MovieChat Forums > The Sting (1973) Discussion > Am I the only person on Earth who doesn'...

Am I the only person on Earth who doesn't like this film?

posted 12 years ago by kolnoaMograbi
66 replies | jump to latest

...not only didn't like it, actually fell asleep! I was 13 that summer, and was a junior counselor for nine-year-old girls at a day camp. All my campers raved about this flick. Went to see it with a friend and honestly couldn't keep up with the plot. Seemed to me to be one long poker game (about as exciting as watching someone get their braces tightened) punctuated by I don't know what, 'cause I fell asleep. For real.

When you think of garbage, think of Hakim!

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] kaskait 10 years ago

I agree. This film isn't a bad film. It has great performances from all the actors. But I don't think it is as wonderful as everyone thinks it is.

The deliberate style choices to turn it into a kind of 1930's Burlesque show of a con job hasn't aged well at all. The camera work was flat and yellow tinge to the color is awful.

[–] Cavitcat 10 years ago

As a poker game and gambling the Cin cin ataa Kid was far better and more entertianing.

[–] laxlon 10 years ago

Movies I hated as a kid, I learned to love when I became an adult. I've never totally warmed to this movie, sometimes I like it, sometimes it's just too complicated. But the actors in it, top to bottom are the best.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] mxzt 10 years ago

Their is at least 4000 people on IMDB who didn't like it or hated it. And I'm one of them. The story is lame imo, I couldn't get into it. And the way it was filmed made it seem like I was watching and old TV show.

[–] Druff 10 years ago

I was four years old when The Sting was released, but I remember it. I didn't see it, but I remember my parents going (they didn't go out often so it was always a big deal- I remember them going to see Cabaret, American Graffiti...) and we had the soundtrack and often listened to it during dinner. I didn't get to see it myself until we got our first VCR, which happened to be when I was 13 too. And like you, I didn't enjoy it at all, found it boring. Expected it to be a comedy for some reason. I couldn't follow the story, I don't think I even tried.

Now, over 30 years later, I just watched it this weekend on blu-ray, and I thought it was one of the best movies I've seen in ages. At 45, I can finally follow the plot! They did a masterful job of known when to withhold key info to serve the story. The ending threw me for a loop, thankfully I had completely forgotten it. In fact, I had forgotten the whole thing. I'm pretty sure I saw it when we got our VCR...

[–] andyofne 10 years ago

I don't remember exactly when I saw it but it was probably in the early 80s when I was a teenager... and I'm sure I saw it on television.

It was by far the best film I'd ever seen in my life (at 15 that doesn't mean much).

I probably didn't see it again for another 25 years and when I did I still felt the same way.

Sometimes when I watch an 'old' movie I have a hard time staying interested but the Sting grabbed me and kept me watching through the end.

Quite possibly my favorite movie of all time.

[–] jonnyhiboy 10 years ago

I'm actually surprised that this The Sting so highly regarded by fans and critics alike. I am not saying this is a bad film, but it is just largely unremarkable and i am 20 and just watched it yesterday. I have a feeling that people went wild for it because of the star power of Robert Redford and Paul Newman. It had the opposite effect for me.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is in one of the top ten best films i have seen. Exciting, fresh spin on the whole outlaw sub genre, dazzling camerawork, characters that you root for, original witty dialogue in the fantastic script and sensational chemistry between the two lead friends.

With or without comparison, The Sting i have to say was just undeniably dull and throwaway for the vast majority of it's run-time in which i was also quite frankly bored for the most part. Cinematography was impressive i'll give it that, but everything else was just hyped up that i thought it was going to be something different. 5/10 for me.

[–] jesatsu 10 years ago

Don't worry there are plenty of people who don't like this film. Hell, you can browse any film on here and scour the forums and there will be at least one thread about how someone didn't like it. Perhaps one day a perfect film will be created. A film that will objectively have no fault and STILL there will be at least one person stating that they didn't like it.

It's human nature.