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Connections, in both directions
The film is also what we would like to call a scam-edy, a mix of jocularity and plot twists, of the type that has powered starry Hollywood vehicles like “The Sting,” movies in which the acting, characters and glamorous patina are so distracting that viewers won’t notice till the end—if they even care—that they’ve had their reality hijacked by a brilliantly constructed con game ABOUT a brilliantly constructed con game.
In that respect, there’s a dash of Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve” (Adams’ on-and-off British accent plays like an homage to Barbara Stanwyck) in a picture that otherwise suggests an Altmanesque spin on “The Sting.”
Unlike other films about confidence men such as “The Sting” or “Paper Moon”, the humor in “American Hustle” is conceptual rather than so old-fashioned as to rest on witty dialogue or farcical situations.
The Sting (1973) had a satisfying payoff.
Cowriter (with "The International's" Eric Singer)/director David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook") gives his latest, loosely based on Abscam, a tone of cocaine-fueled conning that plays like an updated screwball romantic comedy version of "The Sting" structured like Scorcese's 70's set "Goodfellas."
The result is an entertaining screwball caper film that wants you to think of "The Sting," Preston Sturges and that Scorsese fella.
Savages (2012)
Directed by Oliver Stone
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973)
Themes Plot
Kitsch, Johnson and Lively are all young, beautiful actors, but they have the combined screen presence of a cactus: During a dinner scene, when Ophelia name-checks Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, your mind drifts for a moment, wondering what Savages might have been like if Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross in these roles.
But in a film that overtly references “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” it’s only natural for the filmmaker to be thinking of other Newman/Redford pictures and how they conclude.
In the novel, Winslow had the gall to blatantly compare their seemingly ill-fated threesome to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (as did Stephen King in a generous pull quote) and the movie makes the same brash connection.
And also by disastrously name-dropping Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , because those people were also glamorous, gorgeous law-breakers - that they were played by better actors and given better things to say in a more entertaining plot is something we are presumably meant to ignore.
And, in what many will recognize as a very Old Bohemian trope (the girl of the trio does indeed bring up " Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid "), they share the affections of O, a beautiful, poor little rich girl ( Blake Lively ).
The single greatest deviation from the source material is the movie’s ending, which turns away from the “Butch Cassidy” reference point in favor of something closer to “The Sting.”
It’s yet another reminder that if it’s not called “The Sting,” you shouldn’t get too comfortable with a con-game movie.
It swivels logic and loyalties when necessary, borrows from better cinema scams like The Sting, and plays everyone for suckers.
In the con-artist genre, filmmakers come up with winning hands when they pair the right cast with unexpected double-dealings, as in George Roy Hill’s “The Sting.”
Con-job movies delight by diagramming in detail the workings of the scams, by having fun with the camaraderie of the partners in crime and by righting some wrong (such as taking down a villain like the one played by Robert Shaw in “The Sting”).
You have, in dozens of better movies, from "The Sting" to "The Grifters" to the "Ocean's Eleven" series and "American Hustle."
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Directed by Edgar Wright
influenced by Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
In referencing Kurt Vonnegut with its use of the last name of the author's "Slaughterhouse-Five" protagonist Billy Pilgrim, the movie seems to promise some amount of time-shifting social criticism.
Road to Perdition (2002)
Directed by Sam Mendes
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
When you consider what Hall did for exceptional films such as, Searching For Bobby Fischer, Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, and American Beauty , you know that his work, when combined with the right material, can be mesmerizing.
Actually, he kind of resembles an older version of his character in "The World According to Garp." Williams does do a good job of projecting Walter's main theme - that he doesn't believe he's evil and he doesn't care about his actions.
Certain aspects are reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five and Mother Night.
13 Assassins (2010)
Directed by Takashi Miike
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Themes
This film draws on so many precedents that I can only list a few: Unforgiven for the grim revenge tale with no limits set on that revenge; Seven Samurai for the story of assembling a motley crew in order to achieve a mission; Lone Wolf and Cub for the theme of the few battling the many and for the almost absurd excesses of the final battle; Ran for the attention to period feel and detail; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for the theme of people stuck in the ethos of a past era while the world has moved on; and any number of exploitation horror films (the Saw franchise, The Human Centipede) for the grotesque mutilations that are depicted in 13 Assassins.
Forrest Gump (1994)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
influenced by The World According to Garp (1982)
Themes Plot Visuals
Although hard to pigeonhole, the picture unavoidably recalls the idiot-savant classic “Being There,” and significantly resembles “The World According to Garp” in tone.
Mixing elements of "Rain Man," "The World According to Garp" and Woody Allen's "Zelig," "Forrest Gump" covers 30 years in Gump's life, and reframes recent history by suggesting that one man can leave his stamp -- through blunders, serendipity and simple good will -- on several key historical moments.
That's the cinematic formula for "Forrest Gump," which combines the most interesting elements of "The World According to Garp," Woody Allen's "Zelig" and "Being There."
His direction is inspired, and he had the good idea of crafting the film into a series of mostly short scenes which really give you an overall view of T.S. Garp's unlikely life, somehow like in "Forrest Gump".
But Kon, who held particular esteem for George Roy Hill’s time-hopping Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) and the works of Terry Gilliam (the influence of the latter is especially noticeable), and his animators kept a tight grip on this film, which swings from anarchy to crisp realism.
