Love this classic film. Watched it again last night and realized something.
IT FAILED!!! The con, I mean.
Gondorff tells Hooker at the beginning that the mark can’t realize that he’d been played.
Lonnegan would figure out he’d been played in a day, two at the most. How? Several ways. One, there would be no news story about 2 people dying in an FBI raid. Two, Lonnegan has Political and LEO people on his payroll. He would surely inquire with them about getting back half a million dollars. He would learn that there was no FBI raid.
And he was talking with Lt Snyder, a real but dumb and corrupt cop. Snyder knows Hooker and Erie. And Hickey gave him Gondorff’s name
Hell, they already found Hooker three times…and that was for a theft of 11,000. For 500,000, how long do you think it would take them to grab Hooker, Erie and Gondorff? And then they would have the whole crew, which Lonnegan himself has seen.
Yep. One of my grandmothers went by something like six different names and called her kids by nicknames, on the rare occasions when she visited the orphanage. ETA: this was in the '30s and early '40s.
On the liner notes for the vinyl LP of The Sting soundtrack, director George Roy Hill said he would have no problem using a Dixieland jazz band for a Roman coliseum picture if he thought it would work.
The film implies that Lonnegan would not want to be linked the two deaths as that would introduce the element of scrutiny to his organization. Also, he would have had to admit that he had been conned and for many people (especially criminals) doing that would be seen as being a sign of weakness.
Realistically, they should have killed Lonnegan after “The Sting”. However, that would have been a darker narrative than would be palatable in the early 1970s in what was supposed to an adult, but still “family friendly”, film.
There’s that. Plus, Johnny and Luther only stole a couple grand, and Lonnegan’s people were looking for them within a couple hours. They steal enough at the end to take off for just about anywhere (although Johnny doesn’t take his share) and they’d have a few days head start before Lonnegan figured out what happened.
One thing that has been pointed out to me as they leave without allegedly taking their share: But as they leave one of them is carrying a suitcase that looks a lot like the one that Lonnegan used to bring in the cash.
They have to clear out of that location fast. I think the dialog hints that the principals will take their cash right then (Johnny and Henry are packed and ready to go) and the rest will get their shares at the bar that evening. Johnny specifically leaves his money, saying he’d only blow it (as he did with the money he got from Lonnegan’s courier).
Enjoy The Sting for the actors, the dialogue, and the atmosphere. As regards the plot, Mad Magazine put it best–it will make you miss the realism and credibility of My Favorite Martian.
Before he could retaliate, Lonnigan’s golfing partners hears about it because it was too big to keep quiet, and had him killed; as was foretold they’d do after Hooker and Luther grifted him.
