MovieChat Forums > The Sting (1973) Discussion > The thing I never quite understood.....

The thing I never quite understood.....

posted 8 years ago by tedspe
7 replies | jump to latest

I could be wrong because I realize $500,000 was a hell of a lot of money in 1936 but the extravagance of the con itself looks to have cost a hell of a lot of money as well. All the different properties rented, wardrobe, set decoration, props, the amount of people involved, etc. Was it really worth it?

But I admit, I have no idea what the cost of all these things were in 1936 so maybe it all makes sense. It just doesn't seem to on the surface

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tedspe 8 years ago

Thanks. Glad I'm not alone

[–] SidekickinWhiteFury 8 years ago

$500,000 in 1936 equals over 8.6 million today.
(Source CPI inflation calculator, link provided.)

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

As for the expenses, everyone is in for a share of the final amount minus expenses.
The whole thing prob only cost about 10,000 or less.
When Newman wins $15,000 in the poker game, he says: We got working money. Lonnegan
eventually gets that money back. All they are doing is putting on a play. They rent the equipment and the 2 apartments. Everyone gets paid later except for those initial expenses.
These old time con men always kept an emergency wad of cash, between the top 2-3 guys the expenses are covered. Kid Twist, Gondorff, J.J..

[–] strntz 8 years ago

Who, by the way, would surely not bet $500,000 w/o getting his tip straight. "PLACE it on Lucky Ding-Dong. And SHOW me the way to go home, Doyle old boy!" Sure, right, mm-hmm.

That scene wasn't really required for the con, but only to provide more entertainment movie-wise. Doyle could have placed that bet correctly, the FBI would come in and shoot up the place, and Doyle would still have been hustled out of the "parlor" without his cash.

The next day either way, he would see the tip he got was correct. But it was fun watching his expression when he realized he paid half a mil for the wrong bet!

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

[–] arthurab 8 years ago

You make a good point.....EXCEPT, I believe they did it for Luther-the money was secondary.

Of course setting it up cost $, and all the players get paid, but the half a mil covers all that and more. Ordinarily, the major players wd take a huge cut, but Redford didn't even stick around for his, and Newman LOVED Luther, and was hellbent on revenge imo, despite saying "revenge is for suckers...", and likely took only a small cut (relative to what he ordinarily wd take). This was about making things right b/c of what happened to Luther-not getting rich.

The bit players all loved Gondorf, and very likely did it for 'minimum wage' and as favor to him.

[–] ameckert2000 8 years ago

Agreed. I too thought "That is a really elaborate scheme, what is the point if they aren't going to get money?"

But, it's NOT about the money. It's about screwing Lonnigan and revenge for Luther. Newman even says that the con would never be over, Lonnigan could never know he'd been conned. It's all about the KNOWLEDGE in the fact that they screwed this guy out of a huge amount of money.

I'm watching the movie now. Such a classic.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

You have to speculate to accumulate