Paul Newman
Henry Gondorff
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In 1936, amid the Great Depression, grifter Johnny Hooker and his partners Luther Coleman and Joe Erie con $11,000 in cash from an unsuspecting victim in Joliet, Illinois. Hooker loses his share of the con on a rigged roulette game, while Luther, buoyed by the windfall, decides to retire.
The Sting: Directed by George Roy Hill. With Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning. Two grifters team up to pull off the ultimate con.
- (282K)
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- George Roy Hill
- 1973-12-25
- Overview
- Production notes and credits
- Cast
- Academy Award nominations (* denotes win)
The Sting, American caper movie, released in 1973, that was one of the most popular films of the 1970s and the second on-screen pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It won seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture.
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The movie begins in Joliet, Illinois, in September 1936. Two men, Johnny Hooker (played by Redford) and his partner, Luther (Robert Earl Jones), trick a courier out of $11,000, unaware that the money was to have been given to powerful mobster Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Luther intends to retire with his share of the money, and he recommends that Hooker partner with con artist Henry Gondorff (Newman) in Chicago. That evening, a crooked cop, Lieut. William Snyder (Charles Durning), accosts Hooker, telling him that he knows that he stole money from one of Lonnegan’s men, and demands a cut. Hooker gives him $2,000 in counterfeit bills and then goes to warn Luther, only to find that his partner has been killed.
Hooker escapes to Chicago, where he finds Gondorff living with his girlfriend, Billie (Eileen Brennan). Gondorff agrees to help Hooker run an elaborate confidence game to financially ruin Lonnegan. They devise a scheme to create a fake offtrack betting parlour, where Lonnegan will make a large bet that they will then steal. In addition to Billie, the men enlist the aid of various criminals, including Kid Twist (Harold Gould) and J.J. Singleton (Ray Walston). While their plan is being put into action, Lieutenant Snyder, seeking revenge for the counterfeit money, follows Hooker to Chicago, where he is picked up and taken to FBI Agent Polk (Dana Elcar). Polk tells Snyder that the FBI is after Gondorff and that he wants Snyder to bring Hooker in so that Polk can use Hooker to get to Gondorff.
•Studios: Zanuck/Brown Productions and Universal Pictures
•Director: George Roy Hill
•Writer: David S. Ward
•Music: Marvin Hamlisch
•Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker)
•Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff)
•Robert Shaw (Doyle Lonnegan)
•Charles Durning (Lieutenant Snyder)
•Eileen Brennan (Billie)
•Harold Gould (Kid Twist)
•Picture*
•Lead actor (Robert Redford)
•Art direction*
•Cinematography
•Costume design*
•Direction*
- Pat Bauer
Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman) boards the 20th Century Limited, poses as drunkard Shaw, and cons crime boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw) out of $15,000 in a hi...
- 10 min
- 6.1M
- Universal Pictures
The Sting (1973) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more.
It's September, 1936. The place: Joliet, Illinois. Luther Coleman, his apprentice Johnny Hooker, and their underling Joe Erie's latest swindle has netted them $11,000, enough for an aged Luther to contemplate retiring from grifting.
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The Sting OSCARS® 7X winner Two con men (Robert Redford and Paul Newman) team up to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a mobster (Robert Shaw) in director George Roy Hill's Academy Award winning Best Picture.
