WHAT: The Sting (1973, DCP)
WHEN: March 16, 2022 1 PM & 7:30 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
WHAT ELSE: Pre-show music by Jay Warren at 7 PM!
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 advance or $10 for the 1 PM matinee
Advance Tickets for the 7:30 PM show: Click Here!
Are you ready for the big con? Join us on March 16, 2022, for some pre-St. Patrick’s Day fun when we revisit The Sting— the 1973 Best Picture winner directed by George Roy Hill (who had also directed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Paul Newman and Robert Redford star in one of the greatest caper films of all-time.
The Sting celebrates its 50th anniversary next year in 2023, but we thought we’d work our own game and get the jump on the anniversary. The Sting is actually one of two films we are showing this season in which Chicago and Joliet are featured!
Set in Depression America in 1936, Paul Newman (Henry Gondorff) and Robert Redford (Johnny Hooker) are a couple confidence men looking to put the “sting” on big-time rackets man Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). I guess this is our St. Patrick’s Day connection?
The Sting features one of the best-written screenplays you will ever find– by David S. Ward. He was inspired by the 1940 book, The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, by David W. Maurer. In addition, the film is well-known for its soundtrack. The score is based on the music of Scott Joplin–particularly his song “The Entertainer.” The music is instantly recognizable and did much to revitalize interest in Joplin and his ragtime legacy.
The Sting was New Hollywood’s attempt to recreate the glory of the past. Director George Roy Hill deliberately fashioned it in the style of the gangster films of the 1930s. To help achieve the look for the characters, legendary costume designer Edith Head worked on the costumes. She would win her eighth and final Oscar as a result.
As audiences, we are easily hoodwinked by the charm of these two legendary actors. In its way, The Sting pulls the wool over our eyes and takes us in just as easily as the “marks” who fall victim to Gondorff and Hooker.
~MCH
Paul Newman
Robert Redford
Newman and Redford
