The screen was jammed with great things to watch, and my remote-control thumb took a severe cramp. The BCS Championship was on, of course, but so was an Avalanche/Red Wings hockey game, where the hometown heroes were actually ahead late in the tilt.
And then a quick review of the movie channels, a late- night habit for me, revealed a prime-time showing of “The Sting,” one of the all-time great heist movies and a gem from the 1970s filmmaking era littered liberally with diamonds and emeralds.
What to do? Come on. We all knew the Southeastern Conference was going to win the BCS at all costs, even if it took one of the worst championship referee calls I’ve ever seen. And hockey? Gotta hate the Dead Wings, but it’s a looooong season.
So Paul Newman and Robert Redford won out. I’d highly recommend a full family viewing of “The Sting” with anybody older than 13 or so — it’s from the era when “adult” films were occasionally made without graphic sexuality or horrific violence. There is a scene in a burlesque theater, but the twirling pasties employed by the dancers are larger than many beach bikinis, so I wouldn’t fear for the morals of your teenager. It would be a shame for them to miss the great con game offered up by “The Sting’s” fantastic cast.
Redford is Johnny Hooker, on the run from various scams gone bad and a murderous cop played by Charles Durning. His revenge links him with aging con legend Harry Gondorff, who Newman is hiding out behind the carousel concession in Chicago.
They meet their eventual mark on a train, the terrifyingly taciturn Robert Shaw as Doyle Lonnegan. With the aid of every genial con man west of the Atlantic, Hooker and Gondorff create an elaborate horse-race scheme worthy of the ages.
Rated: Would likely be PG-13 in the modern era but mild overall
Best suited for: Fans of snappy scripts, terrific acting and elaborate con games. Who isn’t?
