The Sting (1973)

Be honest - you'd get conned too if Robert Redford and Paul Newman were running it against you.

The Set-Up. The Hook. The Tale. The Wire, The Shut-Out, The Sting. This week we fall into the long con with 1973's Best Picture, The Sting. George Roy Hill puts together a smart, deliberate film that takes its time to set up the con and hooks you in. It doesn't hurt that two dreamy dudes are running the game, either. Just be careful you don't lose your money to these talented grifters.

After the break, we talk about the movie destined to award Gary Oldman his first Oscar, The Darkest Hour. While we're pretty sure this movie's winning for Best Actor (and Best Makeup), there's just no way this is winning much else. In a year full of unique and visionary film, this is the most run-of-the-mill, Oscar-bait movies out. And it doesn't help that it's mostly a big puff piece for a pretty awful dude. But it's a good movie, we guess.

NEXT WEEK: Kramer v. Kramer (1979).

You can email us with feedback at macintoshandmaud@gmail.com, or you can connect with us on Instagram (macintosh.and.maud) and Facebook.

If you like the podcast, make sure to subscribe and review on iTunes or your favorite podcatcher, and tell your friends.

Music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.