The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen podcast – The Sting (1973)

The Sting

Podcast: Best Movies You’ve Never Seen
Date: 13 November 2026
Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

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[00:01:43] Stephen Fenech: Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. Welcome to the show. This is our movie podcast where my name is Stephen Fenech. I take a movie that I know very well and I show it to my, my co-host Trevor Long to view for the very first time.

[00:02:01] Trevor Long: It’s all about me.

[00:02:03] Stephen Fenech: It’s building up Trevor’s movie education and yours. You might not have seen a lot of the movies that

[00:02:07] Trevor Long: You’re not as old as Stephen, so you haven’t seen them all. It’s that simple.

[00:02:10] Stephen Fenech: That’s perhaps right. And in this case, that would be the case. Here’s a movie that was released before you were born. The Sting.

[00:02:17] Trevor Long: Yes, it was released in 1973, 3 years before my birth.

[00:02:21] Stephen Fenech: So you were born— I was born— I was 5 years old when this came out. I was born in 1968. This is a massive movie starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Robert Shaw. Yeah, that’s pretty solid leading men there, directed by George Roy Hill. Now Paul Newman and Robert Redford were superstars at their time

[00:02:41] Stephen Fenech: They each received for their role half a million dollars, which back then you’re talking coin. In today’s money, you’re talking that’s probably $5 million each. Now the year before, Marlon Brando earned $3 million for The Last Tango in Paris, 1972.

[00:03:01] Trevor Long: Okay .

[00:03:11] Stephen Fenech: But that included profit participation. So he would’ve got a cut as well. But that’s solid money back in the early ’70s. For sure. Here’s what, fun, funny thing, Paul Newman was advised against doing comedy films. This is as much a comedy as it is a caper film, right?

[00:03:18] Trevor Long: Okay.

[00:03:20] Stephen Fenech: Because he didn’t, they, he was criticized for not having the light touch needed to play comedy. So he went, I’ll show you.

[00:03:27] Trevor Long: Yeah. He wanted to take it on just to prove that he could play comedy as well as drama. Didn’t hold back. That’s it. Now this, the famous story about this was that this film, the script was found on a slush pile.

[00:03:40] Stephen Fenech: What? So the, like, you know, when people, the writer who, there were also claims that there was a book called The Big Con written in the 1940s. Right. And the writer, David Robert Hall, I believe his name is, but he’s the one who, Used a little bit of that as inspiration, not based on that. So he got the idea from that and he wrote a script. It was found on this slush pile by Rob Cohen. And he then handed it over to an agent who said, look, he said, here’s a movie. He said, this is the great American screenplay. This will be an award-winning major cast, major director film. And he was right.

[00:04:22] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:04:23] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. The movie was shot on the Universal backlot as well. Some interesting trivia I’m going to share with you about that as well. Had you heard of this, known of this? What was your impression?

[00:04:35] Trevor Long: I mean, the name rings bells because it’s a common phrase, so I don’t think I’d associate this with a movie.

[00:04:40] Stephen Fenech: No, but did you know it existed though? Didn’t you know Paul Newman, Robert, Robert Redford?

[00:04:45] Trevor Long: No, never heard of it.

[00:04:46] Stephen Fenech: Well, this movie went on to win 7 Oscars.

[00:04:49] Trevor Long: What?

[00:04:50] Stephen Fenech: It won Best Picture.

[00:04:51] Trevor Long: Right.

[00:04:52] Stephen Fenech: Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Robert Redford lost to Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger. Won Best Director for George Roy Hill. Won Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material, David S. Ward, his name is. Nominated for Best Cinematography, lost to Cries and Whispers, which I’ve never heard of. Won Best Art Direction, Set Decoration. Won Best Costume Design, Edith Head was the woman who won for that. Nominated for Best Sound. 1 Best Film Editing, 1 Best Music.

[00:05:26] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:05:26] Stephen Fenech: Now, Julia Phillips was one of the film’s producers for this movie. She became the first woman to be nominated for and to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.

[00:05:36] Trevor Long: Really?

[00:05:37] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, first female producer to win.

[00:05:38] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:05:39] Stephen Fenech: It was also the only film for which Robert Redford was ever nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actor.

[00:05:47] Trevor Long: Is he always supporting actor?

[00:05:48] Stephen Fenech: Well, no, he was director. He was nominated for director. I think he’s won as a director. That’s the only Oscar he won was as a director. I think the film was all famous as an actor though, isn’t he? Well, he was a massive actor, but he was also a big director. He won for, I think, Ordinary People was what he won the Oscar for. Edith Head, I mentioned her. This was her 8th and final Best Costume Design Academy Award. And this is what she said during her acceptance speech. Just imagine dressing the 2 handsomest men in the world and then getting this.

[00:06:20] Trevor Long: That’s great. How good is that? That is a good line.

[00:06:23] Stephen Fenech: This was also the famous Oscars where they had the streaker.

[00:06:27] Trevor Long: Not aware of that.

[00:06:29] Stephen Fenech: So Elizabeth Taylor was presenting Best Picture, uh, she was on stage with David Niven, and as they’re about to present it, the streaker— his name was Robert Opel— darted across the screen, and Niven’s famous line saying, well, uh, the only laugh that man will ever get in life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings.

[00:06:52] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’s a good one. Off-the-cuff line.

[00:06:55] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so, um, that was, uh, that was ahead of them winning Best Picture.

[00:07:00] Stephen Fenech: Roger Ebert. Rog, 4 out of 4 stars.

[00:07:05] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:07:06] Stephen Fenech: So Roger likes this. The movie has a nice light-fingered style to it. Hill gently kids the 1930s with his slight exaggerations of fashions and styles. He tells his story episodically, breaking the movie down into the various plateaus of the con game, and he’s awfully good at maintaining a kind of off-balance pacing. We can never quite pin New Newman and Redford down. They’re always sort of angling into scenes, making enigmatic statements under their breath, and staying at least a step ahead of us. Hill’s visual style is oblique. Instead of stationing his actors in the frame and recording the action, he seems to sneak up on it. Newman and Redford almost seem on their way to another movie. If that sounds like a criticism, it’s not meant as one. The style here is so seductive and witty, it’s hard to pin down. It’s like nothing else I’ve seen by Hill, and at times it also reminds me of Jacques Tati crossed with Robert Altman. It’s good to get crime movie more concerned with humor and character than with blood and gore. Here’s one, as we say, for the whole family.

[00:08:05] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:08:06] Stephen Fenech: Now the film made $156 million at the box office. Now that is in today’s money, that’s like close to a billion dollars.

[00:08:15] Trevor Long: That’s crazy.

[00:08:16] Stephen Fenech: It became the fourth highest grossing film in history after The Exorcist, which was released in 1973, same week as this. Gone with the Wind and The Sound of Music.

[00:08:27] Trevor Long: Blimey.

[00:08:28] Stephen Fenech: With this film, George Roy Hill passed Robert Wise— Robert Wise directed Sound of Music— as the most commercially successful filmmaker in history. Hill had held that record for only 3 years until a person named George Lucas— I knew it was going to release Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977.

[00:08:47] Trevor Long: Uh, fair, fair.

[00:08:48] Stephen Fenech: This is your last exit before the freeway. We’re going to take a deep dive into The Sting, and if you haven’t seen it, you can catch it on Fetch.

