We need to talk about the one movie you have to watch on Netflix in July 2016, and I need your full attention, because it's not going to be the one you think. You're probably expecting me to roll in here and recommend Mean Girls, aren't you? And, yeah, you're not wrong — that classic piece of cinema is coming to Netflix starting Jul. 1. But that's not the movie I'm here to talk about. I'm sure you have plenty of people in your life who can recommend that you watch Mean Girls on Netflix, as if you haven't already seen it a million times, quoted it today, and owned it since it came out in 2004. But that's not who I am, and that's not what our relationship is, y'know? I'm the kind of friend in your life who pushes you to be better, to do better, to let Netflix expand your world instead of shrinking it, and that's why I'm recommending that your July movie of choice be The Sting.
Yup, you heard me right, I'm steering you away from the quotable romp of your youth and toward a 1973 film that's set in the 1930s. What's my end game here? Well, to be perfectly honest, it's raising you up to be a nice well-rounded human, because The Sting is one of those classics that fills in movie knowledge that you can't really get anywhere else.
It stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford — I mean, come on — as Henry Gondorff and Johnny Hooker, respectively, two grifters who decide to team up to take down a big fish: mob boss Doyle Lonnegan, played by Robert Shaw. Lonnegan and his men burn Hooker one too many times in a smaller con, blowing up his spo,t and killing his courier and friend, so Hooker decides to fight back, teaming up with his old friend Gondorff to pull "the big con" on Lonnegan.
And I can't really get too much more into what that means without starting to reveal key elements of the plot. All I can really say is that it's a twisting, turning adventure with crosses and double crosses that mean every time you think you know where the story is going, you find yourself upended. And, of course, the acting is as amazing as you'd imagine from a couple of luminaries like Redford and Newman. Really just insane.
If I haven't convinced you yet, perhaps you'd be more swayed by the opinion of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? That esteemed group nominated The Sting for 10 Oscars, of which it went on to win seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Not to mention it helped Julia Phillips become not only the first female producer ever nominated for an Oscar, but also the first female producer to win. Hell yeah, ladies. It's the kind of movie you can both enjoy watching, and then sound intelligent discussing later in front of your friends at a cocktail party. Because, as much evidence as I have to the contrary, I will never give up hope that cocktail parties still exist, and that one day I'll be invited to one.
You best believe I'll be seeking you out by the refreshment table to make sure you did what you promised back in July 2016 and caught yourself up on the timeless classic that is The Sting. You've seen Mean Girls too many times anyway. Probably.
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