The Sting

The Sting is a 1973 American feature film, directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw.

The scenario of the film was written by David s. Ward and based on the true scammers practices by the brothers Fred and Charley Gondorf, as described in the book "The Big Con: The Story of The Confidence Man" by David Maurer (1940).

The Sting was very successful with the public. The yields were enormous: $ 160.000.000 for that time. The film won seven Oscarsin 1973. In 2005, the film because of historical, cultural and aesthetic qualities for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress American.

Content[]

[hide]*1 Story

Story[Edit][]

Read warning: text below contains details about the content and/or the end of the story.

After the murder of his partner in the crime want Johnny Hooker revenge on the client, the crime King Doyle Lonnegan. He joins master con man Henry Gondorff that him quite a while to learn the tricks of the trade.Gondorff works according to the method of trap, without that the victim understands what happened to him. Gondorff has at its disposal a range of people, criminals with acting skills, which create a complete plot. The design of such a conspiracy seems to be more on a film set where the victim is sucked in because of the weak spots of the victim.

The film is set in the United States in 1936. Johnny Hooker and nestor Luther Coleman are two petty thieves who accidentally a wrong passerby, a predecessor of the criminal money bank manager Doyle Lonnegan, light up with a time-honored magic trick. The loot is unexpectedly large, now $ 11,000. The dolgelukkige scammers divide the spoils, without them knowing who the owner of the money is. This is the ability for Luther Coleman to retire. Luther Coleman finds his pupil to become good for the crumb work, and wants him to an old custom Henry Gondorff. Johnny Hooker would, however, that all the ancient remains. As the corrupt police lieutenant William Snyder confronts him with his science of the Grand Slam, which he also a part will, Johnny Hooker understands the severity of the case. He runs away, and escaped Snyder, who remains angry without a part of the money. Warn, if he comes he shows Luther Coleman too late. A male of Doyle Lonnegan Luther Coleman has been murdered. Johnny Hooker yet still decides to join the Group of the great Henry Gondorff to avenge his master.

Henry Gondorff has collected a number of people around him who work according to the principle of crooks; put a fall according to a pre-arranged scenario, using the weaknesses of the victim, and disappear before the victim realises what has happened to him. His organization has a fully ' circus ' of extras to set designer who on partage participate in a sting.

They decide a fake to set up for horse racing betting Office. Johnny Hooker will themselves as ' Kelly ', and Henry Gondorff as Shaw. Kelly comes in contact with Doyle Lonnegan and his boss tells him that he (Shaw) of the bookies want to light up, but that he needs a lender who wants to share in the profits. Hooker tells him that a partner from Chicago, Kid Twist, a high man is at Western Union that can provide past posting. This means that Western Union, which provides for the whole continent the tickertape , 2 minutes passes delayed. So also to his boss (Shaw). Kid Twist will then pass the results prematurely. Those 2 minutes can be used for bets to put exactly. Lonnegan sees this now be, but want a bigger share of the profits than projected. Objects as Hooker, Lonnegan that he let the game rules determines.

While on the one hand, Johnny Hooker as Kelly comes in contact with Doyle Lonnegan is meanwhile the male of that same Doyle Lonnegan still looking for the second crook of his money runner, Johnny Hooker.Furthermore, Snyder, which remains a part of the $ 11,000, wants him on the heels. This runs to nothing if Snyder by two FBI agents is taken to a warehouse, where special agent Polk tells him that Johnny Hooker and Henry Gondorff busy with a job to Doyle Lonnegan to light up. Snyder will be included in the team of the FBI to cooperate in the solution of this great cause. If Snyder Hooker for Polk let Gondorff, Hooker get appear to hear that he must provide a link (doubles play) because he otherwise will be prosecuted for the scams of which $ 11,000. Hooker is thrown. Hooker puts it with Loretta. Loretta is the new waitress of the restaurant where he always eats.

Lonnegan has from annoyance now a professional assassin, Lisa, in the hand because he the second crook of his money runner still getting to grips wants to get. The viewer gets to see therefore that Hooker is haunted by a dark man with black leather gloves on.

