The Sting
Robert Redford’s Johnny Hooker and Paul Newman’s Henry Gondorrf are career con men teaming up to attempt to get one over on a Chicago mob boss. Working together to plan the biggest, most elaborate con of their careers, the pair put together a team of talented grifters in order to take Doyle Lonnegan for an absolute fortune.
The con in question is, on the surface, a classic big store con. It is, however, incredibly intricate and dastardly clever. They begin reeling in Lonnegan with a high stakes poker game in which the better cheat, Gondorrf, wins. Hooker uses the situation to get close to the mobster with an offer of revenge. A chance to rob Gondorrf of everything he has.
A fake gambling parlour has been set up, and Hooker tells Lonnegan where to get winning tips. Thanks to delayed horse racing commentary, Lonnegan’s first bet wins. His second, huge, bet does not, unfortunately, go according to plan. The real con comes, though, when hustlers Hooker and Gondorrf are apparently shot dead, providing an easy way out of a potentially messy confrontation with both the mob and the law.