[00:08:55] Trevor Long: And on Fetch, you get a whole month of entertainment for less than the price of a coffee. Get started with Fetch Access to unlock essential entertainment and everyday streaming. So there’s 50+ included movies on demand ad-free, there’s 30 or more included stream TV channels, there’s 30 or more family games and more. All of these together in one easy smart solution for $4.99 a month. And then there’s even more you can add on to that. But the basic principle here is entertainment, entertainment, entertainment in any room in the home, in every room in the home if you want, because you can have multiple Fetch boxes all connected together. And there’s a bunch of smart features that really put you in control. The Smart TV Guide is probably Fetch’s absolute best feature. The Reverse TV Guide, so you can go backwards to see things that you might have missed and watch them directly from the program guide. Start Over, if you miss the start of a show, jump straight in at the start rather than missing what you, uh, what you didn’t walk in for. Pause, rewind, voice control, universal search, and much, much more. Fetch is the way to watch all your entertainment in one box with one remote, including all your favorite streaming apps, sports, and much more. You can get Fetch from major retailers. You can find out more at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:10:04] Stephen Fenech: Okay, you have now, and I know for sure you sent me a little hostage photo, you saw The Sting. So give us your first impressions after your first time watch.

[00:10:12] Trevor Long: I feel like it was Saturday night. And I—

[00:10:16] Stephen Fenech: You sent me like one of the opening frames. That’s just the start of the movie.

[00:10:19] Trevor Long: I feel like Jackson was working the next day and I knew he’d have to get up early, but I said, “Jacko, let’s go watch a movie.” So I dragged Jackson in. He goes, “What are we watching?” I said, “The Sting.” It’s from 1973. And he’s like, “I could feel the—” But you know what? To his credit, he sat and he took it in. Harry came in, but then kind of came out. But he was paying attention. He was paying attention while doing other things because he— every now and then he’d pop his head into the lounge room from the playroom going, “Isn’t he mental?” Whatever, you know. So he was paying attention. So I did enjoy the fact that as our man Rog said, it is a crime movie, but it doesn’t have the blood and gore of it all.

[00:10:57] Stephen Fenech: It’s a caper movie.

[00:10:58] Trevor Long: Yeah, it was essentially family friendly in that sense. I struggled with the fact that it’s a 1973 movie set in the ’30s. ’30s, yeah. Because I’m watching an old movie, but it’s an old movie of an old movie. And so that really messed with my head a bit. Like Jackson and I would look at it, ’cause Jackson works in video production, so he edits videos and so do I. And every time we’d look at it, time they do one of these weird swipes or circle transition, you’re like, oh my God, have they just discovered the transition button? Like, it, it felt tacky, but then I needed to remind myself that this was— this was them. No, no, but it was, it was made in the ’70s, but that transition would never use in Star Wars. It was made to look— it was actually used in Star Wars. It was made— transition to wipes. Not the circle, mate. Yes, it was. No way. It was horribly, horribly old.

[00:11:48] Stephen Fenech: Similar wipes and swipes.

[00:11:50] Trevor Long: And I feel like it was meant to be the ’30s in every sense, and I needed to transport myself in that in that way. And the biggest thing was, in the greatest honesty, and I’ll get to this at the very end, but you know, it’s a slow burn.

[00:12:02] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, it’s a very slow burn. It builds. Yeah, but it keeps you intrigued though. The intrigue is there and you don’t know who’s who and you don’t know what’s what. So it does keep some good things up its sleeve.

[00:12:12] Trevor Long: I don’t think that’s as true in your first watch.

[00:12:14] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, I think watching it again— You mean—

[00:12:17] Trevor Long: No, I’ll tell you when I picked it. But I think if you watch it again now, you’re intrigued by certain things that happen. But as a first-time viewer, I don’t think it does give you the intrigue.

[00:12:28] Stephen Fenech: Okay, yeah, I saw this— I didn’t see this in the movies. I was only— I’m sorry, yeah, sorry, what’s your social media post? Come on, mate.

[00:12:38] Trevor Long: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, with just those two names, surely The Sting is a cracker movie. And it is good, but perhaps it should be called The Payoff because it’s a slow burn for sure, but worth it.

[00:12:48] Stephen Fenech: The Payoff, okay, keep that in mind for the other, other names. Uh, I saw this on TV for the first time, didn’t see it at the movies. Yeah, you wouldn’t go to the movies as a 5-year-old.

[00:12:57] Trevor Long: 5 years old.

[00:12:59] Stephen Fenech: Uh, but I’ve rewatched it a few times, most recently on 4K disc. 4K. Okay, wow, you’re noticing a pattern here, like with the movies we’re covering and the ones I’ve bought off 4K recently. Yeah, let’s talk about the cast. Paul Newman plays Henry Gondorf. He was in The Hustler, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Robert Redford, The Verdict, Color of Money, which we’ve done, Road to Perdition. He passed away in 2008, aged 83.

[00:13:28] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:13:29] Stephen Fenech: Uh, Robert Redford plays Johnny Hooker. He also was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was in All the President’s Men opposite Dustin Hoffman. He was in The Natural, which is a baseball movie that we’ll have to do one day.

[00:13:41] Trevor Long: Yeah, we will.

[00:13:41] Stephen Fenech: Uh, he died last year, aged 89. Only last year? Yeah, September last year. Yeah, yeah.

[00:13:47] Trevor Long: Um, by the way, you left out Paul Newman’s greatest role. The Hudson Hornet in Cars.

[00:13:51] Stephen Fenech: Cars, yeah, of course, yeah, of course. Robert Shaw plays Doyle Lonergan. Did you recognize him from anything? His most famous film after this would be Jaws. Oh, okay.

[00:14:02] Trevor Long: Yeah, remember he plays Quint? Of course.

[00:14:04] Stephen Fenech: He was also in a great production of A Man for All Seasons, the film about Thomas More. I was actually in the school play for A Man for All Seasons. Really? So yeah, and he was also in The Battle of Britain.

[00:14:15] Trevor Long: Wow.

[00:14:16] Stephen Fenech: Righto, before we get to the top scenes and the run-through, let’s have a chat about Hisense. And you know what, Hisense, then they’re known for their TVs but also known for their projectors. And the C3 Ultra is their 4K RGB triple laser projector. Now when you buy a TV, you’re stuck at that size and you’re not going to carry it around your house, so it’s in the same spot all the time. With the C3 Ultra, it can go from 65-inch, you can project up to a 300-inch picture if you’ve got the room. Room and still enjoy great 4K quality as well. So take it around the house. It does have a little stand and it is easy to set up. Has 4,000 ANSI lumens of brightness, so that’s bright, bright enough to watch during the day. Also has 5,000:1 contrast ratio, so for, you know, the, the black levels on a projector of this kind is actually pretty impressive. Also has 2.1 channel sound built in, has a subwoofer and optical zoom, so it helps you achieve that bigger picture in a smaller space, and has Auto Magic AI adjustments as well, so it can focus, can square itself up, and you can be watching, enjoying the big screen experience in all parts of your home. And we have the go big or go home motto here, and I think that this is an ideal product for you to enjoy that big screen, whether it’s in your lounge room. You can carry this, you might set it up in the backyard on a big sheet on the hoist, wherever you wanna put, watch your sport or your movies. It is portable and you can get that really big screen experience. Take a look at it for yourself at hisense.com.au. Righto, we are, we are set here in 1936, and the first thing we see here, there’s a man running, clutching a bag, pursued by an armed man. A young street grifter, uh, he, he intervenes. Uh, the fleeing man drops the satchel, and, uh, he accept the ingratitude. He accepts Hooker and his elderly partner. He comes over to help them. And what little do we know, we’ve just seen this guy walk out. He’s got to deliver some cash, but he sees these other guys and he says, look, can you help me out, mate? I need to get this cash downtown. And they just—

[00:16:31] Trevor Long: it comes off to the unknowing viewers just, you know, just people helping out, you know, mugging, and then trying to help each other out because there’s a thing that needs to happen. And, you know, you take it for me.

