85-771: The Sting is a 1973 American heist film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman , Robert Redford and Robert Shaw . Set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Newman and Redford) to con a mob boss (Shaw). Hill had previously directed Newman and Redford in the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). The screenplay, written by David S. Ward , inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of
170-813: A $ 6 billion transaction. After acquiring the company, First Data Corporation made the decision to relaunch telegraphy services under the Western Union brand, but sold this to International Telegram in 2006. On January 26, 2006, First Data announced its intention to spin off Western Union into independent publicly traded financial services company focused on money transfers through a tax-free spin-off to First Data shareholders . The spin off occurred as planned on September 29, 2006. The next day Western Union announced that it would cease offering telegram transmission and delivery. In May 2009, Western Union announced its plan to acquire Canada-based Custom House from Peter Gustavson. The deal closed in September 2009 for
255-595: A Million (1966). In France Rififi spawned a number of lower-budget crime films which often used Rififi as part of their title. These include films such as Rififi in Tokyo (1963) and Du rififi à Paname (1966). As the decade continued, the French also began to produce more glossy heist films which served as star vehicles for big names of the time, such as Any Number Can Win (1963) starring Alain Delon and Greed in
340-459: A color scheme of muted browns and maroons for the film and a lighting design that combined old-fashioned 1930s-style lighting with some modern tricks of the trade to get the visual look he wanted. Edith Head designed a wardrobe of snappy period costumes for the cast, and artist Jaroslav Gebr created inter-title cards to be used to introduce each section of the film that were reminiscent of the golden glow of old Saturday Evening Post illustrations,
425-401: A complete strategic, operational and balance sheet restructuring of the company over the next six years. Amman executed a strategy of redirecting Western Union from being an asset-based provider of communications services, with a money transfer business as a large but less important part of the business, into being a provider of consumer-based money transfer financial services . Thus, Amman ran
510-470: A failed heist. Another popular trope is "one last job", whereby a criminal looking to quit the life enlists the team to commit one last heist so they will have money for the rest of their days. This can be seen in early films such as The Asphalt Jungle (1950) as well as more recent like Heat (1995). While elements of the heist film can be seen in movies as early as The Great Train Robbery (1903),
595-443: A future studio head, but then an agent. He wrote in his coverage that it was "the great American screenplay and … will make an award-winning, major-cast, major-director film." Medavoy said that he would try to sell it on that recommendation, promising to fire Cohen if he could not. Universal bought it that afternoon, and Cohen keeps the coverage framed on the wall of his office. Academic David Maurer sued for plagiarism, claiming
680-563: A handful made in France were influenced by and responding to the American style. Two notable examples are Rififi (1955), which is known for its detailed 30 minute heist sequence, and Bob Le Flambeur (1956), known for an ending which plays with the conventions of the genre. The 1950s also marked the beginning of British heist film, including The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Lady Killers (1955) , pictures which introduced comedy to
765-559: A large crew to create a phony off-track betting parlor. Snyder and Lonnegan's men track Hooker to Chicago; Gondorff warns Hooker that if either of them find him, the con will have to fold. Aboard the opulent 20th Century Limited , Gondorff, posing as the boorish Chicago bookie "Shaw", buys into Lonnegan's private, high-stakes poker game, being facilitated by the train's conductor. "Shaw" infuriates Lonnegan with his obnoxious behavior, then cheats him out of $ 15,000 ($ 329,353 in 2023). Hooker, posing as "Shaw's" disgruntled employee "Kelly",
850-473: A million miles of telegraph lines and two international undersea cables . AT&T gained control of Western Union in 1909, acquiring a 30% stake in the company. However, in 1913 AT&T , under indictment for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 , was forced to sell its shares in the company which once again became independent. Western Union acquired its only major competitor in
935-778: A mobile money-transfer service with the GSM Association , a global trade association representing more than 700 mobile operators in 218 countries and covering 2.5 billion mobile subscribers. The proliferation of mobile phones in developed and developing economies provides a widely accessible consumer device capable of delivering mobile financial services ranging from text notifications associated with Western Union cash delivery services to phone-based remittance options. Western Union's mobile money transfer service offering will connect its core money-transfer platform to m-bank or m-wallet platforms provided by mobile operators and/or locally regulated financial institutions. The company launched
