Wow! Only an 8.4 Rating???
Can this movie be any more perfect?
I though for sure it would have had at least a 9.0 rating.
I gave it a 10!
"Watch the Heart!......Spike
The film is enjoyable. However the con is simply not realistic enough for me to give this anything near a 10. Obviously the whole point of the con in the end was to make it look as if the Newman and Redford characters are dead. So there is no one for the mark to take his vengence out upon after losing his half million. However the use of the F.B.I. to come in and bust the place just doesn't add up to a anything near a perfect con. Obviously the mark and his detective side kick would be waiting to read about the bust in the paper the next day. But since these were fake F.B.I. men, and the bust was fake, there obviously would be no report about the bust or the 2 deaths in the paper. They are going to know they got conned. The films con simply doesn't hold the water it claims to hold. The story is flawed. The way they did the con was simply too big for it to work the way a good con should. The F.B.I. involvment is simply going overboard. It wouldn't work in reality. The mark and detective would have to be totally stupid not to notice that there was nothing reported about the bust and deaths.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
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Well, I figure all the Sting enthusiasts will get their panties in a bunch over this, but here goes.. I gave it a five. Not trying to ruin anybodies nostalgia trip, not intended as a professional review, and purely subjective in its intent, five in my book means it had pretty good production values, was worthy of a viewing, but I wouldnt watch it again. So I dont come across as some half assed troll, let me go into my 'Sting rant' and share a few of the things that bring me to this conclusion. I remember when this movie came out, though I liked Newman and Redford individually from such films as The life and times of judge Roy Bean and Jeremiah Johnson, I wasnt a huge Butch Cassidy fan either, so the 'must see' duo thing didnt do much for me, and that music in the trailer, argh! So it never made it on my must see list at the time. ( but did see The Exorcist, Magnum Force, Badlands, Soylent Green, and the Seven ups). Finally watched it tonite on 'Blockbusters on Demand' service with a free rental and...well, I still hate that music. Scott Joplin ragtime stuff is just too old timey for my sensibilities. No, Marvin Hamlisch wasnt the only issue preventing me from enjoying the ride. I found the screenplay to consider itself more clever than it actually was, and at times I remember wanting to like this thing, but I could see the contrived ending coming a mile away. This wasnt Robert Shaw in badass Mr Blue mode a year later. This was Robert Shaw politely collecting a paycheck while waiting for Spielberg to call. Didnt like the opening credits with 'little clips of the actors' segment, like some 40's flick, didnt like those drawn 'title cards' seperating the chapters, didnt like that actress playing the 'assassin' woman, ( did she ever work again? She couldnt act her way out of a McDonalds bag, wait a minute, neither could that black guy at the beginning, who let those performances get by??). Maybe Im just not a George Roy Hill fan. He did that hockey movie with all the swearing right? Damn, never watched that twice either. Actually, didnt Westworld and Live and let die come out that year as well? Seen them more than once ;)
Nope, didnt care for The Sting.
Subjective. Its a wonderful word.
"Pffft, my suspension of disbelief has higher standards than that"
"Obviously the whole point of the con in the end was to make it look as if the Newman and Redford characters are dead. So there is no one for the mark to take his vengence out upon after losing his half million. However the use of the F.B.I. to come in and bust the place just doesn't add up to a anything near a perfect con. Obviously the mark and his detective side kick would be waiting to read about the bust in the paper the next day. But since these were fake F.B.I. men, and the bust was fake, there obviously would be no report about the bust or the 2 deaths in the paper. They are going to know they got conned."
I think the idea was for Redford & Newman to skip town with the dough, not to just sit around waiting for Snider & Lonnegan to figure out what had happened. Of course, that is kind of ruined with the idiocy of Redford's character passing on his share of the take, saying "I would have just blown it anyway." That was a stupid conceit that shouldn't have been in the film.
I gave it an 8.
Well yeah, they only planned to skip town, and that is my point. By their own definition within the film, they didn't really pull off a master con because it was obvious that the con would be exposed in time. Living on the run is not what they would have to do if it was a master con described by the films own dialogue. It's a clear failure to execute a tightly written plot. The film deserves nothing more than a 7 in my view.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
They will skip town but they are not on the run. They are presumed dead, since Lonnegan saw them get shot with his own eyes. The 8.4 rating is just right.
"It's like I'm talking to my Aunt Sylvia here!"
Lol! Yes, they are presumed dead...temporary, quite obviously. That's also exactly what I said in the second sentence I wrote in this thread. :p
This has become a well known weakness in the script. They definitely will be on the run, which defies the film's own definition of a master con. Why? Neither the F.B.I. raid or the deaths will make the newspapers or police reports since they were actually fake, and it becomes extremely obvious that Lonnegan was conned. There is no way this fake F.B.I. raid and deaths last, given that the mark has this detective Snyder friend, a detective who is extremely desperate to get Hooker. You are out to lunch if you think this is a master con as the film defines it, I am sorry to say. It's so obvious that it will be exposed in a very short time. Only in fluffy Hollyweird does this con hold up.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
It has been said that they could place a fake news story covering all this. For Henry to bribe someone to plant a fake news story would be easy. They have con-man friends in every industry in the Chicago area. Plus, if they hid out in NYC or Florida, how would Lonnegan even begin to start looking for them? There were so many people involved in the con, Doyle wouldn't know who was ultimately behind the scam, or directly responsible. Is he going to kill 100 men and not get his hands dirty?
