Let’s transition to another movie that stars Redford and Newman! I saw this one back when cable didn’t quite exist yet. It was a Sunday night and ABC used to have movies on in the winter time. I can recall taking in everything they did on the screen-the small TV screen that is-the excitement of Chicago and this group of con artists trying to pull one over on a rich man. A million dollars they were going to try and steal. That seemed like a lot to me back then, it seems like a lot to me now! And yet it was set in the 30’s so for those characters it must have been an enormous amount of money.
Redford has been playing cons for years and his partner gets killed. Mostly because they stole from the wrong guy- Doyle Lonnegan played by Robert Shaw, who also played in Jaws. Redford looks up an old pal of his former partner-Henry Gondorf, played by Newman-and the con is on. They decide to go after the big fish with a fake off track gambling site. It looks real enough to me, but is vastly lacking in security-and later in the film we think they may have needed more security.
The movie has all the things you want in a big film-fights, trains, women [Newman runs a brothel on the side] and money, gambling, a carousel, the police and feds after you and most importantly several different plots and a few twists to keep you guessing even at the end!
I enjoyed this movie and even though it wouldn’t match up to today’s special effects and million dollar price tags it is still a classic movie with a fun ending. I recommend this movie to anyone who’s enjoyed Newman and Redford in previous films and likes to have some laughs and an enjoyable ending to boot.
The Sting (1973)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070735/
Tuesday October 16th, 2007