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#17327802419661020-792: A popular publication of the 1930s. The movie was filmed on the Universal Studios backlot , with a few small scenes shot in Wheeling, West Virginia , some scenes filmed at the Santa Monica pier's carousel , in Southern California, and in Chicago at Union Station and the former LaSalle Street Station . An antique car buff, co-producer Tony Bill helped round up several period cars to use in The Sting . One of them
1105-509: A purchase price of US$ 371 million. This acquisition led the company to be re-branded as Western Union Business Solutions. In January 2011, Western Union acquired Angelo Costa, a group active in money transfer and services to immigrants. Angelo Costa has a network of 7,500 points of sale throughout Europe. The agreement was signed for US$ 200 million. In July 2011, Western Union acquired Travelex 's Global Business Payments division for £ 606 million. In October 2011, Western Union completed
1190-642: A rating of 92% from 101 reviews, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and director George Roy Hill prove that charm, humor, and a few slick twists can add up to a great film." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The soundtrack album, executive produced by Gil Rodin , includes several of Scott Joplin 's ragtime compositions, adapted by Marvin Hamlisch . According to Joplin scholar Edward A. Berlin , ragtime experienced
1275-658: A revival in the 1970s due to several events: a best-selling recording of Joplin rags on the classical Nonesuch Records label, along with a collection of his music issued by the New York Public Library ; the first full staging of Joplin's opera Treemonisha ; and a performance of period orchestrations of Joplin's music by a student ensemble of the New England Conservatory of Music , led by Gunther Schuller . "Inspired by Schuller's recording, [Hill] had Marvin Hamlisch score Joplin's music for
1360-480: A separate company called Western Union International (WUI), which it sold that year to American Securities . In 1967, American Securities listed WUI as a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange . WUI was acquired by Xerox for $ 207 million in stock in 1979 and subsequently sold for $ 185 million in cash to MCI Communications in 1981. MCI renamed WUI to MCI International, ceasing
1445-452: A single from the film's soundtrack). The film's success created a resurgence of interest in Joplin's work. Released on Christmas of 1973, The Sting was a massive critical and commercial success and hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards , nominated for ten Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture , Best Director , Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay ; Redford
1530-449: A single heist. It also devotes a large amount of time to the recruiting of variously skilled criminals to form a team. Two earlier films that some consider prior examples of the genre, and others just key to its development, are Criss Cross (1949) and The Killers (1946). While these do follow the planning, execution, and aftermath of a single heist from the criminals' perspective, some critics argue that they devote too much time to
1615-524: A special advisor who oversaw the divestiture of the four non-strategic telecommunications assets for about $ 280 million. Most of the company's business services unit including the Easylink electronic mail and Telex businesses were sold to AT&T for $ 180 million in Dec 1990. Western Union Priority Services including Mailgram, Priority Letter and Custom Letter services were not included in the deal. This marked
1700-493: A standardized time service in 1870 and wire money transfer in 1871. In the 1870s, the company faced increased competition from newly formed rival telegraphy conglomerate Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company and from the nascent telephony industry led by the Bell Telephone Company . Western Union instead attempted to launch a rival telephony system before settling a patent lawsuit with Bell and leaving
1785-420: A year for Ward to fine-tune this aspect of the script and to figure out how much information he could keep from the audience while still making the leads sympathetic. He also imagined an underground brotherhood of thieves who assemble for a big operation and then melt away afterward. Years later, director Rob Cohen recounted how he found the script in the slush pile when working as a reader for Mike Medavoy ,
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#17327802419661870-458: Is a kind of con game, devoid of the poetic aspirations that weighed down Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ." Variety wrote, "George Roy Hill's outstanding direction of David S. Ward's finely-crafted story of multiple deception and surprise ending will delight both mass and class audiences. Extremely handsome production values and a great supporting cast round out the virtues." Kevin Thomas of
1955-411: Is actually Hickey, a fellow con man, who has been running a con atop the con with his "FBI agents" to divert Snyder and ensure that Lonnegan abandons the money without ever realizing he was taken. As the con men strip the room of its contents, Hooker refuses his share of the money, claiming he would lose it anyway, and walks away with Gondorff. Screenwriter David S. Ward has said in an interview that he
