The Sting - Movie Review
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- Опубліковано 11 кві 2024
- #amyscut #thesting #paulnewman #robertredford #moviereview
A vibrant classic, beautifully balanced and played, it still has the power to sting us today, even half a century later.
But do you agree with my choices? Let me know in the comments below!
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.
"American Graffiti" was my choice for Best Picture that year (I was 20, and loved the music). I didn't see "The Sting" until many years later, and then I understood why it won.
Another great Redford/ Neumann movie with a great song is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid, with Bj thomas's"Raindrops keep falling on my head" along with Burt Bacharach compositions
My favorite line (I thought this was everybody's favorite line?): "Well kid, you beat him." "You're right. It's not enough. (Pause ... then breaking out into laughter.) It's close!"
What a wonderful, musical introduction, Amy! Thank you for the extra entertainment! JOLIET SCHOOL OF MUSIC??? 😉
Hello Amy , well this is a nice turn up for the books, apart from my music obsession , i have thousands ( i dont know how many ) DVDs . The Sting is a wonderful film , I would of course recommend Local Hero with a fabulous score by Mark Knopfler ( Dire Straits) , its a serious contender for best British film.
This was the first “adult” (I.e. non-Disney) film my parents ever took me to see. I remember enjoying it but being completely flummoxed by the plot. Since then, I have seen it many times (most recently in a 4K restoration) and it never ceases to delight. My personal favorite scene is the card game on the train when Gondorf comes in pretending to be drunk. The most famous shot in the film is of Gondorf pressing his finger to the side of his nose when recruiting his team. Just a fabulous film with a brilliant screenplay, expertly filmed. Good choice to start!
I love this movie. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. However I was shocked frankly that you didn't talk about the score. I love Ragtime. The score was another character in this movie. You could say that about a lot of great film scores. Ragtime by it's very nature announces it's presence with authority. It interjects itself into the script. You can't ignore it and you can't mistake it for anything else.
This movie is set in the 30s, the Depression. Ragtime had been out of favor by then. At the time this movie did get picked on because of the score. People didn't listen to Ragtime in the 30s. That sort of criticism. But the score gives the movie it's buoyancy. It's sense of good fun. It also propels the story forward. Ragtime is relentless in it's drive as you know.
Ragtime also compliments, underscores the rapid paced jargon spoken in the film. No other music form comes close to matching that jargon word for word. And nobody could have predicted Ragtime for the score. It was unexpected, as was all the twists and turns of this movie. It was a brilliant choice. And in some scenes it was poignant when it needed to be.
If you look at it further you could say that the score gets the last laugh in the movie. For one thing there was a resurgence of popularity in Ragtime. The Entertainer was in the charts again. Everyone wanted to play it on whatever instrument they played. Ragtime was everywhere after this movie came out.
Secondly, Ragtime hearkens back to a time when Confidence Men were beginning to spring up everywhere. Gondorf emphasizes that in a line from the movie. "And it really stunk kid. No sense in being a grifter if it's the same as being a citizen."
Ragtime is a good time and place holder. So you could look at it from the perspective of: even though the filmmakers did a fantastic job of setting it in the 30s with sets, speach, costumes, set design and so on, Ragtime says no, this happened in the turn of the century. As in the entire movie is a "Sting". Or as they like to say the movie is trolling the audience. But that may be pushing it.
As with the popularity of Ragtime due to the success of The Sting there was a plethora of Confidence Men movies. Even The Sting ll, which wasn't very good.
Another reason why this movie sings with delight is the chemistry between Newman, Redford, and George Roy Hill the director. All three having worked on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid together. Which also was a success.
Edith Head won her last Oscar for her work in The Sting. The costuming was impeccable.
The major award The Sting beat out for best picture was The Exorcist. Which is also tightly associated with a piece of music, namely Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. You couldn't escape Tubular Bells anymore than you could The Entertainer. I bought the album.
The Exorcist was the very first horror movie to be nominated for best picture at the oscars. If you want to talk about a successful opening it's hard to beat it. It opened the day after Christmas. People stood in line outside for hours in the cold, and the lines were long. You would think Led Zeppelin was coming to town. Not only did they stand in line for hours waiting, they watched the movie and got in line to see it again. There is a short documentary on UA-cam about The Exorcist's immediate cultural impact it had.
American Graffiti was another movie that came out that year. Talk about music being a major character in a film. American Graffiti is a master class in that aspect as well. A whole host of actors got their break from being in it. As did the director. It definitely is worth the watch.
