The reaction in the theater when the audience realizes THEY were conned was great. People were clapping, laughing and shouting. Such an incredibly well done movie.

Won 7 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design (the great Edith Head), Best Film Editing and Best Music Adaptation (Marvin Hamlisch, of Scott Joplin compositions). Edith Head is so famous that she was parodied in the animated The Incredibles as Edna Mode, costume designer for the supers, complete with black round glasses and short stature.

You are probably my fav reactor. You don't ramble on or take away from the experience. Chill, authentic and perfect.

Your remarks about Robert Redford foot speed was spot on. He was a first-rate baseball player and considered sticking with it and hoping to make the major leagues. Charles Durning described doing the scene where he pursues Redford on foot, and shooting it again and again because Redford would go all-out and just disappear, he was so fast. Durning would try to catch his breath while they set up to film the scene again, and Redford would be unwinded, waiting for Durning -- who'd barely run.

All the music is ragtime, popular at the turn of the century. The tunes in this movie were written by early 20th century ragtime composer Scott Joplin. The title song is Joplin's "The Entertainer."

Another great Paul Newman movie is "Cool Hand Luke". The line "what we have here, is a failure to communicate" comes from here. And for Robert Redford, "Jeremiah Johnson" is another great classic, shows him becoming a mountain man in America when the fur trade was highly profitable. It's dramatic and gut-wrenching and expansive, at times awe-inspiring. Very good movie.

Great reaction 😊. Luther was played by Robert Earl Jones, James Earl Jones father. He was an actor and professional boxer. Other Robert Redford movies to add to your list are 1975's Three Days of the Condor with Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist) and Faye Dunaway (Network). Also the 1976 film All The Presidents Men with Dustin Hoffman. One of the best political thrillers ever, Presidents Men was nominated for best picture while winning 4 academy awards. Neither film has been reacted to by anyone on KZfaq. I guarantee you will love them both.

"Faro" is one of the oldest gambling games played with cards, supposedly named after the picture of a pharaoh on certain French playing cards. A poker "cooler" is a very strong hand that any player will find very hard to fold, but loses to an even better hand.

I like that analysis: "Three best lead actors" but also the 3 sets of supporting characters: Redford had his little group along with 'Loretta Salino', 'Luther Coleman', Charles Durning's city cop and others; Newman had his entire con-artist brotherhood - Harold Gould, Eileen Brennan, Dana Alcar; and Shaw's gunsels, flat-nosed Charles Dierkop, et al. Rewatching this film highlights those supporting actors, more with each viewing, too. It's a great and almost infinitely rewatchable work.

Paul Newman in "the Hustler" is a great , dark ,character study film from 1960. Newman at the top of his acting game.

The on-screen friendship between Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid turned out to be so awesome, many people at the time (myself included) saw The Sting as a sort of follow-up encore performance. However, the set-up in The Sting seemed to be hinting at the same type of tragic ending as in the Butch Cassidy. So I think the audience twice as STUNNED at the ending here, that the FBI involvement was part of the con, played on the viewers as much as on the villains.

Great review! I commend you for watching the older classic films. Speaking of which, another classic Newman film, that not many people have reacted to on KZfaq, is Cool Hand Luke. It is a must-see and in my top 20 movies list. Cheers!

Funny fun fact when the movie came out about a couple of weeks later everybody that played piano or had a music recital or anything was playing the theme for the sting. And that went on for months. It was a really popular song back in the day. Good little honky-tonk kind of tune.

The theme song is Scott Joplin's The Entertainer, a ragtime tune written in 1902. Ragtime music was long out of fashion by the 1930s when The Sting is set. But it's got that "old time" feel, and that's good enough. The 1981 film Ragtime is, unsurprisingly, about a ragtime piano player in 1910's NYC.

Madison, go back to 27:32...the look on your face is priceless! (Same look we ALL had in the theater in 1973!)

This is my favorite movie of all time. I think it's basically perfect. The writing, dialog, music, acting, clothing, scenery, casting....I wouldn't change a thing. It's so damn smart and sharp. I love your reaction, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it. On a side note Madison, you looked absolutely amazing.

