The Sting

The Sting was an Oscar winning caper film from 1973 based in the 1930s and centered around a convoluted plot by two professional "grifters" (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). The story is based in part on real life con games documented by David W. Maurer in his book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

Plot

The movie follows Johnny Hooker (Redford), a small-time con-man who, with his accomplice Luther Coleman, manages to swipe $12,000 in money from the "numbers" (an early, illegal version of the lottery) off of a courier for Doyle Lonnegan. When Doyle finds out that his money is gone, he has Luther killed and puts out men to kill Johnny as well. Having lost his new found wealth on a spin of a roulette wheel in an underground casino, Johnny can't go anywhere. He decides to get revenge for Luther, and the only way to do that is to 'learn from the best' - in this case, Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), a former con-artist who now lives in the back of an amusement hall that doubles as a brothel. Henry warns Johnny about the dangers of going after Doyle Lonnegan, but Johnny is adamant. Henry decides to help, in part for the one last 'big score'.

Related Topics:
Redford - "numbers" - Roulette wheel - Paul Newman

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The only way they can get true revenge on Lonnegan is by lifting him of his money. However, Doyle is a smart man - he's not about to be taken in a simple confidence scheme. They thus decide on an elaborate plan. Making Doyle believe that Johnny (who goes by the name of Kelly in front of Lonnegan) knows someone in the Western Union office, Johnny convinces Lonnegan that they can win money in 'Shaw's' (Henry's) underground casino by getting the Western Union man to relay the winners of a horse race to them, holding on to the information for a few minutes, and then broadcasting it over the radio to the underground casino. (In reality, they'd get the play-by-play off a ticker tape wire, then have someone in the back talking through a microphone to sound like they're hearing it off the radio)

Related Topics:
Confidence scheme - Western Union

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As if this wasn't a complicated enough scheme to lure Lonnegan in with, Johnny has to continually avoid corrupt police Lt. Snyder (Charles Durning) who is hot on his tail (Snyder was looking for a cut of the money Johnny had lifted from Lonnegan's man at the beginning of the movie). Meanwhile, FBI agents make their presence known to Hooker and try to coerce him into helping them capture Gondorff. To add to all that, Lonnegan grows frustrated of his men just missing Johnny at his apartment and decides to bring in a professional to finish the job of killing him...

Related Topics:
Charles Durning - FBI

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