[00:16:42] Stephen Fenech: He’s got like a wound in his leg. It’s like he’s been attacked. I can’t make it. Can you do it? And the guy who was already out carrying some money. They’ve obviously targeted, they knew where this bloke was coming from.

[00:16:53] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:16:54] Stephen Fenech: And so what they do is they says, look here, he said, because he goes, can you take it downtown? He goes, you’ll, you’ll, they’ll find it like, you got to carry out, give me a hanky. Wraps it up and he puts it down his pants. He goes, they’ll never find it like this. And obviously what he’s done, he’s had the, he’s had the other one down there, switcheroo, done the switcheroo.

[00:17:12] Trevor Long: And it’s great because as a plays out, and you’ll hear the audio here, but this is a good thing about this movie is there are a few of these little payoffs. And as he’s sitting in the cab and he opens it up, I turned to Jackson, I went, “He switched it!” And that’s when you, that’s your trigger is you’re like, “Oh my God, that was a setup.” It was a setup. That was a hustle.

[00:17:33] Stephen Fenech: So Luther has replaced the cash with just wrapped pads that look like blank tissue paper, blank paper. The runner walks away with the dummy package believing his money is safe. What’s so funny? I just made the world’s easiest 5 grand.

[00:17:55] Movie Audio: [Luther and Hooker celebrate pulling off the switch, stunned to discover the package was far more loaded than they expected.]

[00:18:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, so they didn’t realize how much money he was going to have, but they got $11,000.

[00:18:34] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, which, uh, not quite a millionaire, but a lot of money.

[00:18:37] Trevor Long: No, it’s a strange statement to make.

[00:18:39] Stephen Fenech: Now, um, Luther advises Hooker to save and get out of the grift. Well, remember, so they meet up later to split it up, and yep, he’s saying he goes to his house.

[00:18:48] Trevor Long: You get a sense that it’s a, it’s a They’re a family, not just his actual family, but they all know each other really, really well. So, you know, but Luther admits, you know what, I’m out. Yeah, this is it.

[00:18:59] Stephen Fenech: But ahead of that, Hooker goes out, buys some suits and heads into a casino, loses it all. Hooker goes then to see Luther later on that evening.

[00:19:08] Trevor Long: Solid gamble, by the way. A lot of money.

[00:19:09] Movie Audio: [Luther scolds Hooker for blowing his whole cut in one night, then reveals he’s getting out of the racket. He tells Hooker to look up his old friend Henry Gondorf in Chicago, the best inside man alive, to learn the big con.]

[00:20:36] Stephen Fenech: So there’s a little introduction. Meanwhile, Doyle Lonergan, who’s Robert Shaw’s character, he’s been told that his Joliet money is gone.

[00:20:48] Trevor Long: He’s the— and this is the big boss. This is—

[00:20:50] Stephen Fenech: yeah. So he’s basically ordered that the street operators are found and killed to set an example that you don’t rob. You don’t rob me. Remember that scene on the golf course? You see that guy over there? Because if he finds out that I’ve lost money, he goes, I might as well kill him and everyone else because no one will respect me anymore. Yeah. So I can’t be seen to be an easy target.

[00:21:07] Trevor Long: That’s right. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:21:09] Stephen Fenech: So, uh, the, the, our man Hooker gets cornered by a corrupt Joliet detective, William Snyder. He gets caught up in an alley, but what does he do? He demands 2 grand. And what does Hooker do? Pays him with counterfeit bills. He’s got us the answer for everything.

[00:21:28] Trevor Long: Yeah, he’s got exactly an answer for literally everything. That’s the hustler that he is.

[00:21:32] Stephen Fenech: And sort of Hooker’s alarmed here. He rushes back to warn Luther that the law and the syndicate— because he knows if they’re onto him, they’re onto Luther.

[00:21:39] Trevor Long: So he goes back to Luther’s place. Yeah, but unfortunately Luther is outside the window on the ground lying dead.

[00:21:46] Stephen Fenech: They, uh, they got to him first. Lonigan’s hitmen have thrown him out the window. Hooker takes a train to Chicago to find Luther’s old associate who he mentioned earlier, legendary master grifter Henry Gondorf.

[00:21:58] Trevor Long: He doesn’t really come across as a master grifter though, first impression, living in a, in a building running a carousel.

[00:22:05] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, ironic, hey, they’ve got a merry-go-round with, uh, the carousel with horses, and they, they— that’s how the, the Sting is later on Horses.

[00:22:12] Trevor Long: Yeah, there’s an irony there. But I guess the point here is Hooker gets in there and he’s like, this bloke— yeah. And he’s also, he’s drunk when he finds him, sleeping off a hangover.

[00:22:21] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, he’s got a rundown carousel.

[00:22:23] Trevor Long: Not his greatest first impression, you know.

[00:22:25] Stephen Fenech: And his madam, uh, his madam partner Billy, the lady who runs a little house up there. Now my interjections here are going to be called the Sting Swing, okay? I’m taking a swing here. The Sting Swing here is that by the time you’re seeing Hooker, which is Paul Newman, 26 minutes have already gone. So he doesn’t make an appearance, it’s 26 minutes. That’s true. Yeah, it’s a long time.

[00:22:47] Trevor Long: There’s a lot to unpack though to get it started, to set up. Oh yeah, who he is and what he’s the star of the show.

[00:22:52] Stephen Fenech: It doesn’t come into the thing till 26 minutes.

[00:22:54] Trevor Long: Doesn’t need to. Hudson Hornet doesn’t show his face in Cars for a while either.

[00:22:58] Stephen Fenech: Okay, uh, Hooker wants revenge. Uh, Gondorf warns him that killing Lonergan will only get him gunned down in return. So instead they propose a big con that will target his money and his pride and his power without him ever realizing that he was tricked.

[00:23:15] Movie Audio: [Hooker presses Gondorf to teach him the big con so he can go after Lonergan. Gondorf warns how powerful and dangerous Lonergan is, insists the mark must never know he’s been taken, and says he can pull together a mob of two or three hundred grifters.]

[00:24:21] Stephen Fenech: 200 or 300?

[00:24:22] Trevor Long: That’s amazing to think that we just need a bunch of, you know, con men. How many can you get? Crazy, crazy.

