The Sting

The Sting
Theatrical release poster (alternate design)
Directed by	George Roy Hill
Written by	David S. Ward
Produced by	Tony Bill Michael Phillips Julia Phillips
Starring	Paul Newman Robert Redford Robert Shaw
Cinematography	Robert Surtees
Edited by	William Reynolds
Music by	Marvin Hamlisch
Production companies	Universal Pictures The Zanuck/Brown Company
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	December 25, 1973 (1973-12-25)
Running time	129 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5.5 million[1]
Box office	$257 million

The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).^[2] The film was directed by George Roy Hill,^[3] who had previously directed Newman and Redford in the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and written by screenwriter David S. Ward, inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

The film plays out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards drawn by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post. It is noted for its use of ragtime, particularly the melody "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, which was adapted (along with other Joplin pieces) for the film by Marvin Hamlisch (and a top-ten chart single for Hamlisch when released as a single from the film's soundtrack). The film's success created a resurgence of interest in Joplin's work.^[4]

Released on Christmas of 1973, The Sting was a massive critical and commercial success and hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards, nominated for ten Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay; Redford was also nominated for Best Actor. The film rekindled Newman's career after a series of big-screen flops. Regarded as having one of the best screenplays ever written, The Sting was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was followed by a sequel, The Sting II, in 1983.