The Sting

Rating:
Summary: Widescreen or not Widescreen, that is the question
Review: The majority of complaints about The Sting in DVD are about the lack of a Widescreen version, while one exists on VHS. Then there are those that say that it was really filmed in one of the Fullscreen ratios, and that it should be viewed that way instead.

Here's the solution. Universal should re-release the DVD in both versions on one disk or in a two-disk set. We see this happening for all kinds of films, and it is something that can not only make everyone happy, but will allow everyone to make a direct comparison.

Rating:
Summary: great old movie
Review: I'm not usually a fan of old movies, but this one is a HUGE exception. It's light-hearted and the plot and characters are awesome. I've read a lot of reviews from people who didn't like the soundtrack, but I thought it fit the movie. Anyway, even if you don't like old movies, you will love The Sting.

Rating:
Summary: YEP - SAME AS THE OTHER "REVIEWS"
Review: They have the gall to issue a "new" edition and STILL NO WIDESCREEN?! Universal's gotta be kidding--

Rating:
Summary: Full screen??? Are you kidding?
Review: An excellent film. Shame we are not able to view all of it. Where is the widescreen? I will not purchase it and I hope others are wise enough and don't purchase the DVD as well. I will simply wait. The awards, accolades and performances have all been spoken for and are well deserved. Rent a tape to watch it.

Rating:
Summary: When's the LBX version coming?
Review: Silly me! I sold my Widescreen VHS expecting a respectable DVD. Boy, is my face red... With the extras that DVD can afford, there's really no excuse. This film won an Oscar for Editing (and most of the others, too). How can its Editing be appreciated in a choppy pan 'n scan? Let's rally for a REAL version.

Rating:
Summary: future con-artists, grifters, hustlers, take note!
Review: let me preface this particular review with this statement, generally i do not like older movies. now there are some exceptions, but generally i don't like them. i cannot quite nail down one reason, but just know that it holds true for the most part...

with that being said, this movie is absolutely incredible. this movie goes through a variety of emotions. mostly it is a fun movie, but it does have other emotions to traverse through. the plot of this movie follows robert redford (as a small-time grifter) as he sets up a con on a big-time ganster after that man had his mentor killed.

the plot sounds simple enough, but the con is not. redford meets up with paul newman's character and the two begin the setitng up the sting. they bring in many other great supporting characters to help with the con. many twists later the movie ends on a high note (but i don't want to give it away for those who haven't seen it).

redford and newman are wonderful in this movie. they have a great chemistry and show their acting chops in this film. without their performances this movie would not be as good as it is.

i highly recommend this film to anyone who likes a good movie about two unlikely heros. also recommend, poolhall junkies!

Rating:
Summary: It's the Big Con ... and it's Hooker by a nose!
Review: The year is 1936, and while generally there's a depression on, small-time Joliet grifter Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) and his pals Luther Coleman and Joe Erie (Robert Earl Jones and Jack Kehoe) have just hit the big one, taking over $10,000 from a mark in a routine street con. What they don't know, unfortunately, is that their mark is actually a runner for the Illinois operation of New York banker-turned-mob boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), who loses no time sending a pair of killers after them, commenting dryly that "you can't encourage this kind of thing ... ya' folla'?" Hours later, Luther is found dead below his living room window. Shocked and angry, Johnny and Joe nevertheless know they have to beat it, and quickly. Johnny decides to go to Chicago, to look up Luther's old friend Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), whom Luther has described as a true big-timer. He is less than impressed, however, when he finds Gondorff sleeping off the previous night's booze, actually lying in a corner *beside* his bed. His impression only changes after they have started to talk (and not before he has given him a good drenching in the bath tub to sober him up) and Hooker begins to get an inkling that this guy Gondorff actually does know what he's talking about.

Thus, the scene is set for one of film history's greatest con operations, in which Gondorff and Hooker devise a scheme to sting Lonnegan out of a half million dollars in a venture including everything from a bamboozled poker round (courtesy of technical advisor John Scarne, whose hands doubled for Newman's) to a scam bookmaking outfit and the temporary hijacking of a telegraph office - as much in revenge for Luther's death (because, as Hooker explains, he "[doesn't] know enough about killing to kill [Lonnegan]") as for the scheme's financial prospect, which alone is big enough to make it worthwhile; and then, of course there is the thrill of the chase itself! And they're not even put off by the fact that Hooker is sought, besides by Lonnegan's killers, by Joliet "bunko" cop Snyder (Charles Durning) - less because of the latter's official duties, though, but because, bullied by Snyder into coughing up the better part of his share of the take from Lonnegan's runner, Hooker has had the brilliant idea of passing him counterfeit money; thus incurring the cop's wrath as surely as he has already incurred Lonnegan's.

