Ok, so here's the problem with The Sting. In order to get Schneider off of Hooker, they have to tell him that Gondorf and that they're running a con on a mark (Lonnigan). That takes care of Schneider well enough, but it puts Gondorf (in particular) in a world of hurt. Lonigan and Schneider are clearly going to talk when Lonigan is getting hustled out of the scene, and Schneider is going to tell him that the guy he thinks is Kelly is really Hooker -- and that Shaw (Paul Newman) is really Henry Gondorf, a con man so famous that "every bunco cop in America" knows him.
So at this point, there are two possibilities. First, that Lonigan takes the narrative on its face and believes that he was the mark for Gondorf, Hooker sold Gondorf out, and Hooker is dead. At best, he thinks Gondorf is going to prison. He will want to know where Gondorf is going to be prosecuted and which Federal prison he will be going to -- likely with the object of killing him in prison. When he finds out the answer -- that there IS no Henry Gondorf in the Federal prison system -- he's going to know that he's been fleeced. And since he "kills for pride," Gondorf will have failed to achieve the entire objective of the con -- to "keep [Lonigan's] mark" even after the con is over. So Gondorf, at a minimum, has just bought a life on the run. He's wanted by the Feds and, worse, he's got Lonigan enraged. For life.
That all assumes that Lonigan buys the con on its face and believes that Gondorf is getting prosecuted and that Hooker is dead. Once he finds out that Gondorf is not in prison, he will also figure out that Hooker is alive. And so they are both going to be on the run the rest of their lives. If they settle in any big city with a mob presence they're at risk and if they get arrested running even two-bit cons there's the chance a corrupt cop could let Lonigan's people know.. Either way they're dead..
But there's also a possibility that when Lonigan hears Schneider's tale he suspects that even the FBI raid was a con and he heads back -- with his torpedos -- back to the book parlor and the whole thing explodes.
Great movie and they set the hook early about keeping Lonigan's con so that the side-con with Schneider seems like a small detail. But in the end I think it exposes the whole operation.
So at this point, there are two possibilities. First, that Lonigan takes the narrative on its face and believes that he was the mark for Gondorf, Hooker sold Gondorf out, and Hooker is dead. At best, he thinks Gondorf is going to prison. He will want to know where Gondorf is going to be prosecuted and which Federal prison he will be going to -- likely with the object of killing him in prison. When he finds out the answer -- that there IS no Henry Gondorf in the Federal prison system -- he's going to know that he's been fleeced. And since he "kills for pride," Gondorf will have failed to achieve the entire objective of the con -- to "keep [Lonigan's] mark" even after the con is over. So Gondorf, at a minimum, has just bought a life on the run. He's wanted by the Feds and, worse, he's got Lonigan enraged. For life.
That all assumes that Lonigan buys the con on its face and believes that Gondorf is getting prosecuted and that Hooker is dead. Once he finds out that Gondorf is not in prison, he will also figure out that Hooker is alive. And so they are both going to be on the run the rest of their lives. If they settle in any big city with a mob presence they're at risk and if they get arrested running even two-bit cons there's the chance a corrupt cop could let Lonigan's people know.. Either way they're dead..
But there's also a possibility that when Lonigan hears Schneider's tale he suspects that even the FBI raid was a con and he heads back -- with his torpedos -- back to the book parlor and the whole thing explodes.
Great movie and they set the hook early about keeping Lonigan's con so that the side-con with Schneider seems like a small detail. But in the end I think it exposes the whole operation.
