Dave Hahn
Premium
December 25, 2003 will mark the 30th Anniversary of the Los Angeles premier of The Sting. Are we going to get a 30th Anniversary DVD? Please, please please.
The Good:
The Sting is one of the most succesful films in Universal history, earning 160,000,000 1973 dollars! It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won 7, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film won Best Picture in the same year that featured American Graffiti, The Exorcist, Last Tango in Paris, and Serpico. It won for good reason.
It was directed by George Roy Hill, of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fame, and speaking of Butch and Sundance, The Sting starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Redford earned his only Academy Award Nomination for acting for this film. The supporting cast was incredible with names like Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, and Charles Dierkop.
Robert Surtees was nominated for his cinematography (and should have won), Henry Bumpstead won the Oscar for his Art Direction, and Edith Head won for Best Costume Design.
Then there's the score. Marvin Hamlisch won Best Music for his adaption of Scott Joplin's ragtime.
Great acting, directing, cinematography, art direction, costume design, and score. Taken all together, The Sting is a perfect film.
The Bad:
The Sting is considered a Hollywood Classic, yet while the UK and Germany enjoy an anamorphic 1.85:1 Wide Screen DVD, loyal fans in America have to watch an old and faded pan & scanned print. The Sting is screaming for a Special Edition.
The master of it's own genre. It's ranked #61 at IMDB.com. It won Best Picture not only at the Oscars, but at the Golden Globes, the Edgars, the Golden Screen, the National Board of Review, and the People's Choice Awards. It has influenced countless other movies, writers, and directors and yet it is now almost forgotten. A whole generation of film buffs knows not this masterpiece of storytelling. Why? They don't buy DVD's that are pan & scan. While they may see the DVD of The Sting in a store, and they may have heard that it is a great film, they don't buy it, it stays on the shelf, it's pan & scan.
The Sad:
Director George Roy Hill has passed away. We can only hope that someone at Universal had the insight to record a commentary track from this Hollywood legend before he died.
In closing, The Sting is not an important film, both The Exorcist and American Graffiti are said to have more "artistic value" and deemed "important to film history." Yet the very best directors, in both written and filmed interviews, have repeatedly pointed out that making movies is about telling a story and entertaining the audience. Few films can match The Sting's story line, and no film can claim to be more entertaining.
Please Universal, give us a Special Edition of The Sting. Give us a new crisp transfer in anamorphic 1.85:1 wide screen. Throw in some goodies that'll give us some insight into why we love this film and give it to us for Christmas, The Sting's 30 birthday!
Thank you.
The Good:
The Sting is one of the most succesful films in Universal history, earning 160,000,000 1973 dollars! It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, and won 7, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film won Best Picture in the same year that featured American Graffiti, The Exorcist, Last Tango in Paris, and Serpico. It won for good reason.
It was directed by George Roy Hill, of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fame, and speaking of Butch and Sundance, The Sting starred Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Redford earned his only Academy Award Nomination for acting for this film. The supporting cast was incredible with names like Robert Shaw, Charles Durning, Ray Walston, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, and Charles Dierkop.
Robert Surtees was nominated for his cinematography (and should have won), Henry Bumpstead won the Oscar for his Art Direction, and Edith Head won for Best Costume Design.
Then there's the score. Marvin Hamlisch won Best Music for his adaption of Scott Joplin's ragtime.
Great acting, directing, cinematography, art direction, costume design, and score. Taken all together, The Sting is a perfect film.
The Bad:
The Sting is considered a Hollywood Classic, yet while the UK and Germany enjoy an anamorphic 1.85:1 Wide Screen DVD, loyal fans in America have to watch an old and faded pan & scanned print. The Sting is screaming for a Special Edition.
The master of it's own genre. It's ranked #61 at IMDB.com. It won Best Picture not only at the Oscars, but at the Golden Globes, the Edgars, the Golden Screen, the National Board of Review, and the People's Choice Awards. It has influenced countless other movies, writers, and directors and yet it is now almost forgotten. A whole generation of film buffs knows not this masterpiece of storytelling. Why? They don't buy DVD's that are pan & scan. While they may see the DVD of The Sting in a store, and they may have heard that it is a great film, they don't buy it, it stays on the shelf, it's pan & scan.
The Sad:
Director George Roy Hill has passed away. We can only hope that someone at Universal had the insight to record a commentary track from this Hollywood legend before he died.
In closing, The Sting is not an important film, both The Exorcist and American Graffiti are said to have more "artistic value" and deemed "important to film history." Yet the very best directors, in both written and filmed interviews, have repeatedly pointed out that making movies is about telling a story and entertaining the audience. Few films can match The Sting's story line, and no film can claim to be more entertaining.
Please Universal, give us a Special Edition of The Sting. Give us a new crisp transfer in anamorphic 1.85:1 wide screen. Throw in some goodies that'll give us some insight into why we love this film and give it to us for Christmas, The Sting's 30 birthday!
Thank you.