The day of the sting has arrived and everyone is gearing up for the day. Hooker, who that night was at Loretta, wake up without being next to him. He sees her as he runs to the betting Office. If your Hooker appears from behind the black man behind him. The black guy pulls a gun, and shoot. The bullet hits Loretta, and she falls directly down. It turns out Loretta Salino to be with a doorgeladen gun on Pocket. Ready to Hooker to make SOAP. The guy with the leather gloves turns out to be a guard for Hooker who is hired by Gondorff.

On the bookies Lonnegan comes with half a million dollars. He put the money on the winning horse. The race starts and the voltage increases. As Kid Twist appears on the scene, and hears what he has bet Lonnegan, let know that something is going wrong. He had passed that the horse would finish second. If he wants his money back this hear, Lonnegan. Consternation arises because the commitment is now fixed. In fall the FBI this consternation and Snyder the betting Office inside. He speaks the great Henry Gondorff to with ' Hello, Henry, long time no see! ' and at Hooker he says: ' You can go '. Hooker is free to go because he has extradited Gondorff. Gondorff pulls a weapon and shoot at that time Hooker in his back. Polk shoots Gondorff in turn down. Blood comes out of his mouth. Direct commands to bring road, Polk that Snyder Lonnegan before the police and press there. Lonnegan that are now half a million leave must, must also think to his reputation as a banker and goes anyway but with it. Lonnegan and Snyder at the moment gone bends Polk about Hooker and says, "OK, they're gone!" Hooker opens his eyes and turns out to be not dead. Excited calls on it also to Gondorff. This also opens his eyes and begins to sweep the fake blood from his mouth. Cheers and relief arises under all these extras who contributed to Sting.

Division Of Roles[Edit][]

Actor	Character	Comments
Leading Roles
Paul Newman	Henry Gondorff	alias Shaw
Robert Redford	Johnny Hooker	alias Kelly
Robert Shaw	Doyle Lonnegan
Charles Durning	Lt. Wm. Snyder
Harold Gould	Kid Twist
Dana Elcar	FBI agent Polk	alias Hickey
Ray Walston	J.J. Singleton	Player
Supporting Roles
Eileen Brennan	Billie
John Heffernan	Eddie Niles
Jack Kehoe	Erie Kid
Dimitra Arliss	Loretta Salino
Robert Earl Jones	Luther Coleman
Sally Kirkland	Crystal
Charles Dierkop	Floyd	Bodyguard
Lee Paul	Bodyguard
Joe Tornatore	Man with leather glove

For History[Edit][]

Screenwriter David Ward was started on the screenplay for the film Steel yard Blues. For a scene about pickpockets, he started to read and came across books about scammers. In his head got the idea to write a film about con artists form. Ward completed "Steel yard Blues" and gave the screenplay to producer Tony Bill. He also explained to him the idea of the con artist movie for. Bill saw something in and went along with Julia Phil Lambert and Michael Phil lips both Steel yard Blues produce if The Sting . After Ward had completed the screenplay for The Sting , it went along with the studios and agents also scenario from agent Mike Medavoy. One of its ' readers ', the later Director Rob Cohen read the scenario and was very excited, he said to Medavoy was the Oscar material, that a major motion picture with star actors. The skeptical Medavoy said he recommended by Cohen would try to sell the scenario and that the latest layoffs was if it did not succeed. Universal bought the same day scenario.

Scenario[Edit][]

Read warning: text below contains details about the content and/or the end of the story.===History[Edit]===

David Ward were looking for documentation about pickpockets when he the scenario for the film "Steel yard Blues" wrote. Then he encountered on material about con artists from the early 20th century. One of the books he read was "The Big Con: The Story of The Confidence Man" by David Maurer from 1940. The idea grew to create about scammers. Ward wrote the screenplay while he played blues music from the thirties and forties of the last century. The era in which his scenario played. He had eyes for Robert Redford for the main character Johnny Hooker. Ward used so much material from the book of Maurer filed a lawsuit in 1974 with requirement of 10 million in damages. Finally, Universal the case out of court to settle. That has produced a lot of material Maurers book shows not only from used tricks, but also names that are used in the film. Henry Gondorff, JJ Singleton, Kid Twist and Eddie Niles are names of scammers who are used in the book of Maurer.

