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FOR PARENTS
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Full Product DetailsSide #1
0. Chapter List
1. Main Titles: The First Con [12:10]
2. Lonnegan Strikes Back [11:57]
3. The Set-Up/The Great Henry Gondorff [4:51]
4. The Round-Up [6:01]
5. Playing For Lonnegan [5:28]
6. The Hook [6:02]
7. A Friendly Poker Game [14:25]
8. The Double-Cross [6:43]
9. The Tale [10:14]
10. Hooker On The Lam [5:44]
11. The Wire [6:52]
12. A Federal Case [2:54]
13. The Shut-Out [8:00]
14. Hooker Hooked By The Feds [10:47]
15. The Sting [6:51]
16. The Big Con/End Credits [10:08]
Reunited several years after being paired in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert Redford proved with this delightful 1973 caper film that their onscreen chemistry was, in cinematic terms, historic. The Sting more than matched the earlier film's box-office success, and it won a total of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. David S. Ward's complicated but skillfully developed script sets the action during the depths of the Depression in Chicago, where small-time grifter Johnny Hooker (Redford) enlists the aid of legendary con man Henry Gondorff (Newman) to mount an elaborate "sting," targeting ruthless New York gangster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), who was responsible for the murder of Johnny's mentor, Luther Coleman (James Earl Jones). It's a potentially dangerous undertaking that Henry initially disdains. But the lure of the "big con" is irresistible, and ultimately the two men team up to stage an operation so intricate it will require the services of more than a dozen confederates -- all of whom anticipate a big payoff. Director George Roy Hill (The World According to Garp), never the most stylish of filmmakers, won his well-deserved Oscar for coordinating the creative efforts of a sublimely talented group working both in front of and behind the cameras. The film is a pluperfect example of this most collaborative art form. The production design brilliantly re-creates the 1930s in sets, costumes, and props; the lighting and photography is crisp; the editing maintains a crackling pace; and even the ragtime music of Scott Joplin (arranged by Marvin Hamlisch), though written decades before the time frame of the movie, seems perfectly appropriate for the mood and setting. Performances are faultless, with stars Newman and Redford heading but not dominating a superb cast, each member of which represents the perfect choice for his or her part. It's hard to imagine anybody other than Robert Shaw as the vicious Irish mobster, and the same goes for Harold Gould's dapper con man, Charles Durning's corrupt cop, Eileen Brennan's hard-boiled hooker, or Ray Walston's smooth-talking sharpster. Simply put, there isn't a single discordant note in this symphony of cinematic artisanship. Ed Hulse, Barnes & Noble
More reviews and recommendations
Lots of casual smoking and drinking.
Several s-words and a racial slur.
Brief near-nudity, sex insinuated (very indirect).
Several shootings (not graphic), a few threats and punches.
Not an issue.
About TheSting
Parents need to know that this film contains several violent scenes, including several on-screen shootings. None of these deaths are terribly bloody. In this film, no one is on the right side of the law. The good guys are simply better at cheating than the bad guys, and their swindling is justified on the grounds that the man they are cheating has killed their friend. There is quite a bit of gambling, drinking, and smoking as well.
Families can talk about the serious ramifications of a life of crime that are not addressed in this film. What are the risks involved with planning such schemes? Were these crooks driven to crime because of the Great Depression? If someone constantly lies and cheats others, can he ever be trusted, even by his closest friends?