Film Review
Whilst it divided critics as to its merits (and continues to do so),
The Sting was one of the most
successful American films of the 1970s. A tongue-in-cheek and
somewhat superficial homage to the gangster films of the 1930s, it
raked in a fortune at the box office and almost swept the board at the
1974 Academy Awards ceremony. It won seven Oscars, in the
categories of Best Film, Best Director, Best Costumes, Best Art
Direction, Best Music, Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay - a
feat which is regarded by some as a con even more spectacular than the
one depicted in the film.
It is not hard to see why
The Sting
was so popular and has retained much of its appeal. It is a
slick, well-constructed caper piece which, with its stylish sets,
costumes and sepia-toned photography evokes a nostalgic (and
unrealistic) view of 1930s America. The film reunites Robert
Redford and Paul Newman, two of the biggest stars in Hollywood at the
time, who had previously appeared together in another hit film,
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969), also directed by George Roy Hill. The screenplay may not
offer much room for character development but both actors turn in a
respectable performance, and their subtle on-screen chemistry is one of
the main reasons for the film's success.
The Sting has plenty of style
but it is somewhat short on substance and typifies the trend which
Hollywood would follow, with commercial objectives taking ever greater
precedence over artistic truth. If you don't look too closely,
The Stings holds up pretty well,
and even if you do notice its shortcomings it is still a highly
entertaining film. One positive thing to come out of the
film was that it
revived an interest in the work of Scott Joplin - a reworking of the
composer's ragtime music provides the film with its jaunty, albeit
horribly anachronistic, score. In 1983, a sequel of the
film was released -
The Sting II
- with a different cast and crew, but this was a flop and plans to make
a prequel were immediately dropped.
© James Travers 2008
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Illinois, 1936. Johnny Hooker, a small time con artist, finds
himself out of his league when he pilfers a wad of cash belonging to
one of Chicago's biggest racketeers, Doyle Lonnegan. When his
partner, Luther Coleman, is shot dead by Lonnegan's henchmen, Johnny
resolves to take his revenge on the gangster boss. Allying
himself with Henry Gondorff, a former associate of Coleman, he
conceives an ingenious betting scam that will rob Lonnegan of half a
million dollars. What Johnny does not know is that the FBI have
been trailing Lonnegan for some time and intend to use this latest
caper to bring him to justice...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.