Μύ Way before Guy Ritchie's polished bad boy style and hugely complicated plot twists pulled in the punters, "The Sting" pioneered the genre. This long time stalwart of public holiday broadcasting remains an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours - and unlike "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" it's more about charisma than greed.
Two sweet-talking mavericks whose rugged charms fail to find fortune in straight society are forced to ply their trade as con men. When they accidentally lift the mob's money from an unsuspecting tough, their sharp moves run them into real trouble and they are suddenly face-to-face with the hard reality of criminal life. Pursued by mob henchmen their cunning is tested through bluff and double bluff as they struggle to stay on top of the game.
Having succeeded in the Old West, director George Roy Hill turned his talents to that other rich vein of popular rebel mythology - and good cinema - prohibition-era gangsterville. Hill's film is almost a sequel to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" in that it follows a similar formula and although set in 1936 Chicago, the two heroes retain the same characteristics.
Close attention is paid to building period detail, and one of the films major strengths is its atmospheric recreation of the mean streets of Chicago. The plot gets complex quickly. But don't worry. For those watching this after a large meal, intertitles with different chapter headings break the plot into easily digestible chunks.
"The Sting" is on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1 at 11.40pm, Thursday 1st March 2001.
