Films

Introduction by Ben Mankiewicz, prime-time host of Turner Classic Movies

The New York Times recently hailed the forever-linked duo of Paul Newman and the late Robert Redford as “a screen partnership that defined an era.” All the claim’s supporting evidence lies in this 1973 George Roy Hill film that reunited the screen legends after they took the movie world by storm four years earlier in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Sting went on to win seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay, written by David S. Ward and inspired by real-life con artists Fred and Charley Gondorff. 

Newman and Redford play a pair of cunning con men in 1930s Chicago who go to brain-bending lengths to avenge the mob boss responsible for their friend’s murder. Largely eschewing the genre’s traditional blood and guts in favor of guile, wit, and charm, this is a classic caper film for the ages.