It's impressive how the screenwriters used the same tricks on the audience that the con men used on their marks. For example, the whole Salino plot thread depends on the audience's automatic assumption that Salino is a man. 1) The name ends in an "o", which tends to suggest a male, 2) there are only a couple of lines where Salino is mentioned, and a pronoun is never used, and 3) the mere fact of Salino being an assassin would automatically bring a man to mind, especially back when this film was made. When you really look at the story, it's amazing how many times the film managed to con us, one after another, and yet we kept getting fooled, because _we want to think we know the truth when we see it._ It's a great lesson in how easy it is to be conned. That first con, where they took Motolla's $11K, has the rare distinction of being commented on by the _soundtrack._ Watch it again and you'll hear it - he opens the kerchief, sees the paper, the penny drops... and the music _laughs._ It's a perfect use of Joplin's jaunty ragtime, and it set the tone for the whole film. Oh, and you know the theme music precisely because of this movie. Ragtime had pretty much disappeared by the 70's, so Marvin Hamlisch's choice to use it for this film was both inspired and turned out to be popular. The theme song, "The Entertainer", becamse a MASSIVE hit on radio. (Seriously, you couldn't get away from the damn tune for about a year.) It passed into what would now be called a meme, and yes, you've heard it floating around the ether. And that's because of The Sting. :)

Hooker loses at the roulette wheel because the game is fixed, not because of bad odds (note the croupier pushing a button under the table). Hooker knows his croupier friend had to do it - the big boys upstairs weren't about to lose big.

More Paul Newman: Cool Hand Luke…and the Verdict. More Robert Redford: The Natural …and Brubaker

The song The Entertainer charted very high if not #1 on the pop charts after the movie came out.

"Your odds aren't good when you're playing a game like that." Your odds are even worse when the game is rigged. When Hooker lays the $3k bet, the dealer looks to the pit boss for permission to take the bet. The pit boss gives the dealer a signal, and the dealer hits a concealed button under the table - which is why the camera focuses on his hand. There would be a couple different buttons to rig the game different ways. Hooker bet on red, so the dealer flipped the game so it could only land on black. It's why the dealer looks kind of ashamed after Hooker loses, as well. He knows he cheated Hooker, but when you're running a rigged, illegal casino, that's part of the job.

there is a feelgood movie with Robert Redford in it called 'The Natural' 1984, it doesn't have Paul Newman in it but it absolutely feels like the Sting and Butch and Sundance, if you want a third fix of happiness the first two movies gave you this is definitely the third, also set during the early part of the 20th century during the depression. cool hand luke is the fourth movie with just Paul Newman in it. all four of these films have the same feel to them

George Roy Hill the director was grossly underrated, never received the recognition that he deserved according to Redford!

Great movie. Glad you found it and enjoyed it. And now, given your love of westerns I think you'd also enjoy checking out another Redford flick (one of his most memorable) and one of the most iconic ever made: JEREMIAH JOHNSON. It is one of the first big screen depictions of Native Americans not as stereotypes but as real people and IMHO the hands down best western from the early New Hollywood era.

I always forget about the race announcer reading in the next room; such a great punchline to that scene. Loved this reaction vid with ya :)

And in the audiences, everyone sighed great relief, laughed, applauded - "I got stung, too!"

One of my all-time favorite movies. No need to kill Lonigan, he thinks they are both dead and will never come looking for them. He has to deal with all the money he lost while Hooker and Gandorf can laugh about how they conned him

A wonderful script. Great acting. Marvellous movie.

The race announcer is Ray Walston, the beloved Mr Hand from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Cool to see one of my old fave movies reacted to ... and glad you enjoyed it! The theme-music, "The Entertainer", was made popular by the movie; so much so that I actually heard it played on pop-music radio stations! The fact that *that* style of music (Ragtime) was 40 years old didn't matter. In fact, some other movies in the next couple years inserted Ragtime-style material, hoping to capitalize on "The Entertainer". Fine by me, I enjoy a lot of the old-style music!

Yea, the misdirection of this film is so well executed. As you pointed out at 24:37 and at 24:45, the characters appear to be conflicted (Hooker appears to feel guilty to us about betraying Gondorff). But no, within the context of the story, their conflicted looks is just them being nervous about whether the big con will work out or not. And also, the misdirection with the Solino character. It's so superbly directed by George Roy Hill, who yes, also directed "Butch Cassidy".

