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ది స్టింగ్
సినిమా పోస్టర్
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రచనడేవిడ్ ఎస్.వార్డ్
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తారాగణం
  • పాల్ న్యూమన్
  • రాబర్ట్ రెడ్‌ఫోర్డ్
  • రాబర్ట్ షా
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ఛాయాగ్రహణంరాబర్ట్ సుర్టీస్
కూర్పువిలియం రేనాల్డ్స్
సంగీతంమార్విన్ హామ్‌లిస్చ్
నిర్మాణ
సంస్థ
యూనివర్సల్ పిక్చర్స్
పంపిణీదార్లుయూనివర్సల్ పిక్చర్స్
విడుదల తేదీ
డిసెంబరు 25, 1973 (1973-12-25)
సినిమా నిడివి
129 నిముషాలు
దేశంఅమెరికా
భాషఇంగ్లీష్
బడ్జెట్$5.5 మిలియన్లు[1]
బాక్సాఫీసు$159.6 మిలియన్లు[1]

The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).[2] The film was directed by George Roy Hill,[3] who had directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Created by screenwriter David S. Ward, the story was inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

The "sting" is the moment when a con artist finishes the "play" and takes the mark's money. If a con is successful, the mark does not realize he has been cheated until the con men are long gone, if at all. The film plays out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards drawn by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr, the lettering and illustrations in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post. The film is noted for its use of ragtime, particularly the melody "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, which was adapted (along with others by Joplin) for the film by Marvin Hamlisch (and a top-ten chart single for Hamlisch when released as a single from the film's soundtrack). The film's success created a resurgence of interest in Joplin's work.[4]

Released on Christmas Day, 1973, The Sting was a massive critical and commercial success and hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards, nominated for ten Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Writing (Original Screenplay); Redford was also nominated for Best Actor. The film also rekindled Newman's career after a series of big screen flops. Regarded as having one of the best screenplays ever written, The Sting was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

ఈ సినిమా కథ 1930లనాటి చికాగో నగరంలో జరుగుతుంది. ఓ ఇద్దరు చిన్నసైజు దొంగలు. ఒకడు జానీ హుకర్ (రాబర్ట్ రెడ్‌ఫోర్డ్) కాగా రెండోవాడు లూథర్ కోల్‌మన్ (రాబర్ట్ ఎర్ల్ జోన్స్). లానేగాన్ (రాబర్ట్ షా) అనే మరో డాన్‌కు చేరాల్సిన 5వేల డాలర్ల డబ్బును ఈ ఇద్దరు చిల్లర దొంగలూ ఓ పల్లెటూరిలో చేజిక్కించుకుంటారు. వాటాలు పంచుకొన్న ఆ డబ్బులో తన వాటాను జానీ హుకర్ జూదంలో దాదాపుగా నష్టపోతాడు. ఇక రెండోవాడు అనుకోకుండా లానేగాన్ ముఠా మనుష్యుల చేతిలో హతుడవుతాడు. ఇక తననూ వాళ్లు చంపేస్తారన్న భయంతో హుకర్, ఆ పల్లెటూరును వదిలి చికాగో నగరం చేరతాడు. అక్కడ అతనికి హెన్రీ గాడార్ఫ్ (పాల్ న్యూమన్) పరిచయం అవుతాడు. ఇతనో పెద్ద మోసకారి. తన మిత్రుడిని చంపిన లానేగాన్‌పై కక్ష తీర్చుకోవటానికి అనువైన పథకాన్ని రచించాల్సిందిగా హుకర్, గాడార్ఫ్‌ను కోరతాడు. దాంతో గాడార్ఫ్ ఓ ఫేక్ బెట్టింగ్ షాప్ (ఉత్తుత్తి జూదశాల) పెట్టించి, అందులోకి డబ్బుపై దురాశతో లానేగాన్ వచ్చేలా చేస్తాడు. ఇలా వచ్చిన లానేగాన్‌ను హుకర్ చంపేసే వీలుంటుంది. కానీ... గాడార్ఫ్ అటు లానేగాన్‌తోనూ లాలూచీ అయ్యాడన్న సంగతి హుకర్‌కు తెలుస్తుంది. దాంతో అసలు పథకం మొత్తానికే మోసం వస్తుంది.[5]