The revolvers with silencers on them always cracked me up (you can't suppress a revolver because the sound will just come out at the cylinder gap).
"The Exorcist" sold more tickets that year, but yeah, there was NO WAY they were going to give THAT kind of movie the best picture award. If you haven't seen it, you may not want to. It's pretty disgusting at times.😬 The same can be said for "A Clockwork Orange" from 2 years before. But that Stanley Kubrick classic was an absolutely BRILLIANT film. If you understand it. If you're bold enough to give that one a try, but aren't sure what to think of it? Watch the video about it on the "Empire of the Mind" channel. That's the best interpretation of it I've heard yet.
Ragtime music was used for the film, but entirely put of place for the era. Swing music of the 1930's would be correct. Marvin Hamlisch was a great pianist, and arranger and song writer. He went on to write the musical a Chorus line.
I think a perfect movie that blends your channels is School of Rock. I feel like there’s a lot of overlap between your journey with rock music and some of the characters in the film!
Chinatown came out in ‘74 and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in ‘75. Both these movies have stood the test of time.
Yes, Chinatown is one of the greatest films of the 1970s. Like The Sting, you can never figure out where it is going the first time you see it. And because of this, like The Sting, it holds up well after many, many viewings.
So has The Sting.
The Sting, I was 24 at the time. I should watch it again because a lot of it is gone from my memory now.
Could it win the best picture Oscar. "Oppenheimer" did. Yes it has special effects, but it has a great story line. But I do think that The Sting would be at least nominated for Best Picture.
Being Nominated isn't a small thing. I've seen videos on UA-cam showing people that found out that their work was nominated and they went NUTS with happiness. 😁
I love The Sting. As a film lover, specially movies from 20s to 80s, i'm happy you're talking about movies now.
A fork in the road for you with this channel - let's hope it grows as exponentially as your VR Channel did / does. I feel great vibes for this 'different' angle on YT movie reviews. Kudos.
My mom took me and my brother to see this film the summer it came out so many times that I literally memorized it. :)
If you watch closely, you'll see that there's a clue tipping you off to the identity of Agent Polk. Each chapter of the story is preceded by a card naming it, and the card for the chapter where Hooker gets taken to Polk, titled "The Tale", is _not_ a picture of Hooker being interrogated but rather a picture of _Snyder being approached by an "FBI agent"._ Thus the movie is trying to tell you that the bullcrap story is, in fact, what _Snyder_ is being told.
I wish you could hear the reaction of the original theater audiences to Hooker opening his eyes after being "shot". The scream followed by uproarious laughter is something I'll always remember.
The last line was presaged by Hooker's answer to Gondorff's earlier question about why he wanted to do this. "Because I don't know enough about killing to kill him." It was clear from that moment what he wanted was not riches, but revenge. By the end of the film, the sweetness of the revenge mellows him out to the point of admitting not only his goal, but his own inability to handle the money he is constantly grifting off people. And he does it with a smile.
The entire movie is, in fact, a grift on the audience. Con men are called that because they use the confidence of the mark against them, as the movie does to us, the audience. We keep thinking we're smart, that we see what's happening, but at no point do we ever realize what really _is_ happening. That's exactly what good grifters see and use. (By the way, all the pseudonyms used by the grifters, such Limehouse Chappy, Kid Twist, and The Big Alabama, were real names used by real grifters in the 30's. There was an entire subculture of these guys, plying their trade at a specific time in American history when it was possible to pull this kind of thing off, a time when there was no instant communcation, no picture ID's, nothing at all to identify someone or track these guys. A bygone time.)
Also great music...
A sparkly & fun invitation to reconnect with an old favorite. Thanks Amy!
I remember seeing two movies that year (I was 13) that had a similar theme - The other was 'Paper Moon' starring Ryan and Tatum O'Neil.
My parents went to the drive-in to see it. I was 3 or 4 yo in 1973/74. I slept in the back seat, but remembered the distinctive piano tune. I finally watched the full movie myself on VHS sometime in the 80s. Great movie!
I have to suggest it, sorry... but do consider doing a review of The Lord of the Rings trilogy; the music!!, the writing, the costumes, the scenery, etc, etc. It is a beautiful triad of cinema! Also, Walk the Line (a dramatization about the life of Jonny Cash).
Favorite line: Glad to meet you, kid. You're a real horse's ass.
Hey, Amy and Vlad!
