it is not easy to see. At the completion of the attempted scam only then did I see the whole picture, perhaps about 30 seconds before it was revealed in the movie. It was complicated but it was not so complicated as to preclude enjoyment of the picture.

The movie won the Best Picture and it's tone, period piece, approach made it a popular movie for a wide range of the population.

Great actors. Great movie. Fantastic Movie