It was a sad fate it didn't deserve. For in fact The Sting II overall is a moderately superior sequel to a grossly overrated original. Riding on the coattails of the Newman-Redford-George Roy Hill-directed Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting couldn't miss. It was well-written but conventionally made, and with none of the visual flair of Butch Cassidy, The Sting looked like a TV movie -- probably because so much of its budget went to its two stars. In retrospect, its Best Picture win now seems absurd: in a year that saw the U.S. release of Cries and Whispers, The Last Detail, Last Tango in Paris, Papillion, Day for Night, Badlands, and Mean Streets, the award goes to The Sting? Even Universal, the company behind the Newman-Redford hit, had a far more worthy candidate it pretty much chose to ignore, American Graffiti.

While not especially memorable, The Sting II, set in 1940 New York, six years after the original, is better-produced and equally clever. Since so much of its appeal derives from its con games and double-double-crosses, this review will reveal only its basic premise: Following the murder of longtime friend Kid Colors, legendary con artist Gondorff (Gleason) decides to take revenge on crime boss Macalinski (Karl Malden), whom he blames for Kid Colors' murder.

Actually, it's Gondorff's old nemesis, Lonnegan (Oliver Reed, in the part originally played by Robert Shaw), who's behind the murder. He's obsessed with humiliating Gondorff and winning back the $500,000 he lost six years ago. Gondorff, meanwhile, assembles his old team of grifters, with an elaborate scheme with Hooker (Davis) masquerading as a hot if unknown prizefighter.

Although critics balked at the idea of Gleason and Davis filling Newman and Redford's shoes, the casting for the most part works just fine. Though obviously written for the original actors -- it's hard to watch The Sting II and not picture them in the sequel; squint and you can almost see them -- Gleason is excellent and Davis isn't bad, certainly no worse than serviceable. The gambling dens, the smoke-filled pool halls and nightclubs are Gleason's milieu, and the actor even gets to shoot a little pool. 20th Century-Fox unwisely opted for look-alikes for their 1979 follow-up to Butch Cassidy -- and were heavily criticized for it. Yet when the makers of The Sting II settled on actors who looked nothing like Newman and Redford (a better idea) they were unfairly criticized as well.

With Newman and Redford unavailable for whatever reason, who could blame Universal for wanting to move ahead with a sequel to one of their all-time biggest hits? After all, the success of The Sting was as much David S. Ward's script, its period atmosphere, and Scott Joplin's music as anything else, so why not?

The film is quite lavish by early-1980s standards. More than the original, the sequel moves off Universal's backlot quite a bit, and Albert Whitlock's elaborate and very effective matte paintings evoke the period well. The Scott Joplin music, out of place in the original 1933 setting is even more an anachronism in 1940, but is pleasant enough.

Teri Garr is fine as Davis's love interest, a tough-as-nails grifter herself, whose role in the action isn't clear until the highly satisfying denouement. Reed is out of his league playing an intellectual gangster, though like Robert Shaw (who died in 1978) he's a master at projecting the itchy brutality that the role calls for. Karl Malden is very good (and a good sport, considering the constant embarrassment his character suffers) as a vulgar bully prime for Gondorff's picking. Malden was 70 when this was made, and while he doesn't look it, scenes where he and Gleason (then 65 himself) try to woo Teri Garr (anywhere from about 32-37, depending who's story you believe) have a certain dirty old man flavor.

Video & Audio

Universal's DVD of The Sting II is 16:9 anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen (unlike the original, which is 4:3 full frame on DVD) and looks quite good for a movie from this era. Colors are solid and the image lacks the overly-grainy quality of so many early-'80s titles. The Dolby Digital mono (certainly this has to be one of the last big budget mono movies?) is strong for what it is. Included are English hard-of-hearing subtitles, as well as subs in Spanish and French.

Extra Features

The only extra is a battered trailer in 4:3 format, with bad sound but complete with narration and text.

Parting Thoughts

Though no lost classic, The Sting II deserves a second look. The almost always delightful Gleason is always fun to watch (and better served than in his Smokey & the Bandit movies for the same studio) and the picture's clever script and handsome production design give this a slight edge over its overrated predecessor.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Los Angeles and Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf -- The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. His new book, Cinema Nippon will be published by Taschen in 2005.