The real Sting[Edit][]

Charley and Fred Gondorf were master con artists from the early 20th century. Scammers come in varying degrees, most handle the so-called ' short con ' (a swindler trick quickly and without much fuss, but yields little). In the film is the short con shows up as Johnny and Luther people light up with the wallet trick. The true masters in the genre however, excelling in the so-called ' long con ' targets are ripped off with careful planned tricks, which a lot of people are turned on and gone to great lengths. The yield is usually a lot higher than with the short con '. An example of a ' long con ' is the ' big store ' (the Department store). This means that the scammers trick perfectly in control of the area where the light up takes place. Everyone, except the target, within that environment belongs to the scammers. It is as if the scammer an on-site shop with scammers as staff and customers to the target to light up. There are many variants are possible, one of them is "The Wire" (the Telegraph). The Gondorfs came up with this trick in which they re-enact a betting Office nabouwden and crooks as staff and customers. To the target was told that staff at the Western Union Telegraph Company Fred Gondorf had bribed and so could bet on races that were already run, but whose results were doorgetelegrafeerd only minutes later. In 1914 they knew an Englishman that way to light up for $ 10,000. However, the man went to the police and the brothers were arrested. Charley in 1915 and Fred a year later. They came free in 1925 and although they were now 65 and 60, they went for a while with their practices.

Title[Edit][]

The title of the The Sting (the bee sting) comes from the world of the scammers and stores at the time that the scammer holds the money of his target. If the scammer has performed the trick good target no idea he is ripped off, but do know that he has lost his money. This "cross" and, of course, hurts.

Actors[Edit][]

Johnny Hooker[Edit][]

David Ward The Sting had written with Robert Redford for eyes, but the actor saw little in the screenplay and refused the role. Then approached the producers Jack Nicholson but he too was not interested.Meanwhile, Redford is conceived and took on the role. He believed not that the film would be a big hit and found that little fell to acting. Redford had so little with the film that it would last until 2004 before he first sawThe Sting .

Henry Gondorff[Edit][]

Director George Roy Hill got the screenplay for the film is accidentally sold in hands and was equal. The Sting he wanted to direct. Hill also left Paul Newman read the scenario and the actor thought it was a good story but saw little in the role of Gondorf, it was originally also a small role and for a much older man than Newman. The actor was also not so fond of roles in comedy films. Newman, however, had successfully worked with Hill and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and saw the project as the long-awaited second collaboration of the trio. After his commitment to join Gondorff's character was significantly expanded.

Doyle Lonnegan[Edit][]

Actor Richard Boone was initially approached for the role of the gangster Lonnegan, but he turned down the offer off. Also Stephen Boyd and Oliver Reed did not see anything in the role. A now desperate producer Julia Phil lips began to think that the role was cursed. It was Paul Newman who called Robert Shaw as an actor for the role of Lonnegan. He brought it personally to Shaw, which some scenario in saw. The actor was known as an extremely high salary and demanding that his name directly after that of Redford and Newman came on the movie titles even before the movie title itself.

Loretta[Edit][]

The girlfriend of Hooker, the waitress and the professional assassin Loretta Salino, according to Director George Roy Hill had to be played by an unknown actress. The public was not allowed to have biased ideas about her character. The studio, however, was not satisfied with the choice of Hill, the actress Dimitra Arliss. They found her not handsome enough to play the great love of Redford. But Hill insisted and eventually gave Universal far.

Production[Edit][]

Locations[Edit][]

Although Director George Roy Hill wanted to film on location, Universal decided to all the extensive Street complex on their outside area to use. The reason was that on location there are too many modern traffic signs and other expressions if advertising had to be removed. There were only a few additional scenes shot on the Santa Monica Pier and in Pasadena. Also were only recordings made in Chicago.

