Grifter’s Farewell-Paul Newman And Robert Redford’s The Sting I
DVD Review
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
The Sting, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, 1973
Every half-baked corner boy and wanna-be grifter knows this wisdom. Con artists, guys who played the suckers from down in the streets three-card Monte, hell, maybe even down to the primitive “clip” up to and including the big time crime bosses pulling in dough from dope to guns to prostitution are more susceptible to the “con” that any rube “mark.” Are more than willing to suspend disbelieve in the interest of raking in the filthy lucre. Without any heavy lifting. And that premise is what drives the movie under review, the grifter’s delight Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s The Sting.
Of course it is one thing to rob the rubes at some third-rate carnival out in the sticks, rubes waiting all year to be fleeced, and another to step up to the biggest grift of all-kicking ass on a crime boss, an evil crime boss, and getting away with it. And takes time as well to set the trap, set it up with ribbons and bows all around. And during this two hour plus film everything from the first street grift by Johnny (played by Robert Redford) which eventually went asunder in which a bagman is conned out of the money he was to deliver to the swells, the serious money guys, “legit” guys who bankroll lots of illegal activity (remember that wisdom in the first sentence here) to the “big con,” doing in a seriously vicious crime boss Doyle Lonnigan (played by Robert Shaw) leads right to that “sting” which is the hallmark of the successful con. (By the way if you don’t think our man Doyle was vicious he ordered both the murder of the guy who Johnny worked the street con with and hence the “went asunder” above and the “hit” of his bagman who was foolish enough to be conned by a wet-behind-the- ears cheapjack grifter. Case closed.)
Of course to pull a big con off on a big-time crime boss in the 1930s (or anytime for that matter) you need more than a desire for revenge for the untimely death of a fellow grifter and more than some small-time street grifter like Johnny who didn’t have sense enough to keep his dough from that street grift and wound up blowing it on some floosy. What you need is a big-time grifter, a guy like Harry (played by Paul Newman) with a big time if discarded plan. A plan involving setting up a big time off-track betting parlor (a bookie joint, okay) with plenty of grifters to fill out the scenario to slowly lure our man Doyle in by feeding him nibbles until his is hooked, until he really believes that Johnny has the “fix” on at the track and he can “invest” four hundred thou and reap profits just like money found on the ground. Or just like taking candy from a baby. Yeah, that is exactly what happened they took Doyle’s money like taking candy from a baby. Beautiful. And in the process Newman and Redford created an aura, a buddy film aura to match their efforts together in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
You know this one had me thinking about refurbishing my corner boy skills but when I thought about the serious crime bosses around today, mainly drug warlords, I didn’t like the idea of living in the Yukon someplace forever. Still a nice sting, a very nice sting on film, boys.
DVD Review
From The Pen Of Frank Jackman
The Sting, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, 1973
Every half-baked corner boy and wanna-be grifter knows this wisdom. Con artists, guys who played the suckers from down in the streets three-card Monte, hell, maybe even down to the primitive “clip” up to and including the big time crime bosses pulling in dough from dope to guns to prostitution are more susceptible to the “con” that any rube “mark.” Are more than willing to suspend disbelieve in the interest of raking in the filthy lucre. Without any heavy lifting. And that premise is what drives the movie under review, the grifter’s delight Paul Newman and Robert Redford’s The Sting.
Of course it is one thing to rob the rubes at some third-rate carnival out in the sticks, rubes waiting all year to be fleeced, and another to step up to the biggest grift of all-kicking ass on a crime boss, an evil crime boss, and getting away with it. And takes time as well to set the trap, set it up with ribbons and bows all around. And during this two hour plus film everything from the first street grift by Johnny (played by Robert Redford) which eventually went asunder in which a bagman is conned out of the money he was to deliver to the swells, the serious money guys, “legit” guys who bankroll lots of illegal activity (remember that wisdom in the first sentence here) to the “big con,” doing in a seriously vicious crime boss Doyle Lonnigan (played by Robert Shaw) leads right to that “sting” which is the hallmark of the successful con. (By the way if you don’t think our man Doyle was vicious he ordered both the murder of the guy who Johnny worked the street con with and hence the “went asunder” above and the “hit” of his bagman who was foolish enough to be conned by a wet-behind-the- ears cheapjack grifter. Case closed.)
Of course to pull a big con off on a big-time crime boss in the 1930s (or anytime for that matter) you need more than a desire for revenge for the untimely death of a fellow grifter and more than some small-time street grifter like Johnny who didn’t have sense enough to keep his dough from that street grift and wound up blowing it on some floosy. What you need is a big-time grifter, a guy like Harry (played by Paul Newman) with a big time if discarded plan. A plan involving setting up a big time off-track betting parlor (a bookie joint, okay) with plenty of grifters to fill out the scenario to slowly lure our man Doyle in by feeding him nibbles until his is hooked, until he really believes that Johnny has the “fix” on at the track and he can “invest” four hundred thou and reap profits just like money found on the ground. Or just like taking candy from a baby. Yeah, that is exactly what happened they took Doyle’s money like taking candy from a baby. Beautiful. And in the process Newman and Redford created an aura, a buddy film aura to match their efforts together in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
You know this one had me thinking about refurbishing my corner boy skills but when I thought about the serious crime bosses around today, mainly drug warlords, I didn’t like the idea of living in the Yukon someplace forever. Still a nice sting, a very nice sting on film, boys.
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