SO glad you're doing this channel, as I love movies, as well.
I used to love watching The Sting when I was a kid back in the 70's.
I loved Newman and Redford together.
You need to cover their other film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, too!
Cheers!
OMG - 51 years! I remember walking out of the theatre humming the theme song on a high from a great film - and having gone through the shock plot twist at the end.
Please, PLEASE, the ORIGINAL ( italian ) Scent of a woman !! ( and i'm no Italian ; )
That Ragtime theme is so iconic, I knew exactly what movie it was by the second note of the hint.
Without a doubt you're the best harp playing movie reviewer on UA-cam!
I just want to wish you good luck. We're all counting on you. (here before your subscriber count hits 6 figures, secure in the knowledge it will having seen how good you are with music).
Surely, you must be joking.
IMHO if "The Sting" was released today it would do as well for sure. It's a timeless filmic masterpiece.
PS - I loved your "you follow?" remark at the end of your vid! Nice touch!!!
“What’s Up Doc” .Hilarious.
Yes! A wonderful Bogdanovich film! Maybe even topped by his "Paper Moon" one of my all time favorite films.
@@musicalBurr Tatum O'Neal got her Oscar for best supporting actress in Papar Moon the year as The Sting won best picture. What a year for movies.
Absolutely, a MUST see. they stole a few things from the 1930's screwball comedies like Bringing Up Baby though.
@@thomastimlin1724 Haha. That was the point of the movie. An homage to the 30s screwball comedy.
Love this movie. LOVE the soundtrack. But the soundtrack isn't even close to being period correct.
YOU PICKED AN AMAZING ONE TO START WITH. When I decided to go through a list of the best films of the seventies, most of them I'd already seen or knew I wouldn't like but this one came up and I couldn't believe just how good it was.
Would The Red Violin be something that would interest you?
Thanks Amy. I’d forgotten how good that movie is. My favorite of all time is Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t seen it yet, it would be a good watch. Here’s a few vintage others I recommend as well: Rocky; Star Wars (Episode 4 - A New Hope); The Good, The Bad & The Ugly; Philadelphia; The Matrix; Ghost; Die Hard; National Lampoon’s Vacation; The Shining.
A great movie to start with. I really enjoyed your format, both in presentation and content. I can remember watching all three of the movies mentioned when they came out (1972 thru 74). Pretty sure my sister took me to see the Godfather, since I don't think my mom would have approved of me seeing it at 12 years old. I did see the Sting with my mom. It came out later in the same year my dad died (earlier in 73). I really liked the movie, even as a kid, and I loved the theme music. All my family on my mom's side of the family comes from Illinois, with some having lived in Joliet. I haven't watched this for several decades, but all your comments and clips brought it back. Good job on your first review.
What I like about The Sting is that most movies concerned with some type of crime usually are about some kind of violent killing. Sometimes from different perspectives (investigator, victim, lawyer, perpetrator), but the most intelligent stories around the topic are about how the perpetrator manages to confuse the police and (nearly) escapes prosecution. People die in The Sting as part of the storyline, but it all revolves around a team of intelligent and shrewd and well... cool people taking justice in their hands without resorting to violence by setting up an intricate web of distraction and obfuscation.
Killing a another human being is easy once you manage to overcome your inhibitions and humanity. Then it's just a question of acquiring sufficiently violent means of killing to overcome whatever protection the target has set up. It lacks finesse. It's repetetive and in the long run it's boring no matter how many twists you try to write into the script.
The Sting's elaborate setup it just so much more fun as the characters display their various skills including psychology, acting, card tricks, organisation, teamplay, improvisation. Just thinking of the face of the Western Union guy when he returns to his office finding a half finished paint job and the painters gone 😄
And in the end, when all the puzzle pieces fall into place and you get so see the whole picture... well, you knew all the time the good guys were going to win, but still you get to admire how it finally fits together. A victory of intelligence over violence. Rare enough in the cinema.
I have no doubt you will get to it, I am looking forward to your thoughts on Amadeus. The director's cut has become the preferred version, but I still enjoy the theatrical version a bit better. One of my favorite movies.
Right behind my love of music is my love of movies, I'm a total cinephile
I love the concept of this channel, and I'm very much looking forward to how it progresses. Good luck!
Maybe you can add a category of "best sound" or "best score" or "best song" depending on the film. Lots of fun songs in the soundtrack to this one, anyway.
Great choice for a first movie. One of my favorites I’ve seen dozens of times.
