The Sting

In 1930s Chicago, a young con man seeking revenge for his murdered partner teams up with a master of the big con to win a fortune from a criminal banker.

• Director: George Roy Hill
• Genre:Comedy / Crime
• Runtime:129 minutes

Cast

Paul Newman : Henry Gondorff
Robert Redford : Johnny Hooker
Robert Shaw : Doyle Lonnegan
Charles Durning : Lt. Wm. Snyder
Ray Walston : J.J. Singleton

At the opening, after a 1930s-era Universal logo complete with bejeweled circling globe adorned with the text, “A Universal Picture,” the movie credits the actors with extracts from the movie, in a style reminiscent of films from the 1930s.

Johnny Hooker (Redford) is a small-time con man (a “grifter”) from Depression-era Joliet, Illinois. Hooker and his accomplices Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones) and Joe Erie (Jack Kehoe) manage to swipe $11,000 in cash from an unsuspecting victim (a “mark”). In the wake of this apparent success, Luther tells Johnny that he’s retiring from his life of crime and moving to Kansas City, Missouri to work in a “mostly legal” business with his brother-in-law. He advises Hooker to seek out an old friend, Henry Gondorff, in Chicago, who can teach him the art of the ‘big con’.

Unfortunately for the three con artists, the mark they robbed was a numbers racket courier named Mottola (James Sloyan), transporting the money to Chicago for crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Corrupt Joliet police Lieutenant William Snyder (Charles Durning) confronts Hooker, demanding a $2,000 cut of the $11,000 and revealing Lonnegan’s involvement. Realizing that he and his partners are in danger, Hooker pays Snyder in counterfeit bills, having already spent and gambled away all of his share of the money. Hooker goes to warn Coleman, but he arrives too late to save him from Lonnegan’s hit men. With nowhere else to turn, Hooker flees to Chicago to ask Gondorff for help in avenging Coleman’s murder. Read more