Assigned Film for 30 May 2008

THE STING
Assigned Film for 30 May 2008

---

The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973) received Oscars for Best Picture, Editing, Costume Design, and musical score, among others. It reteamed superstars Paul Newman and Rober Redford (Oscar-nominated for the film) following their box-office hit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Like that film (whose "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" won the Best Song Oscar), the later film's musical score also received an Oscar and doubtless contributed to the film's popularity. We'll focus mainly on the use of that musical score, but also consider editing (especially several silent montage sequences), with mention of the film's sepia-themed art direction, which also won an Oscar.
    Marvin Hamlisch's score is mostly based on Scott Joplin's turn-of-the-century rags (highly syncopated piano pieces), arranged to fit the period of the 1930s. The more you familiarize yourselves with these rags, the better you will appreciate their use in the film and notice variations on the themes. The beautiful tune, Solace is played in a dirgelike variation as underscore for the death of Luther; while the Pine Apple Rag is used for the superb barber montage sequence, silent except for the musical underscore. You can't appreciate the variations unless you familiarize yourself with the tunes. Joshua Rifkin's recordings of Joplin's rags (in several volumes) are highly recommended, if they're still available. Rifkin helped Americans to rediscover this gifted Afro-American composer, neglected for most of a century until Rifkin's concert versions of these rags (in slower tempi than usually played) revealed their great beauty.

---