I love it 🤩. At the end of the movie we realize that the audience that was being conned for the last hour and a half. Bravo 👌!

The music was adapted from the works of Scott Joplin by Marvin Hamlisch with the exception of I think 2 scenes, carousel music and one that Hamlisch composed using the same orchestration and ragtime nuance.

Great reaction, thank you. I love The Sting and have rewatched it more times than I can remember. However, the ending does push the suspension of disbelief a bit. They were giving him only to win bets and then decide to go with a second place ("Place") bet at only 4 to 1? And then Kid Twist shows up to deliver that information even though there are only supposed to be a few minutes between him giving the information and the race running. Did he fly there? Lonnegan would have been a fool not to investigate the whole thing afterwards. FYI: the actor who played Luther was the father of James Earl Jones.

This poker game sequence is a thing of beauty!!!! 👏👏👏

I first caught this film when I was about 11. Took me awhile to catch on but I loved it. Completely blew my mind when I learned Luther was James Earl Jones's dad.

YES! This is a great one to watch after Butch and Sundance! :-) I love this movie too!

One of my favorite movies of all time

Absolutely fantastic (and satisfying) reaction to this beloved classic. This movie is as tight as a drum. Writing, direction, cinematography, production design, costumes and acting all handled masterfully. And btw, your editing of the film clips was really nicely done. Your restraint made it enjoyable to revisit the movie without a bunch of irritating jump cuts that so many reactors resort to. So, thank you for that and cheers from Northern California.

This film is such an underappreciated and under reacted to masterpiece. To me Shaw steals the film. That poker game on the train is flawless. Check him out in another masterful performance. That came out around the same time as this. Staring alongside Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller. In the original Taking of the Pelham 1-2-3. Take care stay safe and be well always !

I was looking forward to Madison Thames commenting on the old time illustrations chaptering the movie, as it's nice to hear an artist respond to art. So glad she watched this film with its wonderful pacing and water-tight script.

one of me and my dads favorites, music nice

👉 _Sneakers_ (1992) - if you liked _The Sting,_ you'll love this classic Robert Redford heist comedy thriller. 👉 _Slap Shot_ (1977) - the third team-up of Paul Newman & _Butch Cassidy_ / _Sting_ director George Roy Hill. One of the best sports comedies ever made. Recommended.

Scott Joplin 1868-1917 Swipesy Cake Walk Rag The Ragtime Dance Magnetic Rag Pineapple Rag Bethena (A Concert Waltz) Solace (A Mexican Serenade) The Entertainer (movie theme) Treemonisha (opera) Heliotrope Bouquet (w/Louis Chauvin) and Maple Leaf Rag

Robert Shaw in From Russia with Love is incredible. One of the all time great Bond villains. That guy had some range.

I wouldn't recommend this to just any girl. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot 1974. Jeff Bridges, and Clint Eastwood. I'm a old former Marine, and I cry at the end.

The Sting is one of the best movies ever made.

I had a cousin who was a baseball star (Harry "The Horse" Danning) before WW II. I talked with him on the phone once. He also used the term "You follow" though his version was "Ya Follow me?" I guess it was a thing at the time.

The music was all Scott Joplin rags, the main one being The Entertainer. It was anachronistic, because ragtime was all but dead in the 1930s when this story was set. Swing music was popular at the time. It doesn't matter, though, because the Joplin rags set the tone perfectly.

Great reaction to this film classic and its twists and turns and how we root for the underclass Chicago crooks. Being from Chiago, I loved the sets and cityscapes.

I'm old and saw this in the theater when I was a kid. It was SO much fun watching your face as you tried to guess. So fun to see your reaction (Since I knew the whole time) as it came to a conclusion. Great reaction!!!

R.I.P To A Great Actor Paul Newman, Still Miss You Always

It's hard to believe that it has been 49 years since I first saw this in 73 👍🙂

Winner of 7 Oscars including Best Picture.