"The Sting" reprised the successful cooperation of Redford, Newman and director George Roy Hill that had paid off so well four years earlier in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," earning Hill one of seven Academy Awards - the most coveted one besides "Best Movie," which also went to this movie - and Redford his first "Best Actor" Oscar nomination (why Newman wasn't likewise at least nominated will forever remain one of the Academy's mysteries). The screenplay was inspired by David W. Maurer's 1940 book "The Big Con," which chronicles the exploits of several depression-era con artists whose names, in turn, inspired those of several of the movie's characters, including Henry Gondorff, J.J. Singleton, Eddie Niles and Kid Twist (the latter three played with panache, wit and tongue firmly planted in cheek by Ray Walston, John Heffernan and the great, prolific Harold Gould).

Screenwriter David S. Ward - another one of the film's seven Oscar winners - created Hooker's role with Robert Redford in mind from the start. Redford, however, initially declined and only changed his mind (still not expecting the movie to be a major success) after Jack Nicholson had likewise turned it down in the interim. He would soon be proven dead wrong; indeed, everything came together as in a dream for the production: Two stars with confirmed on-screen chemistry, each of whom alone possessed enough charisma to turn even the slightest scene into a magical moment but who together were darn near unbeatable; a despite an not entirely convincing Irish accent eminently credible, intelligent and menacing villain; a great supporting cast that also included Eileen Brennan (Gondorff's girlfriend Billie), Dimitra Arliss (Hooker's love interest Loretta), Dana Elcar (would-be FBI Agent Polk) and Charles Dierkop (Lonnegan's right-hand man Floyd); a spunky script with new plot twists and memorable one-liners at every corner; meticulously researched, spot-on cinematography and art direction, earning the film Academy Award No. 4 (Art Direction) plus a nomination in the "Best Cinematography" category - all the more amazing as the movie was filmed almost entirely on Universal's back lot and includes only a few days' worth of location shots - likewise meticulously researched period costumes (Oscar No. 5 for the film and No. 7 for honoree Edith Head, out of no less than 25 (!) nominations); superb camerawork and editing (Oscar No. 6, Editing) and last but not least an Oscar-winning soundtrack, compiled by Marvin Hamlisch from Scott Joplin's ragtime tunes - which actually were no longer popular in the 1930s but fit the movie's tone like a tee.

Having watched the movie countless times, I sometimes wonder (only now that I'm finally reasonably familiar with its breathtaking plot twists, I hasten to add) whether it makes sense that in a well-organized outfit like Lonnegan's, which instantly identified Hooker, Coleman and Erie as the grifters who had conned their runner and also instantly knew their places of abode, both in Joliet *and* Hooker's new Chicago address, the right hand should have been so ignorant of the left hand's pursuits that it never dawned on anyone that the kid conning himself into Lonnegan's confidence under the name Kelly was actually none other than the Johnny Hooker they were pursuing for the Joliet hit. But ultimately this is nit-picking I'll admit, and it does not take away one iota of the movie's fun and overall class.

So, settle down with a beer, pop in the DVD (where is the special edition, Universal???) and enjoy - for the flag is up ... and they're off again!!

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy! Not widescreen!
Review: Well, Universal re-released this great Best Picture winner, but left it in the awful pan-and-scan they used for the first DVD release. What a shame. Don't buy this DVD...write to Universal Video and demand they release it in its original theatrical widescreen

Rating:
Summary: A must see movie!
Review: Excellent film, I highly recommend it.

That said, there is no true "widescreen" version of this movie. I had someone who owns a widescreen copy send me a screen cap and I compared it to the fullscreen version I have... there is about a total of 1/3 missing from top and bottom. Those waiting for a re-release... the FULLSCREEN is the closest to the ORIGINAL format.

Rating:
Summary: 5 stars for "Four Jacks"
Review: I find myself saying this about a lot of movies recently, but this is indeed one of my favorite movies. Teaming up for a second movie, Robert Redford and Paul Newman put on a great show as co-artists, who are after a "mark." Nearly every part of this movie is enjoyable to watch over and over, and it includes one of the best card (poker) scenes in all of Hollywood. "Four Jacks!" Aside from Newman and Redford, there is an all-star cast in this movie. Truly a must get.