[00:24:29] Stephen Fenech: Anyway, uh, Gondorf assembles a crew, uh, all old-school confidence men. They’re including J.J. Singleton, Kid Twist, and the bankroll specialist Eddie Niles. Now, do you remember the part here where they’re in the back room discussing how they’re going to target Lonergan? And Snyder, remember the cop that got dudged with the counterfeit money, arrives in the, in the, uh, the house there. And, um, there’s a bit there— here’s another stingswing for you— the part where Snyder— remember Billy’s— the woman’s got a drink for him, um, and but the, the part where he rejects the drink and by pouring over her hand, that was actually an accident. It wasn’t meant to to happen. So Charles Durning, who plays Snyder, was supposed to just pour the drink on the floor, but, uh, Eileen Brennan, who plays Billy, she— her hand got in the way, so it looked like that she did it on purpose, and they just went with it.

[00:25:23] Trevor Long: Nice.

[00:25:24] Stephen Fenech: Kept it in. It is what it is. Staying in character. Yeah. So meanwhile, they’re analyzing Lonergan’s profile, selecting his primary weaknesses. You know, he’s greedy, tied to his obsessive desire to dominate others in high-stakes Greed and gambling. So Gondorf chooses the wire.

[00:25:41] Movie Audio: [The crew debate which con to run on Lonergan. Gondorf settles on the wire, an old game Lonergan won’t recognise, names Hooker as his second inside man, and plans to hook Lonergan through his high-stakes poker game on the train.]

[00:26:31] Stephen Fenech: So the wire, just so we know, is a confidence trick based on the illusion of intercepting Western Union telegraph feeds to place surefire horse race bets seconds before the results are officially recorded.

[00:26:44] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:26:44] Stephen Fenech: So they’ve got it jumping in ahead of the— Yeah, it’s something you can’t do today.

[00:26:48] Trevor Long: I was going to say, if this was today, there’ll be a later on. It’s a different story.

[00:26:52] Stephen Fenech: Most definitely. Now, they— this is the amazing part too. They acquire an empty house and start constructing this fake OTB, this off-track betting wire parlor. Complete with ticker tape machines, chalkboards, and now we know why they needed 200 people.

[00:27:06] Trevor Long: They need to make this thing look real.

[00:27:08] Stephen Fenech: And hired grifters acting as betting regulars. Now on the train, remember in that conversation they mentioned he loves— there’s a high-stakes poker game they play on the train.

[00:27:17] Trevor Long: That becomes the hook.

[00:27:18] Stephen Fenech: So Gondorf boards the train carrying Lonergan from New York to Chicago, uh, and the grifter Kid Twist poses as an agent to bribe the conductor into adding Gondorf to Lonergan’s private high-stakes poker poker game. Now, did you remember in this bit before the actual game itself, and there was a bit where, um, uh, Henry was showing his card expertise, his card, and he stuffed it up a bit. He, uh, at the end he did, but the technical advisor was John Scarn, and he handled the card manipulations. You know, he was hand model. But did you notice too, like, when he was doing the, the, the card tricks and the deck switching and all that, that they did an invisible cut. So when, you know, there was close-up on his hands, and if you notice, the camera pans up and it’s, it’s Paul Newman. So they worked an invisible cut into that transition so that it went from his hands to make you think it was Paul Newman that was doing that the whole time. Did you notice that? Yeah, it was an invisible cut. Gondorf arrives deliberately late, sloppy drunk, and abrasive, and introducing himself as Shaw, which is Lonergan’s real name, and he’s just really good at annoying Lonergan by calling him the same name constantly.

[00:28:34] Trevor Long: He’s rude, and this whole drunk thing is not playing well.

[00:28:39] Movie Audio: [Gondorf, posing as Shaw, needles Lonergan across the poker table. Lonergan coldly corrects him on his name and tells him he’ll remember it.]

[00:28:57] Stephen Fenech: So yeah, he’s successfully riling him up a bit here, but Lonergan tries to cheat by cold decking. So Gondorf outcheats him though, switches the cards to win. Remember, he had 9, he had 4 9s, and he goes, oh, he had 4 jacks.

[00:29:13] Trevor Long: Yes.

[00:29:13] Stephen Fenech: And he conned him to, uh, he won, end up winning 50.

[00:29:17] Trevor Long: By the way, through this whole hand, you’re meant to think that he’s going to lose because they showed him with 3s instead of 9s. And so you, you’re confident he’s going to lose, but then we again get the payoff when it, uh, it is Jack’s. You owe me 15 grand, pal.

[00:29:33] Stephen Fenech: He reaches into his pocket. Remember that pickpocketing?

[00:29:37] Movie Audio: [Lonergan finds his wallet missing and can’t pay. Gondorf threatens to spread it around Chicago that he welshed, then cashes out and passes the baton to Hooker. Alone, Lonergan fumes that Gondorf must have switched the cards, but he can’t call a man out for cheating better than him.]

[00:30:29] Stephen Fenech: Good line.

[00:30:29] Trevor Long: Yeah, it’s a great line.

[00:30:30] Stephen Fenech: So Hooker, who is under— operating under the name, uh, alias of Kelly, he arrives in Lonigan’s cabin and this conversation continues when he goes, you’re coming with me after the train. Yes. Uh, so he went there to collect Gondorf’s gambling debts. But he plays the role. He’s sort of disgruntled. He hates Shaw. He kind of turns on him.

[00:30:51] Trevor Long: He basically, uh, you know, makes out like he doesn’t like the bloke and is, you know, not— doesn’t really care if he gets his money.

[00:30:59] Movie Audio: [Posing as Kelly, Hooker tells Lonergan he wants to take over Shaw’s operation and needs his help to break him. Lonergan insists on giving him a lift home, and Hooker pitches the plan: Lonergan places bets at Shaw’s place while Kelly supplies the money and the information, a scheme worth maybe a couple of million.]

[00:31:52] Trevor Long: So big stakes.

[00:31:54] Stephen Fenech: The, the, uh, seed has been planted. They drop Hooker off at his hotel. Trouble is, Lonergan’s henchmen are waiting for him. They don’t realize that Kelly and Hooker are the same person, and, uh, he escapes clinging to the side of a street sweeper. Now meanwhile, Hooker reveals that he works at a Central Western Union switching office and can delay the race results by a couple of minutes, giving him the exact winning horse before the betting parlor book’s close. Now, to demonstrate this, to verify his claims, Lonergan’s instructed to place a modest test wager on a horse named Blue Note at Shaw’s betting club.

[00:32:29] Trevor Long: This is all super logical. It’s like, okay, then he’s not going to put a million dollars on something. He needs to understand that this is a real thing.

[00:32:36] Stephen Fenech: So Lonergan visits the fake parlor, places the bet, watches the board as the horse wins exactly as promised, netting him a small profit. Now I’ve got another sting swing here. Did you notice in the film that Robert Shaw was limping? Yes, he had a limp. Well, he injured his knee, uh, on his previous film. He was, uh, while he was filming it, he was, uh, he slipped on a wet handball court at the Beverly Hills Hotel a week before filming started. He had to wear a leg brace during production, and he said, you know what, I should incorporate that into the character. I’ve got a limp. And they said, good Great idea.

[00:33:10] Trevor Long: Fair enough.

[00:33:11] Stephen Fenech: Now, to sell the charade to Gondorf, uh, he rebukes Kelly in front of Lonergan. Remember that little scene where he goes, you know, that you could tell there’s tension there? The next morning, Hooker visits Lonergan in his hotel to tell him about his bigger plan.