నటీనటులు

[మార్చు]

Production

[మార్చు]

Screenwriter David S. Ward has said in an interviews that he was inspired to write The Sting while researching pickpockets: "Since I had never seen a film about a confidence man before, I said I gotta do this." Daniel Eagan said: "One key to plots about con men is that film goers want to feel they are in on the trick. They don't have to know how a scheme works, and they don't mind a twist or two, but it's important for the story to feature clearly recognizable 'good' and 'bad' characters." It took a year for Ward to correctly adjust this aspect of the script and to figure out how much information he could keep from the audience while still making the leads sympathetic. He also imagined an underground brotherhood of thieves who assemble for a big operation and then melt away afterward.[6]

Years later, director Rob Cohen recounted how he found the script in the slush pile when working as a reader for Mike Medavoy, a future studio head, but then an agent. He wrote in his coverage that it was "the great American screenplay and … will make an award-winning, major-cast, major-director film." Medavoy said that he would try to sell it on that recommendation, promising to fire Cohen if he could not. Universal bought it that afternoon, and Cohen keeps the coverage framed on the wall of his office.[7]

Academic David Maurer sued for plagiarism, claiming the screenplay was based too heavily on his 1940 book The Big Con, about real-life tricksters Fred and Charley Gondorff. Universal settled out of court for $600,000, irking Ward, who resented the presumption of guilt implied by an out-of-court settlement done for business expediency.[8]

Writer/producer Roy Huggins maintained in his Archive of American Television interview that the first half of The Sting plagiarized the 1958 Maverick television series episode "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", starring James Garner and Jack Kelly.

Robert Redford during a break in shooting (1973)

Jack Nicholson was offered the lead role but turned it down.[9]

Newman signed on the film after the producers agreed to give him top billing, $500,000 and a percentage of the profits. His previous five films had been box-office disappointments.[10]

In her 1991 autobiography You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, producer Julia Phillips writes that Hill wanted Richard Boone to play Lonnegan. Much to her relief, Newman had sent the script to Robert Shaw while shooting The Mackintosh Man in Ireland to ensure his participation in the film. Phillips's book asserts that Shaw was not nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award because he demanded that his name follow those of Newman and Redford before the film's opening title.[11]

Shaw's character's limp in the film was authentic. Shaw had injured his leg while playing handball shortly before filming began. Director Hill encouraged him to incorporate the limp into his character rather than withdraw from the project.[12]

Principal photography

[మార్చు]

Hill wanted the film to be reminiscent of movies from the 1930s and watched films from that decade for inspiration. He noticed that most '30s gangster films had no extras. "For instance", Andrew Horton's book The Films of George Roy Hill quotes Hill as saying, "no extras would be used in street scenes in those films: Jimmy Cagney would be shot down and die in an empty street. So I deliberately avoided using extras."[13]

Along with art director Henry Bumstead and cinematographer Robert L. Surtees, Hill devised a color scheme of muted browns and maroons for the film and a lighting design that combined old-fashioned 1930s-style lighting with some modern tricks of the trade to get the visual look he wanted. Edith Head designed a wardrobe of snappy period costumes for the cast, and artist Jaroslav Gebr created inter-title cards to be used to introduce each section of the film that were reminiscent of the golden glow of old Saturday Evening Post illustrations, a popular publication of the 1930s.

Filming on location in Pasadena, California. Stand-ins are used to set up the shot.

The movie was filmed on the Universal Studios backlot, with a few small scenes shot in Wheeling, West Virginia, some scenes filmed at the Santa Monica pier's carousel,[14] in Southern California, and in Chicago at Union Station and the former LaSalle Street Station.[15][16] An antique car buff, co-producer Tony Bill helped round up several period cars to use in The Sting. One of them was his own 1935 Pierce-Arrow limousine, which served as Lonnegan's private car.

