Just a few weeks ago, I watched The Sting again for the umpteenth time. And the incredible thing is that I still enjoyed it. On the complete opposite end, however, I can never imagine myself staying in front of the tube and watching Ocean's Eleven again, even though I've only watched it once.Before I even continue on with this debate, let me first state that I am not some old timer who starts all her sentences with "Back in the good, old days". The Sting was produced years before I was born so I would like to say that it is my unbiased opinion that the technologies we have in modern times have squashed the spirit of a well, good old con game movie.
Ideally, I think the con genre should focus more on wits rather than new-fangled inventions or super computer hacker geniuses but this ideology becomes increasingly harder to do because of said inventions. For instance, in The Sting, the scam was to fool a very rich man into thinking that he is in a legit horse betting place, with foolproof betting tips from the owner's (Paul Newman) assistant (Robert Redford). They were able to do so with little gadgets, and lots of clever acting.
Then again, one might say that a con in the old days was easier due to less security measures. For example, in The Sting, there was no TV yet, so horse betting updates were broadcast via radio. This meant they simply had to hire a con artist who can do a very good radio voice to dictate the results. Fast forward to today. With the TV and the Internet, the victim of the scam could have easily verified whether or not his bets were real! Not to mention it would be hard and expensive to tape horse races for their scam!
It's a double edged sword then. Due to 21st century technology, the con can either be harder to execute or painlessly easy to implement, if you had all the important machines with you. The challenge is to create a movie that walks through the thin line between both, and doesn't drown the viewer in technology jargon. Certainly, you wouldn't want the viewer to simply swallow the idea that you can realistically edit a security video footage under a short few minutes (Leverage), or that a drill that can move the earth can be easily acquired (Ocean's Thirteen).
The other thing is the location of the horse betting office. One could Google for background info nowadays.
ReplyDeleteIt made me think how much old school con artists have to adapt in the modern game. If they don't know too much about recent technological advances, they'll be prone to missteps that could easily ruin their plans. But I realize that thought makes the assumption that old schoolers won't have accumulated any knowledge on the intervening years.
This was my first time to watch The String and I gotta say, I could have easily mistaken Robert Redford for Brad Pitt in this film.