Intr-un interviu, Satoshi Kon s-a declarat fascinat de filme ca “ Blade Runner ” (bazat pe un roman al lui Philip K. Dick) si “ Slaughterhouse-Five ” (ecranizare a unei carti a lui Kurt Vonnegut de catre George Roy Hill), de posibilitatile pe care le aduce SF-ul anilor 70 prin distorsionarea timpului, spatiului si identitatii personajelor ; aici se intilneste Satoshi Kon cu David Cronenberg (cel din “ Videodrome ” si “ ExistenZ ” mai ales).
Satoshi Kon’un Paprika’yı animasyon dünyasında yeniden yaratma sürecinde çok sayıda ilham perisi vardı şüphesiz, ancak yukarıda bahsettiğimiz DVD’de kendisi, Kurt Vonnegut Junior’ın yazdığı romanın aynı adlı sinema uyarlaması Slaughterhouse-Five’dan (1972) ve sirk sahnesindeki karakterlerden birisi için Japon şarkıcı Tony Tani’den esinlendiğini saklamıyor.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Themes Characters
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , another pairing of golden movie idols, was the top-grossing film of 1969, a fact certainly not lost on Tarantino.
In genre terms, Once Upon a Time is a buddy film, a mode that reached its apogee in 1969 with the enormously successful Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
They come off as a lower-rent version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-era Redford and Newman, all laconically snappy patented QT dialogue, Red Apple cigarettes, and booze-fueled late-night bullshit sessions.
DiCaprio and Pitt are a total joy to watch; both actors — weathered, wry and hangdoggish, on the cinematic cusp of crossing over from beautiful and sexy into handsome and distinguished — capture the casual insouciance and telegraphed sympathies of longtime running partners (think Redford and Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid).
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced by The Sting (1973), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Visuals Plot Themes
The star's charm, Spielberg's slick visuals, and a couple of well-placed swing hits (including Frank Sinatra crooning "Come Fly With Me") combine in seductive sequences that evoke Rat Pack cool and the Newman/Redford spark of " The Sting ".
We honest folk enjoy hearing tales of cleverness and thievery, from "The Sting" to "Ocean's Eleven," particularly when the bad guys don't hurt or kill anyone.
Very much in the spirit of films like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Catch Me" is just as vivid in its characters' emotional depth as it is in depicting Frank's funny, seat-of-his-pants survival in his doctor and lawyer identities through gleaning what information he can from episodes of "Dr.
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Directed by Ang Lee
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Themes
The widely reported carryings-on in Brokeback Mountain also reminded some reviewers of the supposedly subtextual implications of Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948), with John Wayne and the posthumously “outed” Montgomery Clift, as well as George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), with Paul Newman and Robert Redford—the latter lacking even the gossipy whispers of Clift’s sexual orientation to sustain the subtextual suppositions.
She is the most compelling reason to see Letters to Juliet, which reminded me, just the tiniest bit, of Sir Laurence Olivier's A Little Romance if only because both feature the talents of a legendary British actor and Italian settings that have you ready to book your seats on Alitalia this minute.
She is the most compelling reason to see Letters to Juliet, which reminded me, just the tiniest bit, of Sir Laurence Olivier's A Little Romance ?
The Nice Guys (2016)
Directed by Shane Black
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Themes Visuals
Of course, bromantic action movies were around before we even knew what bros were; Black's idol, William Goldman, wrote the first modern one, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
The modern buddy comedy originally kicked off with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” but the screenwriter who juiced it up into its current knockabout voltage is Shane Black, when he wrote “Lethal Weapon” in 1987.
Here he draws from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, L.A. Confidential, American Hustle, and many others, and feeds his influences through today’s postmodern comedic styles to get a potent result.
There have been any number of films over the years following a couple of precociously young children falling in love in a disarmingly adult manner (at least tonally)--there was a particularly delightful one from George Roy Hill entitled "A Little Romance" with a then-unknown and impossibly young Diane Lane as the girl and Laurence Olivier as the avuncular old guy who helps them along the way.
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Characters Themes
The camaraderie between Holmes and Watson will remind you of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” Holmes’ deductive clue processing is depicted in jarring, quick-cut, “CSI”-style flashbacks of things he’s seen, assimilated and filed away in his head.
They might even survive British gangster film director Guy Ritchie's effort to graft action-film architecture, digital effects and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" camaraderie onto their legacy.
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Directed by David Dobkin
influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Sting (1973)
Characters Visuals
David Dobkin’s Wedding Crashers, from a screenplay by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, is the most exhilarating entertainment to emerge this year from the failed, forlorn factory town of Hollywood, largely because of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, the best high-low comedy team since the hey-hey days of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
…even dare to rip off the bicycle scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid .
David Dobkin’s Wedding Crashers, from a screenplay by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, is the most exhilarating entertainment to emerge this year from the failed, forlorn factory town of Hollywood, largely because of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, the best high-low comedy team since the hey-hey days of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and The Sting (1973).
In The Sting , for instance, we wonder: Is Redford conning Newman?
For those who’ve never seen one of them, the “Ocean’s” franchise is about a pack of upscale thieves, who, like Robert Redford and Paul Newman in “The Sting,” pull off masterpieces of meticulously choreographed thievery, staying slightly ahead of the authorities (and the audience).
* Imagine Ocean's Eleven becoming the second-highest grossing film of 2001, on the way to trumping A Beautiful Mind at the Oscars.