2040-659: Is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado . Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York , the company changed its name to the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856 after merging with several other telegraph companies. It dominated the American telegraphy industry from the 1860s to
2125-472: Is convinced after being provided the trifecta of another race, and agrees to finance a $ 500,000 bet ($ 11 million in 2023) to break "Shaw" and get revenge. Shortly thereafter, Snyder captures Hooker and brings him before Polk, who forces Hooker to betray Gondorff by threatening to jail Luther Coleman's widow. Feeling despondent the night before the sting, Hooker sleeps with a diner waitress named Loretta. The next morning, as she walks toward him in an alley,
2210-510: Is sent to collect the winnings and to convince Lonnegan to help him take over "Shaw's" operation. Hooker returns home to find Lonnegan's men waiting to assassinate him, but avoids their efforts; Gondorff is spooked by their attempt, but Hooker convinces him to keep the con alive. Snyder's pursuit of Hooker attracts the attention of undercover FBI agents led by Agent Polk, who orders Snyder to bring Hooker in to entrap Gondorff. Meanwhile, Lonnegan, frustrated with his men's inability to kill Hooker for
2295-473: The Los Angeles Times called it "an unalloyed delight, the kind of pure entertainment film that's all the more welcome for having become such a rarity." John Simon wrote that The Sting as a comedy-thriller "works endearingly without a hitch". Pauline Kael of The New Yorker was less enthusiastic, writing that the film "is meant to be roguishly charming entertainment, and that's how most of
2380-659: The No Way Out 1998 and Slamboree 2000 . They sponsored UEFA Europa League from 2012 until 2015. During the 2003–04 season, Western Union served as the title sponsor for the Senior Division Football League in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The First Data Western Union Foundation donates money to charitable causes globally. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami , the Foundation donated US$ 1,000,000 to
2465-475: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Money can be sent online or in-person at Western Union agent locations. Cash can be collected in person at any other Western Union agent location worldwide by providing the 10-digit MTCN (Money Transfer Control Number) and identification. In some cases, a secret question and answer can be used instead of identification. In October 2007, Western Union announced plans to introduce
2550-488: The caper story , focused on the planning, execution, and aftermath of a significant robbery . One of the early defining heist films was The Asphalt Jungle (1950), which Film Genre 2000 wrote "almost single-handedly popularized the genre for mainstream cinema". It featured robbers whose personal failings ultimately led to the failure of their robbery. Similar films using this formula were Armored Car Robbery (1950), The Killing (1956), and The Getaway (1972). By
2635-468: The "assembling the team" trope that later became a common characteristic of heist films. The period between 1955 and 1975 is considered by scholars to be the most productive for the heist genre. It began with American filmmakers continuing the noir heist trend in films like 5 Against the House (1955) and The Killing (1956). The ‘50s also saw the release of the first international heist films. Notably,
The Sting - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-418: The 'Treaty of Six Nations', an attempt by six of the largest telegraph firms to create a system of regional telegraphy monopolies with a shared network of main lines. After the creation of the 'Six Nations' system, Western Union continued to acquire both larger & smaller telegraph companies and by 1864 had transformed from a regional monopoly into a national oligopolist with its only serious competitors being
2805-406: The 1958 Maverick television series episode " Shady Deal at Sunny Acres ", starring James Garner and Jack Kelly . Jack Nicholson was offered the lead role but turned it down. He later said "I had enough business acumen to know The Sting was going to be a huge hit, [but] at the same time Chinatown and The Last Detail were more interesting films to me." Newman signed on the film after
2890-567: The 1980s, pioneering technology such as telex and developing a range of telegraph-related services, including wire money transfer , in addition to its core business of transmitting and delivering telegram messages. After experiencing financial difficulties, it began to move its business away from communications in the 1980s and increasingly focused on its money-transfer services. It ceased its communications operations completely in 2006, at which time The New York Times described it as "the world's largest money-transfer business" and added that
2975-451: The 1990s, heist films began to "experiment and play with these conventions," incorporating elements such as comedy into their stories. While there is no unanimous agreement on what constitutes a heist film, there are some common characteristics that most films in the genre share. The most basic is that films in the genre tend to follow the planning, execution and aftermath of one large robbery. While there can be smaller crimes leading up to