[00:33:27] Movie Audio: [Hooker pitches a $400,000 bet at 5-to-1 and explains that his partner at Western Union holds up race results just long enough for them to bet on a race that’s already been run. Lonergan hands over only a grand of Hooker’s winnings, keeps the rest against the 15 grand he’s owed, and insists on meeting the partner himself.]

[00:34:52] Stephen Fenech: So, right, yeah, the, uh, he’s putting the chess pieces into place here. But meanwhile, Snyder has followed Hooker to Chicago, spots him in public, pursues him through alleys and train platforms, but once again he gets away. Evades him. Now here’s the part called The Wire where they take control of Western Union. So to ensure Lonergan believes Hooker’s access to the telegraph feed, the con crew go in there posing as painters and briefly intercept a local Western Union officer. They bring Lonergan in from the other side and show him the office, and the guy who’s posing as the Western Union dude, yeah, walks them out. So they’ve sold Lonergan on the idea and he wants in.

[00:35:37] Movie Audio: [Lonergan demands to see the scheme work one more time. Gondorf, posing as the Western Union man, resists, but Lonergan offers to finance the whole bet himself, half a million dollars split 60/40, and agrees to stick to short odds so Shaw doesn’t get wise.]

[00:36:22] Trevor Long: So, which is actually a smart idea.

[00:36:24] Stephen Fenech: Short odds. Snyder is picked up by federal agents. So, uh, he’s brought before FBI agent, Special Agent Polk. Polk demands Snyder bring Hooker in, threatening prison time if he fails. Polk wants to use Hooker to capture Gondorf. So there’s They’ve got big plans.

[00:36:43] Trevor Long: The feds here have got big plans way above just hooker.

[00:36:47] Stephen Fenech: Lonergan turns up to place another bet, but he’s delayed at the window and misses the jump.

[00:36:52] Trevor Long: Yeah, but they do that intentionally. They intentionally delay him and basically they intentionally jump the race before he gets to place the bet.

[00:36:58] Stephen Fenech: But it also demonstrates— but the bet pays off. Yeah, the horse, if he had a good bet on, would have paid off. Wins easy.

[00:37:03] Trevor Long: Which is all the confidence he needs to come and go ahead with it.

[00:37:05] Stephen Fenech: My sting swing here is almost all of the racehorses mentioned in Gondorf’s betting Con, if not all of them, are actual thoroughbreds that ran betted races in the 1930s.

[00:37:16] Trevor Long: Wow, that’s pretty cool. Yeah, I like it.

[00:37:18] Stephen Fenech: Lonergan agrees to go ahead and tells Hooker he’ll have half a million dollars there tomorrow. Lonergan grows suspicious of the delays and orders his own Chicago hitmen to eliminate the, the grifters who robbed his runner, not realizing that Hooker is Kelly.

[00:37:34] Trevor Long: He just obviously doesn’t realize the person he’s doing this deal with is the guy that ripped him off in the first place.

[00:37:39] Stephen Fenech: But the gunmen don’t know that. They stalk Hooker through Chicago’s back streets. He’s hiding in a manhole, but then an unknown assailant guns down the hitman first and vanishes. So you’re thinking, someone saved him there. Meanwhile, Snyder has cornered Hooker and drags him directly to Polk’s warehouse. Polk threatens to arrest Luther’s widow as an accomplice unless Hooker delivers Gondorf.

[00:38:07] Movie Audio: [Agent Polk tells Hooker the feds know Gondorf is running a con on the South Side and offers him freedom if he tips them off when the sting goes down. When Hooker refuses, Polk threatens to prosecute Luther’s widow, Alva. Hooker agrees, on the condition that they wait until the mark has been completely played.]

[00:39:33] Stephen Fenech: Did you at any stage see all this talk? I know it’s part of the con where Kelly/Hooker is supposed to be opposing Shaw, which is Gondorf. Did you think that there was a con inside the con at any time? You knew that this was all just for show?

[00:39:54] Trevor Long: No, I believe in every part of this story, right? The FBI is involved. Yeah, I’m all in on the story.

[00:39:59] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, okay, but not the con. But the whole, but the whole thing where, um, I know, just sort of thinking whether, you know, when Hooker, um, Kelly says to Lonergan, I want to take him down, and did you think that that for a second could have been he’s planning his own con inside the con? No, you never thought that? No. Yeah, no, I don’t think that.

[00:40:21] Trevor Long: I think that here’s the problem at this point of the movie. Yeah, it’s actually not boring, but it’s like, okay, yeah, so he’s now been brought in by the FBI. Now he’s got a flip on the other guy, you know, like it’s just a story.

[00:40:39] Stephen Fenech: It’s adding to the stakes. The stakes are getting higher.

[00:40:41] Trevor Long: No, it’s just a bloody story. It’s just a story of a con man who was trying to do a con. I’m telling you how I I felt it watching it for the first time. The con’s gone sideways ’cause he’s been caught by the cop and the FBI. And so we’re just gonna see it. We’re just gonna see the bigger, older con men taken down at the end of the movie. That’s where this is going.

[00:40:59] Stephen Fenech: No, but I think how I viewed it for the first time was thinking there’s a con happening, but all these other obstacles in his way, like there’s people trying to kill him and he’s got all this other stuff happening. He’s got, you know, the FBI’s involved. So he’s sort of trying to weather all this whole thing while still pulling off the con. So it was these obstacles in place, that’s what I’m trying to get at. So did you see that was sort of building up on him?

[00:41:22] Trevor Long: Well, I mean, yeah, they’re ruining the con.

[00:41:24] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, or trying to. Okay, so the hooker— so the night before the con, remember the waitress he talks to at the diner? Yeah, he just turns up for a drink.

[00:41:36] Trevor Long: And let’s be honest, she’s not the most beautiful person in the world, so it’s like, it’s kind of like he— it’s a fascinating hookup because he says something to her—

[00:41:44] Stephen Fenech: he can’t go back to his own place, but he says something to her about how how, you know, he doesn’t have—

[00:41:49] Trevor Long: he doesn’t know anyone, doesn’t have anyone. And so she’s kind of the perfect person for him to talk to and get on with, you know. But I thought that was an interesting little, uh, you know, insight into his mind.

[00:41:58] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Uh, the following morning— so he stays the night with her. Following morning, um, he gets up, she’s not there, but he’s walking down, spots Loretta in the alley outside the diner. Now, did this shock you as well? Yes. As she’s walking towards him, an unidentified man steps out and shoots her and shoots her dead.

[00:42:19] Trevor Long: Oh, she pulled a gun.

[00:42:20] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, well, the shooting her first, right? So the shooter reveals himself as Gondorf’s hired bodyguard and exposes Loretta as Salino. So do you remember when the other hook with the other— remember when he was in the manhole and the guy goes, Salino? So it must have been her that shot. Okay, that never made sense. Yeah, right, it’s him as well. Uh, so, uh, yeah, obviously she was sent to kill Hooker.

[00:42:45] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:42:46] Stephen Fenech: Now Lonergan agrees to break shore with a massive wager— $500,000 placed on a single race. Yeah, yeah.

[00:42:54] Trevor Long: Lonergan, which is wild because he walks in with a suitcase full of cash.

[00:42:58] Stephen Fenech: Yes.

