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ATTACK OF THE GREEN SLIME'S PICK SHELF #9
Every day I'm Hustlin'
The confidence trick. The scam. The flim flam, bamboozle, or the grift. Folklore has long held respect for the "outlaw", as it were. And the con-man is a very interesting
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The Sting (D:George Roy Hill, 1973)
answer is, of course, "no". At least in my book. They held the monopoly on devil-may-care handsome scamps. I'd be very pleased to be half as effortlessly cool as either one of those two. ANYWAY It's the 1930's in Chicago. Two short-game hustlers rip-off the wrong dude, and one gets plenty killed for doing it. The moral of the story could be: Don't rip off mob bosses. But instead, the other small-timer (Redford) decides to take the Irish mobster for everything. But for such a big time idea, he'll have to inlist the help of a reluctant experienced confidence man (Newman) This movie is Sooooo good. The ragtime music of Scott Joplin, the dapper outfits, the old-time slang, the period detail! It's just a great 70's film. My favorite movie era.
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White Men Can't Jump (Ron Shelton, 1992)
The 90's!!!!!!! They are back and better than ever! So, i went to high school in the 90's. It was a turbulent time, especially when it came to race relations. See, I grew up in a town with a black majority, and all these angry black films were being made. Films like X, Boys in the Hood, Do the Right Thing, Juice, and so on. So everything was always sort of tense back in the early 90's. I remember liking this movie because while it has alot of biting black vs. white commentary, it stayed a little light, witty, humanized both sides of the fence. So, if you haven't seen it.... When a black basketball street hustler gets conned by a what seems to be a goofy naive white boy, they seize the opportunity to team up. But can they trust each other? Rosie Perez was by far at her total cutest. And her character dreams of being of the TV game show Jeopardy! And it's probably one of the finest basketball movies, right behind Hoosiers. _______________________________________________________________________________________________
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz, 1988)
You've seen this, right? Of course you have. It's fucking brilliant. Frank Oz directs his first film that doesn't feature puppets or muppets. It's a re-make of a classic Marlon Brando film called Bedtime Story, which i haven't been able to watch, though I tried (the VHS was wonky) Anyway, Freddy, a young American con-man decides to start working the Riviera, and turns out it's easy pickins'. Only problem is that this territory is already claimed by an older, more experienced hustler/gigolo, Lawrence, played by Caine. Lawrence believes at first that Freddy is the famous professional hustler named "the Jackel". After teaming up for a bit (with hilarious results), they challenge each other to a loser-leaves-town match. The person who can cheat the most out of gulible rich women can stay in Beaumont Sur Mer. And you'll have to watch to find out the rest. It's a very clever movie. _________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973)
This is the crown jewel of the pick section! This is the most charming little piece of cinema. Bogdanovich sure had his finger on the pulse of 20th century Americana, proof being this film along with the Last Picture Show. This little tale from depression-era Kansas is as sweeet as it is sassy. When a little girl's mother dies, a strange man shows up to her funeral that just happens to look exactly like her. He's a travelling salesman, or so he says, and he's compelled by the girl's neighbor to take her to St. Joseph, MO, where her aunt lives. When the little girl catches him using her to con a man in town, she gets wise to the fact that he may be her father. He denys it, but they team up anyway. The cinematography is stunning. The Great Plains look great in black and white. And Ryan and Tatum O'Neal are real life father and daughter, and their on-screen chemistry is wonderful. Tatum O'Neal was probably the cutest little girl ever!
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Is there any acting duo as intoxicating as Newman-Redford? The
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