The Sting (1973)
DIRECTOR: George Roy Hill
CAST: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, Charles Durning
REVIEW:
The Sting is a sort of grandfather of movies like Ocean’s Eleven; a slick glossy piece of entertainment with a twisty-turny crime caper plot and populated by some popular and photogenic movie stars getting back together and having some fun. Reuniting co-stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford and director George Roy Hill from 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and written by screenwriter David S. Ward, inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Men, The Sting is an entertaining and enjoyable cinematic exercise that goes on its tangled way with slick assurance and panache, serving up plenty of “keep you guessing” twists and turns and reveals along the way.
Continue readingThe Day of The Jackal (1973)
DIRECTOR: Fred Zinnemann
CAST: Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, Tony Britton, Derek Jacobi, Cyril Cusack, Ronald Pickup
REVIEW:
Fred Zinnemann’s The Day of The Jackal, adapted from Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel of the same name, is a masterfully executed piece of filmmaking methodically setting all its many pieces in motion like a fine watch. Its dry, almost documentary style and slow burn pace might not be appreciated by modern viewers demanding something flashier and more action-oriented (while this is considered a suspense thriller, it’s not an action movie and those who go in expecting such may be disappointed and bored), but for those to whom this kind of movie appeals, it’s hard to imagine this material being more masterfully executed, or an assassination plot and the investigation opposing it being written with more meticulous logic.
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