[00:42:58] Trevor Long: Um, and intends to place a bet. I mean, it’s, it’s wild.

[00:43:03] Stephen Fenech: As usual, Lonergan waits for the call in the Yep. And he gets the call. He says, “Place it on Lucky Dan.” Right? That’s what he says. Those are the exact words, yes. So Lonergan wages the entire fortune on Lucky Dan at the betting window.

[00:43:23] Movie Audio: [Lonergan puts $500,000 on Lucky Dan to win the third race at Riverside. The clerk calls for the manager, who protests that a bet that size could break the house, until Lonergan calls him a gutless cheat and he takes all of it at 4 to 1.]

[00:44:04] Stephen Fenech: Do you think, how brilliant is it that he was reluctant to take it and then when he sort of calls him, you’re a gutless cheat, you go, take it all.

[00:44:12] Trevor Long: Oh, he’s just playing a role. Sure, he’s just playing a role to not play into his hand, not make it look too easy for him. ‘Cause he can’t just say, yep, sure, take it because that would look too easy. It should be hard to place a half million dollar bet.

[00:44:24] Stephen Fenech: Yes, there should be some people saying, hang on a minute, let me ask about this. You’re right. Now, when, as the race commentary begins, Kid Twist enters and he and Lonergan have a little conversation.

[00:44:36] Movie Audio: [As the race call plays, Kid Twist arrives and is horrified to learn Lonergan put it all on Lucky Dan to win, because the horse was only ever meant to run second. Lucky Dan finishes second, and Lonergan frantically demands his money back.]

[00:45:09] Stephen Fenech: That’s not how it works, buddy.

[00:45:12] Movie Audio: [FBI agents raid the parlor, line everyone up against the wall, and Agent Polk confronts Gondorf.]

[00:45:37] Stephen Fenech: Okay, kid, you can go. Oh man, he’s been found out in front of him.

[00:45:42] Trevor Long: It’s crazy.

[00:45:49] Stephen Fenech: Gondorf shoots Hooker. Poke shoots Gondorf. Get him out!

[00:45:58] Movie Audio: [Snyder hustles Lonergan out of the building as he protests about his half a million dollars, warning him not to get mixed up in a double killing.]

[00:46:10] Stephen Fenech: See, but here’s my question here. Yeah, so we obviously know Poke was part of the deal, right? The FBI agent.

[00:46:17] Trevor Long: Well, we don’t at this point.

[00:46:18] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, we do. It’s part of the call, but not at that—

[00:46:20] Trevor Long: not at that part of the audio though.

[00:46:21] Stephen Fenech: Okay, as we discover in the next bit here. Yes. Snyder though, he must have been kept in the dark.

[00:46:29] Trevor Long: That’s why Snyder wasn’t in on it. Before they go in, Poke says to Snyder, as soon as this goes down, you’ve got to get Gandalf— get Lonergan out of there. Yeah, so that he’s not part of the rest of it, right? Like, that’s why he says that. And that’s what he says when the shooting happens, is get him out of here. So Snyder goes, he’s got Lonergan, so he’s happy he’s got Lonergan. And then the rest of them in the room— and it’s, it’s, it’s literally in that, it’s a split-second moment where you’re like, hang on a minute, he just shot him. And you’re like, oh my God. And it’s like just at that moment where I turn to Jack and go, oh my God, they’re all in on it.

[00:47:00] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. So, so he was— so just to explain what happened there, so Pope Poke comes in and he says to Hooker, “Gazzarotto, kid, you’re off the hook.” And then to make everyone think that he’s upset, Shaw, Gondorf shoots Hooker. That’s so Paul Newman shoots Robert Redford. Poke then shoots Gondorf.

[00:47:25] Trevor Long: And then I think the point of that is you want the two main protagonists of Lonergan to be down so that Lonergan is just worried about his money. He’s not worried about these two that really matter. Ripped him off. Yeah, because, you know, remember, he didn’t get his 15 grand back. Like, he got it back, but now he wants to be part of the grift, right? So, like, he’s seen these people die in front of him, and then he’s been escorted out by a police officer. The last— the only thing he’s got on his mind is he lost half a million bucks, but he’s also happy not to be in there where a double murder occurred.

[00:47:52] Stephen Fenech: The moment Lonergan and Stoddart are gone, Poke, Hooker, and Gondorf all break character, stand up smiling. Poke was a grifter hickey running an undercover FBI sting play, and the gunshots Blood blanks. Yeah, the entire parlor erupts in celebration. The crew quickly dismantles the set.

[00:48:10] Movie Audio: [The crew celebrate. Hickey reports that Snyder bought it all the way, Gondorf tells Hooker he beat Lonergan, and Hooker admits it’s not enough, but it’s close. As the crew strip the place, Hooker passes on his share, saying he’d only blow it.]

[00:49:30] Stephen Fenech: So that’s the end of the movie.

[00:49:33] Trevor Long: Look, I’ve got one question for you before we go into everything else, and you may cover this, so tell me if you do. But yes, $500,000, there was like 300 cons involved. What’s— I mean, what’s the split?

[00:49:43] Stephen Fenech: What’s the split? Yeah, I know, they must get—

[00:49:45] Trevor Long: it doesn’t seem like that good a con with 300 people playing the part.

[00:49:49] Stephen Fenech: The actors would only have a small investment in it. They’d only have a— for their time, I guess they’d get a couple of grand each, I guess.

[00:49:56] Trevor Long: But that’s going to add up across 100, 300 people. Remember, they’ll get together a couple of hundred people.

[00:50:01] Stephen Fenech: I said he, he said he could get that many people, but I don’t think he did get that many people.

[00:50:05] Trevor Long: There was a lot of people in that room. Yeah. Anyway, that was my observation. A couple of lines for—

[00:50:10] Stephen Fenech: here’s a funny line when, uh, when he first meet— when they first meet.

[00:50:14] Movie Audio: [Gondorf greets Hooker with a backhanded insult on their first meeting, and Hooker fires back that Luther promised he’d learn something.]

[00:50:21] Stephen Fenech: And here’s another good one. When Snyder was in the parlor, yes, where are the rooms at? Yes, what are you going to do, call the police?

[00:50:28] Movie Audio: [Snyder demands to know which way the rooms are, and Billie warns him he wouldn’t want to go in there.]

[00:50:37] Trevor Long: I don’t have to. You’ll be busting in on the chief of police just up the hall. It’s a good way to put a cop off doing a bust, you know.

[00:50:45] Stephen Fenech: I mean, yeah, all right, some plot holes here. Uh, I think it’s all around how Lonigan, um, Lonigan’s hitmen are already inside his boarding house. Remember when he goes, you come with me, and they drop him off and then he runs straight out again because they were waiting for him? How did they know where he lived? How do they know that? I don’t know.

[00:51:07] Trevor Long: I don’t know in the ’30s how they knew who any of these people were, even going back to Luther and Kelly. Like, how did they know who they were, who they were chasing? Well, there weren’t CCTV cameras.

[00:51:15] Stephen Fenech: There was not, that’s right. Uh, the other one is when Hooker is— remember, he’s chased into the alley and he escapes by hiding in a manhole. Like, it’s, it’s like dead set 10 seconds and he can lift up a manhole, get in and close it again. That’s a— that’s hard to do in that short space. I think so, yes. Yeah. And the other plot hole is that every single thing had to work. Everything. Oh yeah, no, you think you look back at all the little things, just one thing went wrong. The train.