Without doubt, my favorite movie of all time! Thanks for leaving my favorite line in your edit. "Sit down and shut up. Will ya? Try not to live up to all my expectations." 😆

You've almost cerrtainly heard the music because it became INCREDIBLY famous as a result of being used here. It's "The Entertainer" by Scott Jopin, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch for this film. You had to have heard it as a direct result of this film, because it was almost forgotten before THE STING came out.

Other Redford films you should check out: 1) The Natural , 2) All is Lost , 3) Spy Game , 4) The Horse Whisperer , 5) The Last Castle

Great reaction to a great film. Seeing this movie for the first time is a great joy for a film buff. You are correct that this and Butch Cassidy were done by the same director, George Roy Hill. Newman once said Hill was his favorite director to work with. He worked with Hill a third time on the movie Slap Shot, a comedy/sports movie about a fictional hockey team.

I'm really enjoying your reactions. I love your enthusiasm for these movies.

Wow, I love your channel and reactions. I was a 17 year old high school student when this movie was released in 1974.

I saw The Sting back when I was a kid with my older brothers and my Father

Rip to a great Actor Paul Newman, we still miss you

I remember watching this when I was in college. The film was new in those days.

24:50 "he's feeling guilty because he doesn't want to kill him" (fishhook in your mouth and reeling you in! 😁)

The guy that played Luther Coleman, the black gentleman who helped pull the con job at the beginning of the film, was an interesting guy. Born in 1910 in Mississippi, he became a successful boxer -- his sparring partner was Joe Louis. He moved north during the Great Migration, and got into acting. He became one of the first prominent black stars of the silver screen. His name was Robert Earl Jones. Also, he had two sons: one named Matthew Earl Jones, and one named James Earl Jones.

Very catchy tune the Entertainer. I had it as my ringtone on my cell phone onetime. I was queuing up in crowd to get out of a rail station when I received a call. I could not get to my phone and everyone in the crowd began to whistle along to the tune, I took it off my phone the next day.

Other Newman films you should check out: 1) Cool Hand Luke , 2) The Hustler , 3) Verdict , 4) The Color of Money (reprises role of Eddie Felson - years later - who teaches a cocky young hustler the ropes.

When I think of The Sting.. and Lonigan, I think JAWS..because Robert played Lonigan and the captain in Jaws as well as a James Bond villain..

That's one of my favourite movies of all-time. Everything is so good with this movie 🎥🍿.

Scott Joplin was the composer of all the beautiful ragtime piano music. For this movie, Marvin Hamlisch took Joplin's music and wrote arrangements for ragtime band - which is great! But I'm grateful so much of the piano music was presented as just that: piano music. Joplin and ragtime were almost entirely forgotten by the time this movie came out, but the movie's popularity restored public interest in this style. Many who saw the movie were hearing ragtime for the first time in their lives. In fact, many people think the song from the opening credits is called "The Sting." (The true title is "The Entertainer.") When I started to learn how to play the piano, I had many people request that I play "The Sting." Great name for a movie, but just so everyone knows, Joplin never wrote a piece called "The Sting."

Oh the look on your face when they were both shot is a classic. I was 12 when this came out and I had to watch it several times before I understood it. So clever. It remains the best film I ever saw just because it scrambled my brain, and of course Redford and Newman together were superb. Having just discovered your channel I'll now go and watch some of your other reactions as I enjoy the way you go about it. Calm, thoughtful, not asking loads of silly questions like some do. Thanks.

Great movie from the '70s. 'Chinatown' starring Jack Nicholson. Crime Noir set in the 40s. It was nominated for and it should've won best picture. It's my all time favorite movie.

This is one of my all time fave movies. Keep up the great job.

It’s commonly said that Chinatown is a perfect script, and it is, but the Sting is a very close second for me, the plot is like an F1 engine.

13:13 This actor was in one of the "Big Con," episodes of the Rockford Files.

A few other iteresting con movies, Paper Moon, The Grifters. Some films worth reacting to - Meet the Feebles, (early Peter Jackson - LotR director), The Elephant man.

Lots of great lines . I like the first line to Snyder when he went to that FBI set up “ Sit down and shut up and try not to live up to my expectations “ Great reaction young lady ! Can you imagine what it was like seeing The Sting for the first time in 73 when you were still a high school teenager ?

