The Sting

After doing the math and realizing that I have to watch a movie from my list every 2 and a half days to get through them by the end of the year, I decided to pull a double feature today. I watched my second Paul Newman/Robert Redford film directed by George Roy Hill, The Sting. The Sting won best picture in between the two Godfather film in the early seventies. It takes place during the great depression, a time period when outlaws threatened to make a return to the American zeigist. Redford plays a small time grifter who teams up with Newman's washed up con man to get revenge on Robert Shaw's New York gangster. I have read that Shaw was a huge alcoholic, which was an advantage to his most famous character, the drunk from Jaws. Here, he is just barely convincing as the ganster who doesn't drink. He slurs his lines and stumbles around through most of the movie and isn't very threatening. Other than that, the film is a bonafide classic. The twists and turns in plot actually fooled me, which is a rarity in today's films. Newman takes first billing, even though he is really just a supporting character in this film. His scene on the train during the poker game is great and he steals the scene without being hammy. This is Redford's film, though. He plays this character as a bit more naive than Sundance Kid, which is something I haven't really seen from the usually confident Redford. Charles Durning is strong in this as a Charles Durning type. I liked how Hill replaced the old time photos with the Saturday Evening Post style paintings as chapter marks to help with the time period establishment. The score is made up of one song, but it works very well and is stuck in my head right now. This is my favorite of the two Newman/Redford/Hill films and mixes the comedy and drama without feeling unrealistic. I'm now two more movies down and only 101 to go. Wish me luck.