MovieChat Forums > The Sting (1973) Discussion > If you weren't alive in 1973-74, you pro...

If you weren't alive in 1973-74, you probably have no idea...

posted 9 years ago by kentor404
30 replies | jump to latest

...how big this movie was that year, or how "blockbusters" in general were treated in the days before multiplex theaters, VCR/DVRs, and the Internet. Most theaters were still single screen, one movie at a time operations then, and prior to VCRs in the '80s if you didn't see a new or recent release while it was in a theater you didn't see it at all until it was shown on TV years later, if ever. All of those factors led to a much greater demand to see movies while they were in theaters, particularly those that got the kind of positive press and word of mouth received by The Sting.

The demand for this movie among people who not only saw it once but over and over again was so great the theater near where I lived showed it exclusively and continually for over a year, and it was not the only theater to do so. Think about that - first-run, single screen movie theaters showing one movie only for a whole year. That tells you the kind of ticket sales this movie generated over a sustained period of time, and how many people came back to see it over and over again. Even among the so-called "blockbuster" movies, there were few that generated the kind of sustained, multiple viewing tickets sales produced by The Sting. Like many people, I went back to see it at least three times that year and each time picked up details in the plot that I had previously missed. I still watch at least part of it any time I see it on TV. Great movie.

vvv WARNING - THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD vvv

Another indication of how this movie was received was the fact my 9th grade English/drama teacher took the whole class on a field trip to see this movie soon after it was released. In addition to getting out of school to go to a theater in the middle of the day, I enjoyed the movie itself (particularly the stripper scene), but some of the plot twists went over my 14 year old head that first time I saw it. I remember the gasp that went through the audience when "dead" Redford opened his eyes at end and those in the crowd who had never seen it before realized they had been conned along with the bad guys, and the "Wait a minute! You mean so-and-so was in on it all along?" conversations on the way out of the theater.

[–] swlabr 9 years ago

I was 19 or 20 when this came out. I saw it 2-3 times as it ran forever at the "fancy" theater in my town. Course we had to see it several times because we were always um "smoking " and missed important plot points lol

[–] movieghoul 9 years ago

As I recall, single screens were becoming passe at the time. I saw The Sting at a theater with 2 screens, which worked well since they could hold it over for months while still showing other films. Same for Jaws in 1975.

[–] kentor404 9 years ago

Yes, Jaws was another "blockbuster" that did huge repeat business sufficient to keep it running in theaters exclusively for many months.

You're also right about the mid '70s being a time of big transition for the movie theater industry. Sometime soon after the exclusive, year-long engagement of The Sting mentioned above, that particular theater remodeled and subdivided into twin screens, then like most neighborhood theaters back then, was completely put out of business a few years later by purpose-built multi-screen theaters (with four screens, typically) that sprang up in or near suburban shopping malls. Those early multi-screen mall theaters were later themselves run out of business by even bigger complexes with 15-18 screens ('80s), then later generations with "stadium seating" and multi-story IMAX screens ('90s - '00s).

A few of the old single-screen neighborhood theaters that somehow managed to survive those days have since been rehabbed and are now treasures for the towns and cities lucky enough to still have them.

[–] davidrbarcena 9 years ago

I was just thinking about that while watching this movie. I was born in the eighties and as far as I can remember, always had VCRs. That meant I could watch any movie from the big screen on tape if I didn't get to go, also any movie from my childhood era is likely available on some format for me to watch now, if I'd like. I imagined how movies before the invention of the VCR would play and be gone. The only chance of seeing it again was if a theatre re-ran it. So many of my father's childhood-era films would not be reseen by him for at least 20 years. More if they weren't released on VHS right away. Some movies on TCM may not have been viewed by masses for decades.

[–] SolariS6 9 years ago

Damn spoilers, didn't see that coming from the first paragraph and title. And yes, I haven't seen this movie yet, was about to and scanning for general feedback when the title of this thread caught my attention.

[–] kentor404 9 years ago

Fixed it.

Sorry, it should have occurred to me that even with an old movie there could be someone reading this thread who hasn't seen it.

[–] Quentin36 9 years ago

40 year old movies don't need spoiler alerts

[–] Gus-69 8 years ago

Yes, they do. Many people haven't seen them yet.

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http://viverdecinema.blogspot.com.br/

[–] strntz (10790) 5 years ago

If there's a movie I have no interest in, I read the boards. If I have any intention of watching a movie for the first time, I avoid movie boards like the clap.

[–] scrabbler1 9 years ago

I was 10 years old when this movie came out in 1973 and I saw in the theater several times back then. But what enabled me to see it many, many more times was the beginning of Cable TV hitting my area in 1974. There were very few package options and channels back then but one of them included a fledgling new station called HBO which showed some fairly new movies, without any commercials, over and over. One of those movies was "The Sting" and must have seen that great movie at least 20 times, enabling me to catch moments in the movie I may have missed the previous time I saw it.

"The Sting" had a big impact on my life at the time due to its musical soundtrack which was mostly Ragtime by Scott Joplin. My dad, a big jazz fan, also liked Ragtime and he not only bought a record with rags played by Joshua Rifkin but also bought the sheet music for the Rags in "The Sting," a booklet I now own. In the 1980s I began teaching myself to play many of those Rags, some in the movie but others not in the movie from sheet music I bought on my own.

My grandfather loved that music, too, and in the 1990s I made an audio recording of a medley I created for him. I haven't played the piano in a while but I still like listening to the music and make sure to catch the movie on TV when it airs (not nearly as often as it did on HBO in the mid-1970s).

Once in a while I find myself using a funny and/or memorable line from the movie in my everyday conversation. The recipient of that rarely if ever picks up on it.

