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 The Best Picture Our Columnists Reflect on Oscar's Best Films |
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 Paul Newman, left, and Robert Redford were at their best as 1930s con men in "The Sting." |
Newman and Redford
Put Zing in “The Sting”
of TheColumnists.com
I knew from the beginning I would like “The Sting” because it opens in the old-fashioned way-with a visual look at several in the cast. Paul Newman as Henry Gondorff and Robert Redford as Johnny Hooker; what a delicious pair of con men these guys are. And Robert Shaw, an ever menacing gangster boss, what a terrific bad guy.
What a treat to see Redford, drop dead handsome, and Newman, super cool, only four years after their wonderful pairing in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” also directed by George Roy Hill.
The appeal of con men is that they are rogues who fleece only those who want to get in on a dishonest deal. The old line is, “You can’t cheat an honest man.” There are four cons pulled off in the movie, one better than the other, along with many little twists and turns that keep the viewer hopping. We delight in the cons almost as if we are pulling them off ourselves.
Con No. 1: Redford and his black friend Robert Earl Jones pull off a deception, cheating a bookie’s runner who thinks he is pulling a fast one on Jones. But the runner worked for Shaw, and he has Jones murdered.
Con No. 2: That motivates Redford to join with Newman in one of the great movie card games to fleece Shaw. Newman poses as a rich drunk, baits Shaw, and in a poker battle of rigged decks of cards, outwits him. A great touch shows Newman shuffling cards masterfully; actually these were the dexterous hands of John Scarne, the gambling authority listed as the film’s technical director.
Con No. 3: This is the heart of the film. Newman, posing as a bookmaker, sets up a fake bookie’s wire room that entices Shaw, hoodwinked by Redford, to come in and make a big killing on a horse race. Newman and Redford fool Shaw into thinking they have an in with Western Union that allows them to get the result of the race before Newman hears the official results.
They set Shaw up by letting him win a small bet. They put the hook in him by giving him another winner, but artfully delay him getting to the betting window in time to make his bet. And, climactically, they milk him for half-a-million bucks with another gimmick. He bets on the horse to win, but is horrified to be told he should have bet on Lucky Dan to place.
All this is done with panache, flavored by 1936 period design and a terrific supporting cast. We enjoy Ray Walston reading off race results; Harold Gould as a dapper Kid Twist; Eileen Brennan as the proprietor of a whorehouse; and Charles Durning as a crooked detective. It is a delight to savor the names of some of the characters who man the phony wire room: Horseface Lee; Kippie Burke; Limehouse Chappie; Suitcase Murphy; and the Big Alabama from New Orleans.
Con No. 4: This one is on us, the viewers. Following a fake shootout between Newman and Redford, we are gulled into thinking an FBI squad busts in to arrest them after they have duped Shaw. But it turns out these are fake FBI men, part of the big con. I loved being fooled.
The cons and twists and turns are so intricate, the movie almost demands being seen a second (and third) time.
A particular joy is the scene in which Gould and Walston pose as painters setting up a fake Western Union office to fool Shaw. The look of puzzlement on the face of the real office manager at one point is priceless.
The ragtime music of Scott Joplin adapted by Marvin Hamlisch is a key element in carrying the mood of the film. I disagree with critics who didn’t like the Norman Rockwell-like scene-setting billboards: “The Set Up”, “The Hook” and “The Tale.”
Writer David S. Ward, who was later involved with “Major League” and “Sleepless in Seattle,” has a way with banter. He has Newman greeting Redford with, “Glad to meet you kid; you’re a real horse’s ass.” And Redford’s friend Luther’s wife greets him with, “If you ain’t a sharper in them linens; if I didn’t know you better, I’d swear you had some class.”
There are many touches. A sign in the diner shows the 1936 price for meat loaf: 35 cents; Redford, who frequently flees pursuers in the film, once runs past a lot full of depression-era shanties; one of the horses on a carousel is referred to as Man o War; the line about “a tap into Moe Annenberg’s wire” is a reference to the real race results baron of the period; in a throwaway line Redford calls Shaw’s two henchmen, “Mutt” and “Jeff.”
The atmosphere of 1936 Chicago is glamorously seedy with vintage cars and advertising signs. An elevator train rumbles by. Newman’s brown fedora topping a sleeveless undershirt and suspenders is perfect.
One regret: Director George Roy Hill never followed up “Cassidy” and “Sting” with another Newman-Redford romp.
OTHER 1973 BEST PICTURE NOMINEES: "American Graffiti," "Cries and Whispers," "The Exorcist," "A Touch of Class."
OSCAR TRIVIA: Oscar-winning Story/Screenwriter David S. Ward was a 27-year-old graduate student in film at UCLA with one previous screen credit: "Steelyard Blues.".....Even though the ragtime-style music was more appropriate for the 1920s than the 1930s atmosphere of the film, it created a huge resurgence of interest in ragtime and the music of Scott Joplin and inspired comebacks for many ragtime-era singers and jazz musicians.....Universal used its original 1930s airplane-circling-the-globe logo for the film, the first time it had been used since the 1940s.....This was the night that a naked man named Robert Opel crashed through a cyclorama screen, causing $4,000 in damage, and "streaked" behind co-host David Niven, who observed: "Just think. The only laugh that man probably will ever get is for stripping and showing his shortcomings."....A decade later, a sequel called "The Sting II" was released with Jackie Gleason replacing Paul Newman, Mac Davis replacing Robert Redford and Karl Malden replacing Robert Shaw. Though it was also written by David S. Ward, it was a dud with critics and moviegoers.
©2011 by Stan Isaacs. The photo is courtesy of Universal Pictures. This column first posted March 3, 2011.
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