The Sting (1973)

The Sting is set in 1936 and scored with ragtime piano that already sounded old-fashioned back then, and that’s the least of its tricks. The real complaint is the middle. A side plot about a hired gun tailing Johnny Hooker wanders, and a diner romance feels like it walked in from another film. Everything else is a con built like a Swiss watch. Paul Newman and Robert Redford, back together after Butch Cassidy, are so relaxed you’d swear they’re improvising, and Newman playing a sloppy drunk at a poker table on a train is one of the best scenes of the decade. Robert Shaw’s Doyle Lonnegan never smiles, and you can feel how dangerous it is to cheat him. George Roy Hill breaks the story into chapters with old-timey title cards, and watching the crew build a fake betting parlor is pure joy. A 9.0 because it’s a con you can watch again knowing every move and still get taken. $497.04 says you tap the side of your nose at a friend this week like you’re in on something.

What works: Newman and Redford are effortlessly charming together, and the con is plotted so tightly that every small scene pays off later.

What doesn’t: The second act sags under a hit man side plot and a diner romance that never feel as sharp as the main con.

Who it’s for: Anyone who loves heist and con movies and wants to see where so many of them learned their moves.