Robert Shaw had a limp on this film attributable to an actual harm

Robert Shaw was one thing of a heartthrob swashbuckler within the late Nineteen Fifties on the TV sequence The Buccaneers, earlier than breaking by means of to films by taking part in a James Bond villain in From Russia with Love (1963). He’ll all the time be best-known for 2 Nineteen Seventies films although – most prominently 1975’s Jaws in fact, but in addition 1973’s Greatest Image profitable The Sting, wherein he starred alongside Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

Shaw’s character in The Sting is Irish-American crime boss Doyle Lonnegan, and Quint in Jaws has an accent impressed by a real-life fisherman from Montauk, New Jersey and different native Cape Cod/Martha’s Winery salty seadogs. It’s subsequently shocking to be taught that Shaw grew up in Northern England, Scotland and Cornwall earlier than attending RADA and buying a reasonably ‘posh’ obtained pronunciation accent.

The Sting is an ingeniously plotted heist film set within the Nineteen Thirties, with Redford, Newman and director George Roy Hill reteaming after the success of probably the greatest Westerns of all time; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Child. The Sting revels within the pleasure of the ‘lengthy con,’ the total particulars of which aren’t revealed till proper on the finish.

An iconic early scene takes place on a prepare, wherein Newman’s Henry Gondorff pretends to be a drunk loudmouth and infiltrates Lonnegan’s high-stakes poker recreation, dishonest him out of a big sum. That is the hook that reels Lonnegan in because the mark within the lengthy con. Robert Shaw wears improbable fits, hats, and overcoats in The Sting. One other factor that makes the character stand out is his pronounced limp.

In line with the AFI, Robert Shaw had an actual limp on the time of filming attributable to struggling a handball harm shortly earlier than filming. Director George Roy Hill inspired Shaw to include it into his portrayal of Lonnegan. The Sting would go onto be a field workplace smash – making $160 million, an unbelievable sum for the time. Adjusted for inflation, it’s the twentieth highest-grossing film of all time within the US. It additionally gained seven Oscars together with Greatest Image.

To at the present time, The Sting is the one time Robert Redford has been nominated for an performing Oscar. Edith Head deservedly gained for the fabulous costumes, and the rating – which used Scott Joplin’s The Entertainer and different ragtime songs, additionally gained. The Sting will have fun its fiftieth anniversary on Christmas Day 2023.

Take a look at our guides to one of the best films of all time and one of the best actors of all time. Be certain to check out what we predict are one of the best comedy films and one of the best drama films too.