The Sting 1973

type: Movie

language: English

duration: 129 min

genre: crime

theme: heist

director: George Roy Hill

Score: 8 / 10

The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had previously directed Newman and Redford in the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and written by screenwriter David S. Ward, inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

Plot

In 1936 Great Depression America, Johnny Hooker, a grifter in Joliet, Illinois, with partners Luther Coleman and Joe Erie, cons $11,000 in cash from an unsuspecting victim. Buoyed by the windfall, Luther decides to retire and tells Hooker to seek out his old friend, Henry Gondorff, in Chicago to learn "the big con". However, corrupt Joliet police lieutenant William Snyder confronts Hooker, revealing that their mark was a courier for vicious Irish-American crime boss Doyle Lonnegan. Lonnegan's men murder both the courier and Luther, and Hooker flees to Chicago (Erie's involvement remains unknown to Lonnegan).

Awards

Cast

More details

author	David S. Ward
award	Academy Award for Best Costume Design Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Original Song Score Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Production Design Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay National Board of Review Award for Best Film National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
contentLocation	Chicago
director	George Roy Hill
editor	William Reynolds
events	gambling organized crime
genre	crime western
keywords	20th century 20th century limited betting parlor big con brothel con man confidence trick crime boss crime scene fbi fbi agent great depression great depression in the united states grifter hide horse race morning mysterious figure off-track betting old friend past-posting poker poker game police lieutenant run trifecta wait western union win
musicBy	Marvin Hamlisch
nomination	Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Cinematography Academy Award for Best Costume Design Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Original Song Score Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Production Design Academy Award for Best Sound Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
producer	Julia Phillips Michael Phillips Tony Bill
productionCompany	The Zanuck/Brown Company Universal Pictures
publisher	Universal Pictures
recordedAt	Chicago LaSalle Street Station Santa Monica
theme	heist