Two iconic serious actors in a comedy? I Love it. I think Paul is more comedic in his roles " The secret war of Harry Frigg" and Robert is a better romcom guy "Legal Eagles". But mostly they both did the drama thing. Good job Madison.

Madison, in first, Michael and Kay were going to be away from family...then they tried to kill his Dad, who he was so close to. Then again in hospital, seeing the bad cop was one wanting his Dad dead...these things change life. This one, he was like his Dad, with his sister, the Senator, and that morning Kay was happy, kids playing, then his dunk to save him and her, and the shooters already killed...had to go away and stop having that again, not reason Sister was away from hers. SONNY was himself, didn't have to change, but wasn't right to be in charge, when Mike changed, all saw He was like Dad. But those two tried kills are reason him alone. Love Ya💖

I loved the scene with Robert shaw and Newman playing poker together. Robert Shaw as Lonagon became so angry at losing he thought for sure he'd get even and come out on top after cheating. The rage on his face when he lost anyway..lol

The screen cards were telling us what they were doing at each step -- the last one said, "The Sting." I LOVE that they were telling us WE had been set up & were about to get "Stung!" Lol!! ❤❤❤

it is a fun movie and very well made but the reality of it is that with so many people involved they would have never have been able to pull it off. A good realistic example I think is the Lufthansa heist as depicted in GOOD FELLOWS. Besides that, the biggest flaw was finishing the con by killing off the Redford and Newman characters. That condemned them to having to lay low for the rest of their lives if they wanted to stay alive, because as soon as Lonigan got wind of either still being alive (and it is ridiculous to assume that he wouldn't have) the jig would have been up and a contract would have been put out on both of them.

I love watching people react to the last act. They get all dark and worried when the FBI convinces RR to rat on PN. Then the eye-popping shock when they shoot each other - and then the amazement when they realise it's all part of the scam. Then the laughing and relief. I remember the first time I saw it when it came out and it's the same as everyone reacting. Great movie.

Cool hand Luke - Paul Newman's best movie 🎥

After all this time, I just recalled another "heist" film you might enjoy, if you haven't already tracked it down: "Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels." Stars Steve Martin, Glenne Headly, and the wonderful Michael Caine.

Great Reaction from S E London:) I am not a movie buff but this was superb:)

As close to a perfect movie as I've ever seen! Mischevious, heartwarming and with such a strong sense of place.

I first saw this movie on a PanAam flight back in 1974...they showed it on an actual screen and I watched it without the sound because I had no money to buy the headphones...without sound it made zero sense.

I have a wonderful Scott Joplin CD that I listen to all the time it's fantastic music.

You're gonna have Scott Joplin ragtime tunes stuck in your head for a while.

It's more satisfying for the audience to see Lonegan totally conned at the end believing Hooker and Gondorf to be dead than if they had killed him. Of course that leaves the possibility that he might cross paths with one or both of them down the road in that world of gamblers and con men. Such a perfect cross section of big Hollywood production and brilliant, intriguing plot and characters.

"The Rockford Files," with James Garner has 3-4 big con episodes with many of the character actors that appear in this movie. "The Rockford Files," had great writers.

I studied this movie in my High School cinema class. Back in the day my High School offered a cinema class (watch movies) that was an alternative to an English credit. I also took cooking (for science credit) and automotive (for math). The good old days.

Me and dad used to watch it all the time, he used to play this music in the car too

I love the smile in the thumbnail. Great reaction

Im almost 60. Only a few movies have I seen where the audience applauded at the end. One was the original Rocky where the audience was cheering like it was a real fight and not scripted. Another one was this movie.

No one mentions what you have - I too like the sketches by themselves and them turning in to motion.

You should check out, "L.A. Confidential", Great movie!

Great reaction Madison! The scene where Robert Redford runs out of the tavern and on to the train tracks was shot in Chicago! I was a high school freshman and I saw that scene being filmed! It was at 43 and King Drive on Chicago's southside! I saw Robert Redford!

Redford.... Newman...... Shaw.... and Robert Earl Jones (father of James Earl Jones).