Box office

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The film was a box-office smash in 1973 and early 1974, taking in over $160 million. As of August 2018, it is the 20th highest-grossing film in the United States adjusted for ticket price inflation.[17]

Critical response

[మార్చు]

Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars and called it "one of the most stylish movies of the year".[18] Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a movie movie that has obviously been made with loving care each and every step of the way."[19] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film was "so good-natured, so obviously aware of everything it's up to, even its own picturesque frauds, that I opt to go along with it. One forgives its unrelenting efforts to charm, if only because The Sting itself is a kind of con game, devoid of the poetic aspirations that weighed down Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."[20] Variety wrote, "George Roy Hill's outstanding direction of David S. Ward's finely-crafted story of multiple deception and surprise ending will delight both mass and class audiences. Extremely handsome production values and a great supporting cast round out the virtues."[21] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "an unalloyed delight, the kind of pure entertainment film that's all the more welcome for having become such a rarity."[22] John Simon wrote that The Sting as a comedy-thriller "works endearingly without a hitch".[23]

Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was less enthusiastic, writing that the film "is meant to be roguishly charming entertainment, and that's how most of the audience takes it, but I found it visually claustrophobic, and totally mechanical. It creeps cranking on, section after section, and it doesn't have a good spirit." She also wrote, "the absence of women really is felt as a lack in this movie."[24]

In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #39 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written.[25] On Rotten Tomatoes, The Sting holds a rating of 92% from 101 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill prove that charm, humor, and a few slick twists can add up to a great film."[26] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[27]

పురస్కారాలు, ప్రతిపాదనలు

[మార్చు]
Award Category Nominees Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Picture Tony Bill, Julia Phillips, and Michael Phillips గెలుపు [28]
[29]
Best Director George Roy Hill గెలుపు
Best Actor Robert Redford ప్రతిపాదించబడింది
Best Original Screenplay David S. Ward గెలుపు
Best Art Direction Henry Bumstead and James W. Payne గెలుపు
Best Cinematography Robert Surtees ప్రతిపాదించబడింది
Best Costume Design Edith Head గెలుపు
Best Film Editing William Reynolds గెలుపు
Best Scoring: Original Song Score and Adaptation or Scoring: Adaptation Marvin Hamlisch గెలుపు
Best Sound Ronald Pierce and Robert R. Bertrand ప్రతిపాదించబడింది
American Cinema Editors Awards Best Edited Feature Film William Reynolds గెలుపు
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actor Robert Redford గెలుపు[a]
Directors Guild of America Awards Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures George Roy Hill గెలుపు [30]
Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion Picture David S. Ward ప్రతిపాదించబడింది
Golden Globe Awards Best Screenplay – Motion Picture ప్రతిపాదించబడింది [31]
Golden Screen Awards గెలుపు
Kinema Junpo Awards Best Foreign Language Film Director George Roy Hill గెలుపు
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films గెలుపు [32]
Best Film గెలుపు
National Film Preservation Board National Film Registry Inducted
Online Film & Television Association Awards Hall of Fame – Motion Picture Honored [33]
People's Choice Awards Favorite Motion Picture గెలుపు [34]
Producers Guild of America Awards Hall of Fame – Motion Pictures Tony Bill, Julia Phillips, and Michael Phillips గెలుపు [35]
Writers Guild of America Awards Best Drama – Written Directly for the Screen David S. Ward ప్రతిపాదించబడింది [36]

Adaptations

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Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (music and lyrics), writer Bob Martin, and director John Rando created a stage musical version of the movie. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey on March 29, 2018. Henry Gondorff was played by Harry Connick Jr., with choreography by Warren Carlyle.[37] The stage musical incorporates Joplin's music, including "The Entertainer".[38]

Novelization

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Robert Weverka adapted the film into a full-length novel, The Sting (1974), based on the screenplay by David S. Ward.[39]

Home media

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The movie was issued on DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment in 2000. "If Paul Newman really does retire, he can spend his rocking chair years feeling smug about this," enthused OK! "The story's not the important thing: what makes it are the quirky soundtrack, the card-sharp dialogue and two superduperstars at their superduperstarriest."[40]

A deluxe DVD – The Sting: Special Edition (part of the Universal Legacy Series) – was released in September 2005. Its "making of" featurette, The Art of the Sting, included interviews with cast and crew.

The film was released on Blu-ray in 2012 as part of Universal's 100th anniversary releases.