[00:51:44] Trevor Long: Yeah, just for that, just for that con to come off is wild.

[00:51:48] Stephen Fenech: Righto, uh, the speaker workout. Well, Scott Joplin’s ragtime music is what you heard. That was a key element in the movie being such a success. He not only won the Academy Award, but his song The Entertainer, uh, reached number 3 on the Billboard charts in 1974 on the strength of that. And um, some 72 years after it was written. So it was written back in the, back in the day. The movie rekindled interest in ragtime music, and Scott Joplin’s work was— went through the roof. Oh, cool. Uh, thank God I got a big screen. It is a good-looking movie. I think they’ve shot this well. Yeah, I watched this on 100-inch Hisense.

[00:52:30] Trevor Long: Yeah.

[00:52:30] Stephen Fenech: And, uh, and you know what, you’ve got two— you can aim the camera at two of the leading men. Uh, you know, they’re pretty— not hard to frame them up. Yeah, Paul humans with piercing blue eyes. And it’s— I think they’re very easy on the eye.

[00:52:42] Trevor Long: Mate, you cannot argue with the Oscar for costume because this thing is so perfectly well set. And the sets, everything, it’s just— it’s remarkable. Done well.

[00:52:53] Stephen Fenech: Now, the business. I looked up the biggest criminal stings or heists in history. Yeah, there was one at the fake cops targeting a Boston museum, March 18th, 1990. Two men dressed as police officers persuaded security guards to let them into Gardner Museum. They pulled off what’s considered to be the biggest art heist of all time, being a haul worth more than $300 million US dollars.

[00:53:19] Trevor Long: I mean, I’ve never thought art heists were a very good, good heist because the art is traceable.

[00:53:24] Stephen Fenech: Well, anyway, the men handcuffed security guards, selected 12 pieces of prized artwork, walked out of the museum never to be seen again. The case was never solved. Involved. There’s still a $5 million reward for any information related to the return of the artworks. And that was in 1990.

[00:53:44] Trevor Long: See, my point is, where are those artworks now?

[00:53:46] Stephen Fenech: Probably at their houses. Yeah, but maybe sold them on the black market.

[00:53:50] Trevor Long: Yeah, but even— anyway, I’ve never understood art heists.

[00:53:52] Stephen Fenech: The other one was the Amsterdam Airport Diamond Heist, February 25th, 2005. It was a smash and grab. 4 men pulled off one of the world’s biggest diamond heists, making off with $118 million worth of uncut diamonds. The men used a stolen truck and uniforms from KLM, the major Dutch airline, to gain access to secure parts of the airport before overcoming the drivers of a truck carrying the diamonds. The truck’s cargo never recovered, no arrests ever made in relation to the theft. Wow, pretty big. Uh, if this movie was made today— now this is, uh, could be a show on itself.

[00:54:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, um, you mentioned surveillance cameras today, I think is the point there, right?

[00:54:35] Stephen Fenech: Set today, made today. Yeah, you couldn’t— you be too easy to find information about other people on mobile phones.

[00:54:42] Trevor Long: And you can’t delay information. The whole point, the whole premise of this heist, this sting, is to delay the information of a horse race.

[00:54:50] Stephen Fenech: And cash, having cash, impossible. Yeah. Do you usually be a digital transfer perhaps? Even if you get cash, if you, if some producer said, right, let’s make the sting set in 2026, it’d be about cryptocurrency or something. It’d be a crypto heist.

[00:55:05] Trevor Long: It’d involve a hack. It didn’t involve a, you know, a digital digital hack.

[00:55:08] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, uh, every day is a school day. What are your— what are the theme or lesson here?

[00:55:15] Trevor Long: I mean, uh, is greed good? You don’t realize how many heists there really are out there, you know, like the idea of a— the idea of scales of cons is interesting.

[00:55:23] Stephen Fenech: I think, yeah, with Lonergan, it’s, you know, he’s got an ego, but he’s also greedy. Ego and greed don’t mix. Yep. So that’s a— they can be— they can be a combination. Exactly. And I’m thinking also too, There’s a sort of, even though they’re pulling off cons, there’s still a code of honor they’ve got between them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they’re sort of the whole, you know, watching each other’s backs.

[00:55:45] Trevor Long: There’s a hierarchy to them and everything.

[00:55:47] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Alrighty. Best use of the pause button.

[00:55:51] Trevor Long: A bit, yeah.

[00:55:52] Stephen Fenech: You’ll notice here when he opens up his case, they use obviously fake currency. Of course. But it was all post-1973 bills. Bills. Prior to 1963, U.S. printed currency had a large red Treasury seal on the left side of the bills. The bills used in the movie are all small green seal on the right side. So it was set in the ’30s, they weren’t the bills that they were using. Oh, you’re such a narc. Oh, it’s the best pause button I could find. Things you might not know: the film grossed, I think we said earlier, $156 million.

[00:56:26] Trevor Long: Crazy money.

[00:56:27] Stephen Fenech: Crazy Easy Money. Now, the producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck, they enjoyed working with Robert Shaw so much they recommended him to Steven Spielberg to star in Jaws. There you go, there you go. Which they also produced, those producers there too. Um, when the film had its first TV showing in 1978, you’ve got to remember back then, film release, yeah, eventually it comes to TV. There’s no— was no video DVD back then, right? So when it first hit TV in 1978, major success, earned an audience share as high as 61%. Jesus Christ, it’s big viewing, isn’t it? Now assuming the events took place in 1936, the $500,000 taken in The Sting would be worth— in, in, uh, in 1973 would have been worth $1.6 million, but the, the year movie was released. But day be over $10 million.

[00:57:24] Trevor Long: That’s a solid bet.

[00:57:25] Stephen Fenech: Decent haul. Yeah. Uh, did you notice— this is a big one— the film, as I said, was, was, uh, was shot on the backlot of Universal Studios. So do you remember the diner where Hooker meets Lonigan? Same diner where Marty McFly meets his dad too. Yeah, same diner.

[00:57:45] Trevor Long: It is too. Yeah, I can see it now. You can hear Yeah.

[00:57:48] Stephen Fenech: Did you also notice that during filming, if you watch Robert Redford closely, he was recovering from a broken right thumb? And so when you see him in scenes where he’s holding cutlery and things, he uses his right hand funny. Oh really? You watch it close. I can’t not see this now. Whenever you see it, he’s sort of— he’s not using his thumb, he’s just using his middle finger. Yeah. So, you know, he’s to lift his coffee cup and do all sorts sorts of things. Uh, what’s the meme? I think one of them— do you remember when they were first getting together and they did the little nose wipe? Remember? Yeah, those are great. Yeah, they’re pretty cool.

[00:58:25] Trevor Long: But it’s an if you know, you know thing, that’s all.

[00:58:26] Stephen Fenech: Yeah. Uh, I do like, um, when, when, uh, Shaw Hooker— no, Shaw slash Gondorf slash Paul Newman says, take all of it. And I do like, uh, you’re not sticking around for your share. Remember, near the in the end he goes, I’d only blow it.

[00:58:43] Trevor Long: Yeah, that’s true. That’s a good one. That’s a good one.

