Part of Weekend Classics: Robert Redford
On the strength of their 1969 collaboration BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, Robert Redford and co-star Paul Newman teamed up once again with director George Roy Hill for this ‘30s-set caper about two professional grifters’ plot to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). Following the murder of a mutual friend, aspiring con man Johnny Hooker (Redford) teams up with old pro Henry Gondorff (Newman) to take revenge on the ruthless crime boss responsible, Doyle Lonnegan. Hooker and Gondorff set about implementing an elaborate scheme, one so crafty that Lonnegan won’t even know he’s been swindled. As their big con unfolds, however, things don’t go according to plan, requiring some last-minute improvisation by the undaunted duo.
“Newman and Redford almost seem on their way to another movie. If that sounds like a criticism, it’s not meant as one: The style here is so seductive and witty it’s hard to pin down. It’s like nothing else I’ve seen by Hill, and at times, it almost reminds me of Jacques Tati crossed with Robert Altman.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (Dec 27, 1973) “One of those instances where everything good about Hollywood just fell into one place at the right time, it's almost impossible not to get swept up in the vivaciousness of THE STING as a whole. Magnificent, timeless stuff.” —William Thomas, Empire Magazine “Redford offers just the right amounts of arrogance and innocence to make Hooker a believable hustler but half-hearted scoundrel.” —Todd Gilchrist, IGN “Made at the crest of the Hollywood new wave, it may not be freighted with the state-of-American-society themes that weighted Coppola’s or Cimino’s films, nor the embedded cynicism that have made the Coens and Alejandro González Iñárritu beloved in a later cinematic era. But THE STING is the most purely enjoyable film in Oscar history — and that, I think, puts it in the most valuable American film-making tradition of all.” —Andrew Pulver, Guardian (UK)
