The Sting
(1973/HD-DVD)
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: B
Why is
George Roy Hill’s The Sting (1973)
so celebrated, yet does not have a big following today? It has the same leads as Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, Paul Newman and Robert
Redford, yet you never hear about it as much.
Sure, it has always been in print in just about every video format
imaginable, while con artistry, card playing and gangsters on the take are as
popular as ever. So why no respect,
celebration or revival?
Is it
racial? No, because The Godfather and Scorsese’s films are popular, even with the Hip
Hop crowd and it cannot be age because many of the stories celebrated are of
gangsters and gamblers of the past to begin with. Is it the studio? No, because Universal has both this and Scarface, so it must be something
else. The number one reason is that the
pace of the film is too slow and involving for younger audiences, who would
probably love this as much as any of the films if they knew it existed.
There is
also this knowing connection between the leads of the fix being in continued
from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance
Kid that set this film up nicely.
However, there is one other thing going on here than no other Hollywood
film achieved in its time besides the fact that the sets and costumes remain
some of the most impressive period work in any film portraying 1930s
Chicago. It is the synthesis of an
intelligent and witty class and style merging from two directions. One is the British sensibility Hill is able
to exercise more explicitly than he could on Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and the other is a quiet
victory of Americana the film boldly celebrated at the height of Vietnam and
Watergate.
Also,
everyone gives performances that mesh exceptionally well together and with the
production itself in a very rare synergy that no one seems to be able to pull
off anymore. Robert Shaw gives one of
his best performances as a mob boss, but performances by Ray Walston, Charles
During, Eileen Brennan, Harold Gould, Dana Elcar, Sally Kirkland, James Earl
Jones, Arch Johnson, Leonard Barr, Larry D. Mann and Pauline Myers do not get
enough credit.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image is not bad, but has some limits and
issues with detail that demonstrates maybe the film needs some more work. The reissue DVD (reviewed by another critic
on this site) was not great, reminding us that the 1.66 (or 1.33, whichever the
original aspect ratio might have been) had a good narrow-vision look to it the
widescreen cannot offer like Kubrick’s The
Shining. With that said, this is the
best this has ever looked on video and considering how often it has been
reissued, that is a good thing.
However,
the sound is more of an issue, since the film was always monophonic and the
Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix boosting the standard version Dolby upgrade shows
the limits of the old recording. Marvin
Hamlisch’s score with the classic piano music of Scott Joplin benefits the most,
including The Entertainer, so good that it was a #1 hit single. Extras include the same four making
of/reflective featurettes and original theatrical trailer that the Legacy
upgrade offered, so this is your best bet if you want to own the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