[00:58:46] Stephen Fenech: By Any Other Name, what did you say? The Payoff. Payoff. That’s a good one.

[00:58:49] Trevor Long: That’s good. Honestly, I would call this movie The Payoff.

[00:58:51] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, okay, that’s pretty good. I had, uh, Grifters. There’s maybe— yeah, it’s not bad. There was a movie later on called The Grifters, but nothing like this.

[00:58:58] Trevor Long: You could call it The Con.

[00:58:59] Stephen Fenech: The Fix Is In, maybe. The Fix. Uh, The One Thing You Want.

[00:59:04] Trevor Long: Mate, any of the cars, there’s some beautiful cars. Nice cars. Yeah, I agree.

[00:59:08] Stephen Fenech: I’ll take their hats. I’ll take Hooker and Gundorfs’ hats, like screen use hats.

[00:59:11] Trevor Long: There was some nice little, the set of that OTB.

[00:59:16] Stephen Fenech: Yeah.

[00:59:16] Trevor Long: It was so well dressed. I did some of the stuff on the wall. Horse statues and just stuff, just little knickknacks that made that place come to life.

[00:59:23] Stephen Fenech: I’ll take the card, the decks of cards from the poker game. I’ll have those. Yeah, yeah. And also Lonigan’s suitcase that carries the money. I’ll take the suitcase. Nice. 3 questions for Trev. Hit me. What happens to Hooker and Goddard Gandalf.

[00:59:37] Trevor Long: They go at it again. Yeah, I think so.

[00:59:39] Stephen Fenech: Yeah, so they’re a team now.

[00:59:40] Trevor Long: They’re a team now, right?

[00:59:42] Stephen Fenech: Uh, sequel, prequel, or leave it alone?

[00:59:44] Trevor Long: It would have been a great sequel. They could have definitely done some stuff.

[00:59:47] Stephen Fenech: Well, I’ve got news for you, there was a sequel. Really? The Sting 2 was released. Don’t name it 2. It was Sting 2, not released in 1983, so 10 years later. American comedy, uh, again written by David S. Ward, directed by Jeremy Paul Hagen, starring Jackie Gleason, Mac Davis, Terry Garr, Karl Malden, and Oliver Reed. But was— well, that’s rubbish. You need a sequel is Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Jesus, they didn’t— they weren’t up for that one. Probably couldn’t afford them. Yeah, but it was a mild success.

[01:00:22] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:23] Stephen Fenech: Question 3: too long, too short, or just right?

[01:00:26] Trevor Long: Oh, controversial. I’m telling you, it’s too too long.

[01:00:29] Stephen Fenech: Oh, okay. What was it, 2 hours 10 or something?

[01:00:31] Trevor Long: Yeah, yeah.

[01:00:32] Stephen Fenech: And anything over 2 hours is a no-go territory.

[01:00:35] Trevor Long: I’ve watched and enjoyed many a 2-hour movie. Yeah, this, mate, this dragged on.

[01:00:40] Stephen Fenech: Really?

[01:00:40] Trevor Long: I’m telling you, I don’t think it did. There was times where I went, you know what, Choco, let’s just go to bed. Oh, I’ll watch this tomorrow. Oh, like, it was— mate, come on.

[01:00:47] Stephen Fenech: Like, what parts though? Like, there was everything led to— it was like a domino. One thing.

[01:00:51] Trevor Long: Yeah, but it was like it became predictable in that sense. It’s like, hey, well, now, now the FBI is involved, now this is happening. What are we getting to? Here.

[01:00:58] Stephen Fenech: Okay, yeah, fair call. All right, well, that was, uh, The Sting. Give us your wrap-up and rating.

[01:01:06] Trevor Long: Long and difficult in the early stages, but see, the problem is if I put myself in 1973, ’74 watching this at the cinema, I’m just— I’m just eating more popcorn, I’m drinking some Coke, and then I’m, I’m raving about it as I walk out. Do you know what I mean? You think about how you leave a cinema, you know. You leave a cinema and you immediately turn to your buddy and you go, well, that was this. And remember what we see the other month? Social Reckoning. And as soon— we’re not even out of the cinema and we’re all, what about this and what about that? So the, the, the last 15 minutes of this movie, yeah, allow it to be the success that it is. I, I struggled with it up until that point. Okay, it just— it was fine, but it was like, my God, this is an Oscar-winning movie. What are we talking about here? So I struggled with it for that. But you know, the payoff was extreme. Yeah, like, not that you would have ended it and rated it with 15 minutes to go, but mate, this was a 5.5 for me. I’m like, what are we doing here?

[01:02:03] Stephen Fenech: Really?

[01:02:03] Trevor Long: Like, I’m not enjoying this movie. But then you just leap ahead and you go, okay, mate, so it’s a 7 for me on totality because it earned everything in that last— in that last sting.

[01:02:14] Stephen Fenech: So you’re saying there wasn’t enough happening, buildup was a bit too too long, too drawn out. It should have been tighter.

[01:02:19] Trevor Long: Yes. Yeah, it needs more stuff. It needs to be tightened up to bring you to the payoff.

[01:02:24] Stephen Fenech: Right. Well, I’m an 8.5. This is a favorite of 8.5 right here.

[01:02:28] Trevor Long: Yeah, there it is.

[01:02:29] Stephen Fenech: Next week, completely different movie. Okay, um, watching Deep Blue Sea, right? Released in 1999, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Thomas Jane, Saffron Burrows, directed by Renny Harlan. Now, just to give you a snapshot of this, there’s a remote research facility. They’re trying to come up with a cure for Alzheimer’s, researching on, um, in particular, sharks.

[01:02:56] Trevor Long: Jesus.

[01:02:57] Stephen Fenech: All right, but Renny Harlan— the question is about Renny Harlan, the director.

[01:03:01] Trevor Long: Never heard of him.

[01:03:02] Stephen Fenech: Okay, well, you’re not going to get this, this question. Oh, what a shock. Which of these movies did Renny Harlan not direct.

[01:03:10] Trevor Long: Okay.

[01:03:11] Stephen Fenech: A, Die Hard. B, Cliffhanger. C, The Long Kiss Goodnight. D, Cutthroat Island. So one of those.

[01:03:20] Trevor Long: Good night.

[01:03:21] Stephen Fenech: We did that movie and he directed that, so you’re wrong.

[01:03:24] Trevor Long: I don’t remember directors.

[01:03:25] Stephen Fenech: Uh, he didn’t direct Die Hard. He directed Die Hard 2.

[01:03:29] Trevor Long: Okay.

[01:03:30] Stephen Fenech: Die Hard was directed by John McTiernan. Wow, I’m shocked you didn’t know that.

[01:03:34] Trevor Long: Sorry to the director community who are listening to this, but I could The rats.

[01:03:37] Stephen Fenech: All right, well, that’s Deep Blue Sea. It’s a completely different type of movie from what we’ve seen today, but that’s the whole idea, mate. Variety is the spice of life.

[01:03:46] Trevor Long: Yeah, sure, sure.

[01:03:47] Stephen Fenech: All right, so we’ll talk to you next week. I’m glad you enjoyed The Sting, or kind of enjoyed The Sting, but let’s, let’s check back next week. See you, mate.

[01:03:54] Trevor Long: Bye-bye.