Hi, I'm here to watch, learn and enjoy.🙂
You should watch the Blues Brothers move and meet Joliet Jake!
Also, let's not diminish Robert Shaw's performance. The man was a master.
Master indeed!
"You follow?" I see what you did there!
Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I knew that anything retro genre of the “Roaring Twenties” was very popular in the West. I think this was started by the film Bonnie and Clyde starring Warren Beattie and Faye Dunaway. Of the latter actress, one of the best films of that decade was “Network”. I was a little surprised you didn’t mention Scott Joplin’s music.
Congratulations on your new channel. As an actor myself, I shall watch it with interest.
Geoff, from Fremantle Western Australia🇦🇺🦘
Great review, it makes me want to watch that movie again
Saya menyukai film-film yang bertema fiksi-ilmiah, misalnya Star Wars, Star Trek & Contact yang dibintangi oleh Jodie Foster. Terima kasih.
Preferensi Anda telah dicatat dengan baik dan pasti akan dipertimbangkan di masa mendatang.
Best line, IMO: "Ever take a s**t so good it felt like you slept for 8 hours?"
When did anyone say THAT?
@@Serai3 It's in one of the earlier scenes. Unless I'm confused and it's from another movie. It's been a minute.
Al Pacino said words to that effect in Glengarry Glen Ross
Early subscriber! Yay!!
Go Amy! ❤
I wish you'd given your take on ragtime music
I mentioned that too in my comment.
Well, you're likely going to get a bunch of music related movies recommended, so I'll get a few out of the way. Amadeus (1984) which swept the Academy Awards. The Blues Brothers (1980) (incidentally related, one of the brothers is known as 'Joliet' Jake), which I don't think won one damn thing, but has a number of big name cameos and performances. Little Shop of Horrors (1986), a great musical adapted from off-Broadway. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), everyone remembers all the songs from this, except that one, which I can't remember. Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (though, that really doesn't seem like your speed). The Producers (1967) (though I actually prefer the 2005 remake).
How about Young Frankenstein? Not a musical, but it showcases one of the most surprising and funny song-and-dance numbers ever committed to film!
You forgot American Graffiti.
Your Play the Harp ❤ Why nothing About Loreena Mckennitt? sorry for a bit spaming 😂
While I'd rather see you react to movies in real time, I understand that it would be exhausting to fight copyright issues on two fronts. Good luck with the new channel.
I think I'd be possible but that would also mean a lot of work when cutting down the whole movie reaction into a shorter youtube video.
@@uroboric Oh it would be possible alright. I follow some UA-cam reaction channels who only do movie reactions. They run into the same copyright problems that Amy is battling with her music channel. They'll edit their reaction then test it, cut it some more then test it again, and so on.
While your chosen style to present a "review" is of course your choice, you should know you can show clips of the movie with sound and not get copyright hits. As long as they do not include music, and as long as only a portion of the film is displayed in your "reaction" or "review". I present an example of a very successful movie reaction channel and her reaction to The Sting:
ua-cam.com/video/essgmWHaeSI/v-deo.html ( THE STING (1973) | FIRST TIME WATCHING | MOVIE REACTION ) I suggest this is exemplary in showing how to edit important movie scenes to include in a review or reaction, without getting copyright hits on YT.
I like your format, but it would be more appealing if you include soundtrack for the short clips you reference, instead of merely repeating the lines. So you can include soundtrack for a short succinct review as you presented. I mean even Siskel and Ebert used actual clips with sound in their for profit reviews....
ua-cam.com/video/J2DAK1V7UyI/v-deo.html ( Siskel & Ebert review Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 )
What blows my mind is that this movie is set about 40 years before it was made, so like a film now being set in the mid eighties. I feel the world changed so much more between the 30s and 70s.
Schindlers List has a very moving soundtrack...
Hmm... Didn't need to include the extreme close-up of the woman being shot in the head. 😞
I did because, since it's such an old movie using old techniques, you can actually see the paint drop on her forehead :)
@@AmysCut Hmm... For me, it's so fast that I didn't discern that detail, but the fact that the makeup is real makes it *more* realistic looking than many of today's digital effects, in which blood is added by computer graphics afterward. 🤔 Interesting how the different effects styles could impress different people (or generations) differently. 🤔
Yeah the color doesn’t look like blood at all
@@drivers99 The color is fine. 6:23. It's merely the fact that there's no visible hole that would be a problem. Not something I consciously noticed during the shock of the moment.