Movie Minx

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
Directed by: George Roy Hill

Plot: In 1930s Chicago, a young con man seeking revenge for his murdered partner teams up with a master of the big con to win a fortune from a criminal banker.

But is it any good?

I’m not a huge fan of crime capers and require them in extremely small doses, but The Sting deserves to be seen for the acting alone. Sure, every film buff will expect the many twists and turns thrown their way and some may struggle to keep up, but it’s worth it even for a handful of key scenes. And, yes, it was buried in Oscars at the time.

Redford is electric as the young, small-time gangster called Hooker whose partner is killed and who seeks revenge by teaming up with another skilled conman (Newman) who has lost his mojo a bit but comes out of retirement for the thrill of the ride. Together they hatch the “Big Con” with a group of helpful crooks to cheat big-time racketeer Lonnegan (Shaw) out of $500,000 - which must have been five trillion zillion in those days.

Essentially the plot is one con after the other, with the characters (and us) hoodwinked by people they trusted. So you need to keep up, and not look back, as some of the plot is a tad weak (eg. someone abruptly turns out to be a hitman and the unlikeliness of it is feebly explained away in a two-second piece of dialogue).

Redford’s charms as Hooker are that he’s tough and smart, but a little naive and vulnerable as well. When he chats up the diner lady we see a side of him that’s clear and honest, and not tied up in revenge and duplicity. When he appears at her door in the middle of the night and replies to her frosty demeanour by saying plaintively, “It’s 2am and I don’t know nobody,” well, wouldn’t you take him in and shag him too?

Newman’s character Gondorff also has his flaws. We first encounter him sprawled drunken and snoring on his bedroom floor, but boy, when he’s playing Lonnegan at poker there’s nothing pathetic about him. It’s a highly charged, funny and riveting scene. Gondorff becomes a kind of father figure to Hooker, a Mister Miyagi to Redford’s Daniel-san if you like, who helps him get his revenge on the loathesome Lonnegan simply because “it seems worthwhile”.

Basically it’s a smart and entertaining film and not much more, but it engages your attention and the final twist at the end is the perfect finale. Bravo Newman and Redford - a most magnetic pairing if ever there was one.

IMDb’s rating: 8.4/10
My rating: 7.5/10

Next movie to be reviewed: The Manchurian Candidate

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