Recordings[Edit][]

The recording period started on 22 January 1973 and ran until april 1973. It was initially seen whether actor Robert Shaw to the recordings could begin. Less than a week for filming was Shaw slipped across a wet handball court at the Beverly Hills Hotel and had his knee ligaments torn. But the actor was a tough and came to the shots with a knee bandage. He limped though, but that gave in hindsight, just an extra sinister puff to his character, gangster Doyle Lonnegan. Director Hill had a lot for work done and extensively documented for the recordings. He looked at old gangster movies and were looking for their way through old issues of the Saturday Evening Post. Different illustrations from this magazine were also used as inspiration for the drawings and lettering of the title cards that subdivide the movies in different acts. Producer Tony Bill turned out to be an expert in the field of antique cars and gave opinions on the cars that were used. He said even his own, very rare, 1935 Pierce Arrow, available to the production. The vehicle acted as the private car of Lonnegan. One of the things that Hill learned of the gangster movies was that little extras to show up. He maintained this also for The Sting.

Tricks[Edit][]

In the movie should Newman during the poker party on the train the card manipulation, similar to the skill of a magician in this area. However, there was no time for Newman to learn these tricks. For that reason John Scarne was attracted, at least his hands. Those Scarne as technical advisor to the film was attached, was familiar with card tricks and playing with cards. As Newman in the movie shakes the cards, it's the hands of Scarne you see. By a handsome mounting it looks like the actor manipulates the cards. John Scarne also acted as an advisor to the poker scene.

Costumes[Edit][]

The famous costume designer Edith Head was attracted for the costumes. Head would be her eighth win Oscar for the designs. There is a persistent myth that Redford and Newman had asked for blue shirts, because who better colored with their eyes. But who pay attention upon seeing the film, see that only Redford has a blue shirt to every now and then. Newman is never to see. The anecdote is recorded incorrectly in the biography of Head, "Edith Head: The Life and Times of Hollywood's Celebrated Costume Designer", by David Chierichetti, from 2003.

Music[Edit][]

Film Music[Edit][]

One of the most distinctive features of the film is the music. Composer Marvin Hamlisch was inspired by the so-called ragtime from the beginning of the twentieth century. Music that more belongs in the era of the real Gondorfs than in the 1930s in which The Sting plays. Much of the music that Hamlisch used comes from pianist/composer Scott Joplin, his song "The Entertainer", was in an arrangement of Hamlisch the theme song of the movie and a big hit in the 1970s. The music of Joplin was rediscovered by Joshua Rifkin in 1970 that the album "Scott Joplin: Piano Rags" released in that year. In 1973, Gunther Schuller brought the album "Scott Joplin: The Red Back Book" and won a Grammy. The Joplins braided together by Schuller orchestrations of work, the so-called "Standard high-class Rags", released in 1912, were borrowed for the film music by Hamlisch.

Numbers[Edit][]

The following numbers are (sometimes only as fragment) in the film told:

"Solace" (Joplin)
"The Entertainer" (Joplin)
"The Easy Winners" (Joplin)
"Hooker's Hooker" (Hamlisch)
"Luther" (Joplin/Hamlisch)
"Pine Apple Rag"/"Gladiolus Rag" medley (Joplin)
"The Entertainer" (Joplin)-piano version
"The Glove" (Hamlisch)
"Pine Apple Rag" (Joplin)
"Merry-go-round Music" medley (traditional)
"Solace" (Joplin)-piano version
"The Entertainer"/"The Ragtime Dance" medley (Joplin)
"Cascades" (Joplin)
"The Rag-time Dance" (Joplin)

Prices[Edit][]

Nominations[Edit][]

Sequel[Edit][]

In 1983 came a little successful sequel to The Sting under the title The Sting II. There was no one from the team of the first film with it. A prequel was in preparation. It would act as the mentor of Soapy Smith con man Henry Gondorff. After the flop of "The Sting II" was apart from those plans.

The film is also of great influence on the British television series Hustle that was first broadcast in 2004. In the first episode is already referred to "The Sting" and later, the trick of the ' Wire ' literally retrieved from "The Sting". The series also uses the code of honor of the crooks and only targets ripped off that loutish behaviour. Often too, like in "The Sting", a target scammed out of revenge.

Quotes[Edit][]

Kid Twist: Dukey, if this thing blows up, the Feds will be the least of our problems
Kid Twist: Now how do you want to work this? Flat rate or percentage?

Benny Garfield: who's the mark?

Kid Twist: Doyle Lonnegan.

Benny Garfield: Flat rate.

Doyle Lonnegan: Your boss is quite a card player, Mr. Kelly; how does he do it?

Johnny Hooker: He cheats

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