"It's like I'm talking to my Aunt Sylvia here!"
You guys are crackers.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
****Massive spoilers in my post****
Exactly, even if Lonnegan were to realize the FBI sting was a con (and we don't know that he'd realize that, we'd just be speculating), there was no reason for him to NOT believe that (a) it was part of the large-scale con that Hooker was setting up to take over Gondorff's business, (b) that Gondorff thus wasn't at all in on it, and really shot and killed Hooker for the betrayal, and (c) that the fake FBI guys, hired by Hooker, didn't really shoot and kill Gondorff in retaliation.
So fake FBI sting or not, Lonnegan (and Snyder by the way) have every reason to believe that Hooker and Gondorff are nonetheless dead.
http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies
I really hate it when someone rips on a movie for not being "realistic"
Don't you realize a movie's primary purpose is to ESCAPE realism?
Bunch of whiners. This movie is genius, not a single flaw about it.
"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!!"
I like this film a lot, I just don't think it's as perfect as many people like to claim it is. I've never ripped this film, I have only given my take and that is that this film does have one major flaw. I have still rated the film quite high, as I agree, it is a great film in it's own right.
Films primary purpose is not to escape reality. That's just a ridiculous claim. Some films primary purpose is to escape reality, sure, I'll give you that. This film however tries to be realistic, and there is no denying that. The Sting tries to sell the viewer on the fact that these guys are going to, and do pull off a clean big con, and in my view, it falls short of doing that. You can whine about my view if you like and say that I am whining but really, what are the facts? The fact is that you don't like my view, so you call me a whiner. Well I guess that makes you someone who doesn't whine? Yeah, whatever bud. Go back to dreamland.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
Nothing's ever perfect. Move on.
What matters is this movie had almost everything. The set-ups, the pay-offs, the amount of humour and the amount of suspense were all top drawer and it's one of the great films of its genre.
Move on? What kind of drugs are you on? Obviously I have and I never dwelled here on anything to begin with, this is the first time I've posted on The Sting board in over six years. What the hell is wrong with you? That's what matters 'to you', obviously, and top drawer 'to you' as well. 'In your opinion' it's one of the great films of its genre. In many peoples minds it is not, they see the fact that the entire plot of the film never comes to the fruition it promises.
In many ways the film is great and it's a fun watch, however in the end the writing overall ends up far from great in my view. Sorry not everyone agrees with you, but that's just the way things are in this world. There are many differing views.
The con is weak and full of holes, plain and simple as far as I'm concerned. If it wasn't for all the whiners who like this film so much that kept and keep posting to me, I would have just posted my view here once and that would have been it. However no, clowns like yourself have to make ridiculous, one sided claims way after my original post. Why do you care what I think? I couldn't give a rats ass what you think, but you have an opinion and I'm willing to respect it if you were not so full of crap in making blanket type statements. Mindless people like yourself are likely the biggest reason this film is rated so ridiculously high. There are well over 25,000 votes on IMDb that didn't think this film was all that great. Everyone looks at things in a different way and there's nothing wrong with that, it's entirely healthy. To me The Sting is a 7/10, deal with it ya ignorant jerk. You don't see me in here whining at everyone who doesn't see things the same way as I do. GFY.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
It'd be pretty obvious to people who's on drugs now. Calm down a bit.
You took that moving on literally? It refers to what I said. Not to The Sting alone. If anyone's looking for perfection in anything, it's not happening. So, it's a 'move on' to that.
Talking about opinions and then getting personal because one disagreed with yours. Irony.
Of course that was my opinion. The point is there'll always be someone feeling every movie could've been made better - even the great ones. This movie was technically sound and had a good screenplay, even if there are plot holes and overall comes out as a great movie.
It also comes to me that another aspect of your post is ironic - you say the film's great in many ways - and just the ending makes it a 7? To me, that's a lousy way of rating anything, movies as well (one's got to enjoy the journey more than the destination - ring a bell?). No film's great in every way possible.
There's more irony. You mean to say that's my opinion and many people think otherwise, but the movie has an 8.4 rating which would imply more people support my opinion on this movie. Either that, or your opinion is invalid because of the movie's rating. Finally you disregard a group of people (which's the larger group) just because they feel different about this movie. You either side with the masses or you don't. I don't use that as an argument. I side with my own opinions. Look at someone who can't, wants to use people in his support and then goes on to slate them.
If you couldn't give a rat's ass about what I think, why do you bother to reply - not mentioning the absurd assumptions you make on the other person based on one post and the name calling you indulge in.
One thing's for sure. Your post is a mega parody of itself.
I'm not even reading your mindless post, because I don't care to waste my time on idiots like yourself. Get help and quit posting to 6 year old posts with blanket statements and a move on comment. Get real.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!!
Stop getting personal because you lost an internet argument. Be a sport.
6 year old posts are still there to be replied. You could delete your comments for fear of backlash if you want - with prejudiced and cold behavior, you're bound to get some treatment from here.
You are shrill and verbose, and your arrogant “signature” is an unintentional joke, in a bad way.
No one cares about this movie anymore.
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