The Sting: Universal Legacy Collection
Studio: Universal Studios Home Video
Year: 1973 (2005 Release)
Rated: PG
Aspect Ratio: 1.85x1, enhanced for 16x9 displays
Audio: English DD 5.1, 2.0 (mono), DTS 5.1; Spanish DD 5.1; French DD 2.0
Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; French and Spanish Subtitles
Time: 130 minutes
Disc Format: Disc 1: SS/DL; Disc 2: SS:SL
Layer Switch on Disc 1: 1:06:13
Case Style: Sturdy, Book-Style, Snap-Together Digipak
The Feature:
Robert Redford is Johnny Hooker, a Depression-era small-time grifter from Joliet, Illinois. Hooker and his two associates, including friend and mentor Luther, unintentionally con a numbers runner out of $11,000. As fate would have it, the money was intended for big-time New York Crime Boss Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). The Boss does not want to appear soft on those who steal from him, so he marks the grifters for death. The mentor is murdered, and Hooker runs for cover to Chicago.
To avenge Luther's death, Hooker enlists the assistance of the legendary Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), a down (but not out) expert at the type of "Big Con" that is needed to take Lonnegan down without him even knowing it. To complicate matters, Hooker is being followed by Joliet detective Lieutenant Snyder (Charles Durning) on a counterfeiting rap. Gondorff is being tailed by the feds, who enlist the help of Snyder to ensnare Hooker. Hooker is coerced to turn on Gondorff. And there is still someone who wants Hooker's head on a plate. Ya follow?
While all this is going on, a team of the best confidence men and women in town all line up for their chance at avenging the death of one of their own. The "big con" this time is a Western Union wire tied to a fake bookie joint with the goal to sucker Lonnegan into placing a huge bet. What gets tricky is being able to keep the money without Lonnegan getting wise to the con.
Set during the Depression, The Sting features a wonderful ensemble cast; Redford and Newman have the same chemistry that made
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid a hit; Robert Shaw is so menacing, it's funny. The movie includes great sets, locations, and costumes indicative of that era, and the wonderful ragtime music of Scott Joplin, which was arranged (and essentially rediscovered) by Marvin Hamlish (note: for the purist who recognizes that ragtime music originates from the turn-of-the-century instead of the Great Depression, tune into the making-of documentary on disc 2).
In the end, the movie won seven well-deserved Academy Awards, including those for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Editing, and Score.
The Sting is one of the few movies that was so good that my family went out to see it twice when it was in theaters over 30 years ago. The second viewing was warranted, not only because of the plot complexities, but also because the movie was just plain fun. To this day, I love this movie.
The Feature: 5 / 5
Video:
The Sting is, finally, 1.85x1 and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The anamorphic enhancement alone lends itself to a
vast improvement over the dreary full-frame DVD released in the 1990's. There is only a touch of grain and the occasional fleck of dirt to remind us that this was not originally shot on a digital medium. There were a only a couple of minor video nasties, (like that jarring bit of aliasing when the lined board is carried across a horizontal pole). The video is not perfect. It is very good, however, and the best we'll ever see on standard definition DVD.
The color palate tends to the browns and maroons; according to the DVD's production notes this was the intent of director George Roy Hill and cinematographer Robert Surtees after they viewed dozens of features made in that era. Thus, the 1930's Universal logo is a sepia tone; the streets of Joliet tend to be brown; the colors spike when we visit the gambling parlor in New York; Chicago has better color even still, at least as far as carousels, cars, and fake betting parlors are concerned. Add to that the suits of brown, tweed, black, blacker-than-black (i.e., tuxedos), even charcoal represented faithfully on the screen, and I'm happy.
Video: 4.5 / 5
Sound:
There are enough sound choices to appease almost every dialect in region 1, without compromising the video quality. Apart from the DD 2.0 (original) mono mixes in both English and French, there is a new 5.1 mix in English and Spanish. The English 5.1 mix is available in Dolby Digital and DTS. It was very difficult to do an on-the-fly comparison of DD to DTS because anytime the DTS track was engaged, the player was forced into the DTS piano chord intro, and the movie started over.
I did notice that the 5.1 mix included some new sound effects--a train pan across the front and some gunshots--but this was secondary to the clear and focused dialogue on the center channel, and Marvin Hamlish's lovely Oscar-winning score of Scott Joplin ragtime music--now in stereo. If you are a purist like I am, you will probably play that monophonic track occasionally. But there is nothing so jarring in the 5.1 mix to make it undesirable.
Sound: 4 / 5
Extras:
Disc 1 is sans extras, most likely to permit all those audio tracks.
Disc 2 includes a current documentary "The Art of
The Sting" in three parts that total 0:56:17. There are movie clips galore--spoilers included--and talking-heads interviews with Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Charles Durning, Marvin Hamlish, Eileen Brennan, Ray Walston, and David Ward. It did not do much for me, but that's probably due to the hour of this writing. I'll put this on in the background one afternoon and it will be great.
Disc 2 also includes a vintage, post-Oscars trailer, and a few pages of production notes.
Considering the stature of this film, I find the extras to be a little too thin.
Extras: 3 / 5
In Conclusion:
The Sting is a favorite film, and a fine choice for inclusion in the first wave of the Universal Legacy Series. While I would have liked more extras (maybe a commentary track) the fact that the movie got a long-overdue makeover is a cause to celebrate.
Overall Rating: 4.5 / 5
Recommended
Release Date: September 6, 2005
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