Tom Biggs March 8, 2003 Analytical Paper on The Sting
The Sting 2
Living up to the promotional lines: “The biggest con game of
them all!” and "All it takes is a little confidence!" The Sting is an
excellent film written by David S. Ward and directed by George Roy
Hill, which keeps you guessing all the way to the end. The film is
presented in six chapters and is full of clever twists and turns, which
keep the audience and characters wondering what is going to happen next. Paul Newman, who portrays Henry Gondorff and Robert Redford,
who portrays Johnny Hooker play off each other, and the other
characters very well, making the story very believable.
The film begins in an illegal gambling headquarters in Joliet, IL,
where the head guy is giving a numbers runner the weekly take to
transport to Chicago. The numbers runner Mattola, portrayed by
James Sloyan, is on his way to the train station when he runs into a
con game in the alley, involving three grifters; Luther Coleman,
portrayed by Robert Earl Jones, Johnny Hooker; and Joe Erie,
portrayed by Jack Kehoe. Hooker switches the money pouch, and
winds up with several thousand dollars, which is later split three ways.
When crime boss Doyle Lonnegan, portrayed by Robert Shaw,
finds out what happened, he orders Hooker and Luther killed. When
two thugs sent by Lonnegan kill Luther, Gondorff and Hooker meet and
come up with an elaborate plan to "sting" Lonnegan, who had their
mutual friend Luther killed. The "sting" takes place in a phony The Sting 3 racetrack-betting parlor. Gondorff calls many people who have worked with him before and a few new people to help.
Gondorff enters into a poker game that Lonnegan has set up on his weekly train ride from Chicago to Joliet. Gondorff infuriates
Lonnegan during the poker game by out cheating him. When the game is over, Hooker goes by to “collect Gondorff's winnings.” He tells
Lonnegan he has a way to get back at Gondorff, by putting his betting parlor out of business. Hooker claims he has a connection at The
Western Union Office who gets the racing results early, making it possible to bet on a horse that has already won, in a place like the one ran by Gondorff.
Adding a twist to the plot of the film is the fact that not only is a
Lonnegan-sent hit man Solino trying to find Hooker but also a corrupt bunko cop Lieutenant William Snyder. The film shows how Gondorff and Hooker find unique ways of getting around these people, tying up all the loose ends that make it hard to complete their plans to pull off the “sting.”
The Sting is a reinterpretation, not a traditional gangster film.
There are two main differences between The Sting and a traditional gangster film. The first is that the main characters are not gangsters.
The main characters are the grifters Gondorff and Hooker who are setting up an elaborate scheme to get even with the gangster The Sting 4
Lonnegan who had their friend Luther Coleman killed. The second
difference is that neither the main characters Gondorff and Hooker nor anybody else dies in a hail of bullets at the end of the film, as happens
in almost all gangster films.
The film’s attitudes toward crime and law enforcement in
America, although slightly different than traditional gangster films, are
still negative. There is a big difference between a grifter and a
gangster, but neither one is a law abiding citizen, and neither one has
respect for the law. They both make a living by breaking the law; they
just do it in different ways. The biggest difference is that grifters try to
swindle people out of their money and try to avoid violence, while
gangsters use violence as a tool in everything they do.
The Sting’s conceptions of the feminine roles in American culture are not consistent with the gangster genre. The first woman featured
in the film is Gondorff’s girlfriend Billie, portrayed by Eileen Brennan,
who just happens to be a madam and owner of a merry-go-round. She
is the classic shadow figure erotic woman and distinguishes herself as
a good grifter when she lifts Lonnegan’s wallet. The second woman
featured in the film is also a classic shadow figure erotic woman.
Loretta, portrayed by Dimitra Arliss, is a hit man for Lonnegan posing
as a waitress at the diner. These two characters are inconsistent with
gangster genre because they are both strong women, doing what The Sting 5 would be typically thought of as something a man would do in the gangster genre.
In The Sting, ideology is represented through the mind of a grifter. The ideals of a grifter are much different from those of a gangster or your average citizen. Grifters try to swindle people out of their money and try to avoid violence, while your average citizen tries to obey the law. As I said above while describing the film’s attitudes toward crime and law enforcement in America, they both grifters and gangsters make a living by breaking the law; they just do it in different ways.
This film does not fit the semantic definition of typical gangster genre. The different and unusual jargon used in The Sting is not that of a gangster, it is of a grifter. The film is full of phrases like “playing a mark,” “flushing somebody out,” and “the sting.” When grifter lingo is used in the film the meaning of the words or phrases are obvious by what is happening in the scene.
In conclusion I would say that The Sting, although not your typical gangster film, is very entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable. It takes a person back to the thirties for a little over two hours and keeps them on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next. The
Sting is one of my favorite movies and I would highly recommend it to anybody.