THE STING

Directed by George Roy Hill, 1973.

Date: Sep 19th, 2005. Format: Dvd. Surrounding: Tampere.

Among American directors of the 1970's, George Roy Hill must be the one who best goes under the term "quality entertainment". This is an extremely oldfashioned con men film, but still, it's stylish and enjoyable. There is a wonderful epic sense of innocent times, sort of grand illusion, which can only be created in film art. It doesn't even try to be realistic. I wasn't first very hooked on Scott Joplin's ragtime music used in the film, but in the end I started to like it. I can imagine how some left-wing radicals criticised this film in the 1970's because the tendence of criminality is so nostalgic and the film doesn't try to say anything abouts the facts of society. This is a bit like chaplinisque daydream of the past. It actually reminded me of one children's book of the Tammen kultaiset kirjat series. There was a little boy who was out in the streets and played with a ring. If someone knows the name of the book, i'd be delighted to know. ****