Trivia / The Sting

• Ability over Appearance: Henry Gondorff was originally written for an overweight, past one's prime slob, and was a minor character. He was only in about half of David S. Ward's original screenplay, and was intended to be an older, paunchier fellow-a sort of gruff mentor to Johnny Hooker. The producers originally envisioned Peter Boyle to play the role, but Paul Newman loved the screenplay and was eager to play Gondorff. Ultimately, Ward slimmed down the character and beefed up the role to fit Newman.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Numerous actors were offered the role of Doyle Lonnegan, and all, for various reasons, including the fact that the role was the movie's "mark," turned down the offer. When it finally came to Robert Shaw, he had no qualms whatsoever, and readily accepted the part. Producer Julia Phillips praised Shaw in an interview, stating that she personally felt he saved the picture, as it would have been impossible to make without casting the key role of Lonnegan.
• Colbert Bump: Marvin Hamlisch's score, adapting a few Scott Joplin pieces, raised Joplin's profile several decades after his death. Not only did Hamlisch's rendition of "The Entertainer" become a huge hit on the pop chart, but the soundtrack's success is credited with kickstarting Joplin's positive reappraisal by musicologists.
• Completely Different Title: In Finland, the film was released as Puhallus (The Con Game). In Poland it has a very literal translation as Żądło (The Bee Stinger), missing the original slang meaning.
• Dawson Casting: One of the few complaints about the movie was that Robert Redford seemed too old to be playing a rookie character like Hooker.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: It stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Need we say more?
• Fake Irish: The English Robert Shaw as Doyle Lonnegan. That said, he did live in Ireland.
• Franchise Killer: The Sting II got a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. We still don't want to talk about that....
• Irony as She Is Cast: Doyle Lonnegan is said to be teetotal. In Real Life, Robert Shaw was a notorious drinker.
  I drink too much. Will you tell me one great actor who doesn't drink?
• Playing Against Type: Paul Newman had been advised to avoid doing comedy films, because he didn't have the light touch needed to play comedy. Part of the reason Newman wanted to play Henry Gondorff was to prove that he could play comedy as well as drama.
• Reality Subtext: Robert Shaw, who plays Doyle Lonnegan, injured his knee just before the shooting began. He incorporated the resulting limp into his performance.
• Recycled Script: Much of the plot appears in the Orson Welles radio program episode of The Lives of Harry Lime entitled "Horse Play." It was on radio in 1951.
• The Red Stapler: Similarly to what Bonnie and Clyde had done for women, the film's 1930's-inspired fashions ignited a trend in men's clothes across the country with gangster suits briefly becoming all the rage.
• Revival by Commercialization: The film revived interest in Scott Joplin's music, particularly "The Entertainer".
• Sequel Gap: The first movie was released in 1973 while the sequel was released in 1983. Funny, they are released in early decades.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Johnny Hooker because he didn't want to do such a commercial film at the time. Warren Beatty also passed on it. Robert Wagner was also considered.
  • Lee Van Cleef was considered for Henry Gondorff.
  • Sterling Hayden turned down the role of Doyle Lonnegan because he didn't want to shave his beard off. Oliver Reed was offered the role, but refused to test for it. He did play the role in The Sting II. Ed Asner, Richard Boone, Stephen Boyd and Laurence Olivier were also considered.
  • The original script was a much darker tale of con men on the take. George Roy Hill envisioned it as a playful homage to old Hollywood gangster films of the 1930s.
• Written-In Infirmity:
  • During filming, Robert Redford was recovering from a broken right thumb sustained in a skiing accident a few months before, and was supposed to be wearing a cast. Numerous times in the film he uses his right hand oddly to avoid using the thumb, such as holding a fork with four fingers but not the thumb.
  • Doyle Lonnegan's characteristic limp was the result of Robert Shaw spraining his ankle during rehearsal.

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