[–] kentor404 9 years ago

I had the soundtrack too (on 8-track, of course), and I just about wore it out. I'm sure you remember that several of those songs got a lot of radio airplay at the time, including on Top 40 pop stations, oddly enough. I wonder what Scott Joplin would have thought about his music becoming so popular again in the 1970s, over a half century after his death? On one hand, a Ragtime soundtrack for The Sting is like a movie set IN the 2000s having a soundtrack made up entirely of '80s music, but it was still great. It introduced me to that genre and I still love it.

[–] SnoozeAlarm 9 years ago

OP is right. The movie was all over the place when it came out.

It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!

[–] tinribs 8 years ago

I was nine and it was the first adult film I went to see. It was a British rating A which meant a child could get in with an adult.

I went with my parents and you're right, it must have been quite a while after the release because we had to find somewhere that was still showing it. I can't remember which cinema we went to, but it wasn't our usual one.

Because it was two bus rides away we were late and missed the start. Only 10 minutes at the most. At the end I begged to stay for the next screening - you used to be able to do that! My parents said I could watch up to the point where we came in and then we'd have to leave.

It started again and we got to that point and my parents didn't move so I thought they hadn't noticed but soon would. We ended up watching it all the way through because they obviously didn't want to leave either.

We nearly missed the last bus home but it was worth it. It's just been on telly again and though I didn't mean to, I ended up watching it again.

Thanks for reminding me of that time.

[–] sjbemis 8 years ago

Great story!!..My Dad used to help me and friend at 14 years old get in to the R rated Dirty Harry movies in the 70's and he'd end up staying for 45 minutes !!!

[–] Mickey77 8 years ago

In days before cable and VCR - a blockbuster film like THE STING stayed in theatres for years - then later on being part of a double feature.

In the UK - there was a five year ban on theatrical films before they reached network TV.

Some movies took stay around for decades before making it to TV

In the UK

Gone With The Wind - first shown on TV in December, 1981

The Sound Of Music - first shown on TV in December, 1979

The Bridge Of The River Kwai - first shown on TV in December, 1976

"Thank God For Darwin"

[–] ecarle (14979) 5 years ago

Its correct to mention that The Sting dominated "1973-74" because that's how it was in those days.

Christmas blockbusters came out at the end of one year...and then dominated on into the first months of the next year.

This still happens with Christmas blockbusters today, but back then Christmas was the "big season" for blockbusters, summer not so much. (Until: Jaws.)

The theme song was all over the radio, it was the soundtrack to our lives in '74.

And folks had to go back AT LEAST one more time to see how the sting worked on US.

Came the summer of 1974, The Sting was still playing in "second run" houses and at the same time, Fox brought back "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" for a summer run. For a few weeks there, The Sting and Butch Cassidy were in the same theaters at the same time.

What's most amazing to me about all this is that The Sting got its blockbuster status without the usual things that get it: there was no action, no shootouts, no explosions; no special effects; no shock scares or slasher murders or Satanic horrors. No it was just the pairing of two "hot"(in all meanings of the word) male stars, an immersion in nostalgia -- and one of the most unique scripts ever written.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

...how big this movie was that year, or how "blockbusters" in general were treated in the days before multiplex theaters, VCR/DVRs, and the Internet. Most theaters were still single screen, one movie at a time operations then, and prior to VCRs in the '80s if you didn't see a new or recent release while it was in a theater you didn't see it at all until it was shown on TV years later, if ever. All of those factors led to a much greater demand to see movies while they were in theaters, particularly those that got the kind of positive press and word of mouth received by The Sting.

---

I feel that I "live in the future" now -- a future that decades ago was in some ways unimaginable, in which you can pretty much watch any major movie from any year at any time you want --- you can order it off streaming OR cable services; you can buy the DVD(in a store or direct order). "Back then" -- movies "went away" -- sometimes for YEARS, and all you really had was your memory of a great film. Conversely, people like my parents would TELL me about movies that they saw years ago...and I just had to imagine those movies, they weren't around to watch.

The Sting had its massive first run from Xmas of 1973 on into the spring of 1974, and then was re-released a few years later to theaters(the Special Edition DVD has a re-release trailer -- "Remember when you first saw The Sting? Remember that great feeling it gave you?".) HBO wasn't widespread in the 70s and VCRs for "regular people" didn't exist yet(movie stars had them) so in the US, ABC paid big bucks to debut The Sting on a Sunday night in the fall of 1977, and millions of Americans watched that broadcast.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

A stroke of luck with seeing The Sting for me, in 1974:

I lived in Los Angeles in the 70's and I was in student housing which was within a selective area that had a "local" pay-tv-movie channel called "The Z Channel." This channel existed to mainly serve the "movie people"(stars, directors, craftspeople) of LA, but some of us regular people could subscribe, too. HBO wasn't yet available in the area, nor in much of the US at all in 1974, so "Z Channel" was all we had in LA.

Money was pooled by the students to subscribe to "The Z Channel." It only showed three movies a week, for the entire week -- 7 days. There would be one big recent movie(say, The Sting), one lesser recent movie (say, Super Cops) and one "older" big hit that Z had already shown(say, in 1974, The Godfather.)

Anyway, we started subscribing to The Z channel at the student housing 1974, and -- lo and behold -- there it was, The Sting, on our small dorm TV, over and over, for seven days. I recall feeling like a mistake had been made, like we were STEALING something, like it was IMPOSSIBLE to have The Sting on our TV for a week, a couple of times a day.

But we weren't.

A few years later, HBO became so widespread that the Z channel went out of business. And a few years after that(early 80s), the VCR was introduced and movies were put out for sale on VHS (and the long-lamented Betamax.) Or..you could tape movies off of HBO or network or local.

But there was something "magical" about The Z Channel -- just for some of us in LA alone -- and getting to see The Sting one year after it came out...on TV.