Topic: The Sting

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Just listening now. Sad to say I saw this for the first time a year ago & it did nothing for me. I just found it incredibly straightforward/predictable. I even gave the DVD away to a charity shop... sad

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4 (edited by Abbie 2013-07-02 10:37:46)

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5 (edited by Zarban 2013-07-02 16:26:42)

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Haven't listened to the commentary yet, but what a great movie. I hadn't watch it in years and just marveled at it all the way thru. One thing I noticed is that if you made it today, it would be full of slinky dames. The two here are not exactly top shelf.

EDIT: Finished the commentary. Fantastic work.

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Yeah. Everyone would think it was all films about the US Civil War.

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This one I certainly falla...

There is only one point of this film I dislike, and it's the opening con...and I really only dislike it because it happened to me before (I know, I know...experience is often the best teacher, and boy did I gain some XP that day)...

Other than that, short of doing my damnedest to imagine Robert Redford as Naive, great movie...

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I prefer Leverage to Hustle, it has fighting and a Parker.

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I get that.
And I really enjoyed Leverage while it was running. However it really pushed the bounds of a traditional grifting/heist crew story and evolved into more extravagent type of capers. And while I love the Eliot stuff, I have to say, the ability to run a con with out the actual need for violence seemed much more ... in the vein of the Sting.

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I can agree with that, sure smile

I recorded a commentary for the pilot of Leverage with John Pavlich for his Sofa Dogs podcast. Shameless plug there big_smile

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I've been waiting for an excuse to sit down with this. The lighting is brutal, Redford is probably too old and in my opinion there's one too many "Ya falla"s, but the movie is damn good.

It's ironically refreshing that Lonnegan never catches on to them for a reversal. And it works. The tension of the entire movie hinges on Shaw's incredible performance, even if it never happenes, you believe he at anytime could figure it out and then proceed to do unspeakable things to them. Instead we see a man blinded and eventually consumed by his own greed. The pokergame is one of the most tense and enjoyable scenes I've seen in a long time. Awesome.

I would definetly watch a word for word, scene by scene remake of this if they did it properly. I'm not a big fan of the movie's throwback aesthetics as is, the lighting, the sets, the music and the sometimes overstated acting. With more sensual photography and production in general this could be one of my favourites.

The Low Frequenter

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Fun episode about a completely great movie.  Just wanted to mention a brief thing about the music.  This movie was indeed so much the driving force behind a rediscovery of ragtime that people forget that the music is not at all contemporaneous with the period of the film.  As mentioned, Scott Joplin died in 1917, and his first big ragtime hits were around the turn of the century.  In other words, that music is actually 20-30 years out of date. 

So, to refine the analogy that Mike made at the beginning of the episode, it's as if somebody now, today, made a film about the early 1970's  - say a bunch of ex-hippies dealing with "the dream is over", the failure of the summer of love, etc.  - and the music was entirely doo-wop, and that was the catalyst for a big top-40 doo-wop revival.  I think my head would explode if that happened.

For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

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For the next hour, everything in this post is strictly based on the available facts.

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Why didn't anyone tell me how great this movie was?

Oh...y-you did a whole commentary last year? And I ignored it until now? Even though I owned the Blu-Ray all this time? Well, this one's on me.

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Disclaimer: if you dislike the tone of a post I make, re-read it in a North/East London accent until it sounds sufficiently playful smile

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So I finally got round to watching this and bloody hell, this was a brilliant movie. It seems that every time I watch a classic from the 70's, I just think 'Damn, I really love 70's movies'.

One thing that stood out for me listening to the commentary is how you guys didn't buy Robert Redford as Hooker 100%. Maybe it's because I have yet to see Butch Cassidy, but I was completely sold on him and thought he totally worked as the naive little hotshot.

Also, I had the same reaction as Teague at the beginning.
Is that James Earl Jones?
No, it can't be.
Fuck, am I being racist?
*checks IMDb*
Phew...

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