The Sting was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 18, 2021.[41]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 "The Sting". The Numbers. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  2. Variety film review; December 12, 1973, page 16.
  3. "The Sting". Turner Classic Movies Database. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  4. Berlin, Edward A. (1996). "Scott Joplin". Classical Net. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
  5. పాలకోడేటి సత్యనారాయణరావు (1 April 2007). హాలీవుడ్ క్లాసిక్స్ మొదటి భాగం (1 ed.). హైదరాబాదు: శ్రీ అనుపమ సాహితి. pp. 280–282.
  6. Eagan, Daniel (2009). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. Bloomsberry. p. 700. ISBN 978-0-8264-2977-3. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  7. Lussier, Germaine (November 21, 2008). "Screenings: 'The Sting' as part of Paul Newman Retrospective". Times-Herald Record. Middletown, NY. Archived from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved November 21, 2008. {{cite news}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  8. Horowitz, Joy (March 15, 1992). "Hollywood Law: Whose Idea Is It, Anyway?". The New York Times. Retrieved August 20, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. McGilligan, Patrick (November 9, 2015). Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson (Updated and Expanded). W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-3933-5097-5.
  10. J. Quirk, Lawrence (September 16, 2009). Paul Newman: A Life. Taylor Trade Publishing. pp. 212–215. ISBN 978-1-5897-9438-2.
  11. Phillips, Julia (1991). You'll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again. Random House. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-3945-7574-2. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  12. "AFI Movie Club: THE STING". American Film Institute. July 6, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2023.
  13. Horton, Andrew (August 31, 2010). The Films of George Roy Hill (revised ed.). McFarland. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-7864-4684-1. Retrieved April 13, 2022.
  14. Blake, Lindsay (January 16, 2014). "Scene It Before: The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome from 'The Sting'". Los Angeles. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  15. "LaSalle Street Station". Metra. Archived from the original on సెప్టెంబరు 24, 2014. Retrieved జూలై 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  16. "Movies Filmed in Chicago". City of Chicago. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  17. "All Time Box Office Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
  18. Ebert, Roger (December 27, 1973). "The Sting". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 30, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
  19. Siskel, Gene (December 28, 1973). "A return to the basics called care and skill". Chicago Tribune. Section 2, p. 3.
  20. Canby, Vincent (December 26, 1973). "Film:1930's Confidence Men Are Heroes of 'Sting'". The New York Times. p. 60. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  21. Murphy, A. D. (December 12, 1973). "The Sting". Variety. Archived from the original on June 5, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  22. Thomas, Kevin (December 23, 1973). "'The Sting 'Reunites a Winning Combination". Los Angeles Times. Calendar, p. 26.
  23. Simon, John (1982). "Cops, Crooks, and Cryogenics". Reverse Angle: A Decade of American films. Crown Publishers Inc. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-5175-4471-6.
  24. Kael, Pauline (December 31, 1973). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. pp. 49–50.
  25. "101 Greatest Screenplays". Writers Guild of America West. Archived from the original on August 13, 2006. Retrieved April 13, 2022. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  26. "The Sting". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  27. The Sting Reviews, Metacritic, retrieved 2022-06-18
  28. "The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
  29. "The Sting". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. March 20, 2009. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2008. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  30. "26th DGA Awards". Directors Guild of America Awards. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  31. "The Sting – Golden Globes". HFPA. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  32. "1973 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  33. "Film Hall of Fame Inductees: Productions". Online Film & Television Association. Retrieved August 15, 2021.
  34. "1975 - 1st Annual People's Choice Awards". Archived from the original on 2016-04-18. Retrieved November 10, 2015. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  35. Madigan, Nick (March 1, 1998). "PGA lauds Daly, Semel with its Golden Laurels". Variety. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  36. "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2010-06-06. {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
  37. "The Sting". newyorkcitytheatre.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2017.
  38. Clement, Olivia (February 13, 2018). "Harry Connick Jr. to Star in Broadway-Bound Musical 'The Sting'". Playbill. Archived from the original on February 15, 2018.
  39. The Sting: Published 1974, Bantam Books (first published January 1st 1973) ISBN 0553082728
  40. MacDonald, Bruno (May 19, 2000). "Film & Video: DVD sales releases". OK!. No. 213.
  41. "The Sting 4K Blu-ray". Blu-ray News. 10 March 2021. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  1. Tied with Al Pacino for Serpico.
[మార్చు]
వికీవ్యాఖ్యలో ఈ విషయానికి సంబంధించిన వ్యాఖ్యలు చూడండి.