The Sting
By: Janna • Research Paper • 606 Words • February 13, 2010 • 827 Views
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The Sting is a classic story of revenge for the death of a good friend.
Instead of the revenge being an eye for an eye, Hill has the leading
characters get their revenge by coning the ,man responsible for the death,
out of his money. Within the first ten minutes you are grabbed into the
film. Hill breaks the conformity of other films by making the leading
characters con-men. This is very different from other films because these
men should not be looked at as the good guys but just the opposite. George
Roy Hill's film The Sting uses many forms of irony in the setting of the
1920's Chicago to show the theme of revenge for a friends death.
Johnny Hooker played by Robert Redford is the main character in the film.
The irony in the film is that he is the 'good guy' and is also a gambling
addict and street con-man. Hill also uses other forms of irony, Henry
Gandorf played buy Paul Newman owns a gamblingwhore house which has a giant
carousal in the middle.
The film starts out quickly and keeps up the pace as it goes on. The
film is set up like a book its opening credits are shown over each page. The
film is also split up into chapters each with its own title. When the title
of the chapter shows up it looks like a piece of paper and is turned going
into the next scene. The movie is very clever, the plan for the sting is
very tricky and surprising to the viewer. Hill shows us most of the plan but
leaves out small parts for an ending surprise. Johnny and Henry are very
witty and smart, they make us like them from the very beginning and they keep
it up until the end. The two con-men meet on behalf of the death of a mutual
friend. Before Johnny's friend died he told him of a great man who could
teach him to work the big con. The great