Other mistake: The reporting of the horse race used to sting Doyle Lonnegan stops as soon as the fake FBI agents raid the bookmakers. J J Singleton, who is reading the results of the race, stops when he sees the raid taking place. However, that was supposed to be a live broadcast from the racetrack itself. It should have continued. Lonnegan isn't stupid - he would pick up on something like that immediately.
The Sting (1973)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: George Roy Hill
Starring: Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Charles Durning, Robert Shaw, Dana Elcar, Robert Earl Jones
Lonnegan bets 500,000 dollars on a horse and looses. The Feds come in and arrest Gondorf. Gondorf shoots Hooker. Agent Polk shoots Gondorf. Lutenint Snyder takes Lonnegan away. The Feds tell Hooker and Gondorf the coast is clear and they get up. They were just acting. The Feds weren't really the Feds. They were Gondorf's buddies. Hooker and Gondorf walk away.
Riff Raff
More mistakes in The Sting
Henry Gondorff: Pleased to meet you, kid. You're a real horse's ass.
Trivia: Even though it sets the mood for the film, Scott Joplin's ragtime music was no longer popular during the 1930s.
Question: Lonnegan killed the Currier and Luther, and was trying to kill Hooker. How come nobody was looking for Joe Erie? even Snyder knew he was involved.
Chosen answer: Snyder only knew that Erie was friends with Hooker, and he wasn't on Lonnegan's payroll, just a run-of-the-mill corrupt policeman, so he didn't know Erie was involved. The Courier barely saw Erie and so may not have been able to identify him as well as he did Hooker and Luther, so Erie was unknown to Lonnegan.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Suggested correction: This isn't a mistake. The person "operating the radio" could easily have switched it off because of the commotion. Lonnegan would simply suppose this is what had happened. He is not going to instantly suspect someone is faking the whole thing.