3060-489: The 2000s. These range from British efforts like Snatch (2000) and Sexy Beast (2000) to kids' films like Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) to popular Hollywood films like Inside Man (2006) and remakes of heist classics like The Italian Job (2003). Some of the most popular heist films of this era are the remake of Ocean's 11 (2001) and its sequels Ocean's 12 (2004) and Ocean's 13 (2007), which remain so today. Western Union The Western Union Company
3145-666: The American Telegraph Company and the United States Telegraph Company. Western Union completed the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861. Notably, the first messages went to then President of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln . The firm additionally formed the Russian–American Telegraph Company in an attempt to link America to Europe, via Alaska , into Siberia , to Moscow – a project abandoned in 1867 following
3230-417: The American film Seven Thieves (1960). Despite having conventional heist plots about gathering together a group to commit a heist, both films balance comedy and drama, unlike the darkness of the earlier noir heist films. The mainstream shift as well as a growing cultural interest in travel led to a wave of glossy heist films involving exotic international locals, such as Topkapi (1964) and How to Steal
3315-521: The American telegraphy sector Postal Telegraph, Inc. in 1945, effectively giving the company monopoly power over the industry. After 1945 the telegraphy industry began to experience a decline as the use of telephones increased, especially in the case of long-distance calls, with total telegraph messages almost halving from 1945 to 1960. In 1958, Western Union began offering telex services to customers in New York City. Teleprinter equipment for
3400-569: The Confidence Man . The film plays out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards drawn by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post . It is noted for its use of ragtime , particularly the melody " The Entertainer " by Scott Joplin , which was adapted (along with other Joplin pieces) for the film by Marvin Hamlisch (and a top-ten chart single for Hamlisch when released as
3485-628: The Joliet con, orders the job to be given to Salino, his best assassin. A mysterious figure with black leather gloves begins following and observing Hooker. "Kelly" gives Lonnegan a tip on a 7-to-1 long shot in a horse race that pays off. When Lonnegan presses him for details, he reveals that he has a partner, "Les Harmon" (actually con man Kid Twist), in the Chicago Western Union office, who will help them topple "Shaw" by winning bets he books on horse races through past-posting . Lonnegan
The Sting - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-486: The Sun (1964) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo . The most celebrated French heist films of this time where directed by Jean-Pierre Melville , whose heist film Le Cercle Rouge (1970) is often regarded as one of the greatest heist movies of all time. This expansion of the genre in the 1960s also led to remakes of older heist movies, with an early example being Cairo (1963) , which is a remake of The Asphalt Jungle . In 1968,
3655-542: The U.S. Abraham Lincoln . The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was founded in Rochester, New York by Samuel L. Selden , Hiram Sibley , and others in 1851. In 1856 the company merged with its competitor the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company , controlled by John James Speed , Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith and Ezra Cornell and, at Cornell's insistence, changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company. In 1857, Western Union participated in
3740-537: The Universal Legacy Series) – was released in September 2005. Its "making of" featurette, The Art of the Sting , included interviews with cast and crew. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2012 as part of Universal's 100th anniversary releases. The Sting was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on May 18, 2021. Heist film The heist film or caper film is a subgenre of crime films and
3825-676: The Westar satellites launched) in 1988 after Western Union suffered financial losses with their telecommunications assets starting in the early 1980s. In 1981, Western Union purchased a 50% interest in Airfone . It sold Airfone to GTE in 1986 for $ 39 million in cash. From 1982, as a result of financial services deregulation , Western Union began offering wire money transfer services globally. In 1984, after years of declining profits and mounting debts, Western Union began to negotiate with its creditors regarding debt restructuring. The restructuring
3910-628: The Western Union Connect service in October 2015, following partnership agreements with major instant messaging apps WeChat and Viber . The partnership allows users of WeChat to send up to $ 100 to China , the US and 200 other countries, while Viber users can send up to $ 100 for $ 3.99 plus exchange rate fees , with that fixed fee increasing the more money is sent up a limit of $ 499. Along with satellite telecommunications, Western Union
3995-412: The Western Union company for telegram and mailgram message data to Western Union bureaus nationwide. It also handled traffic for its telex and TWX services. The Westar satellites ' transponders were also leased by other companies for relaying video , voice , data , and facsimile (fax) transmissions. The Westar fleet of satellites and ground stations were sold to Hughes (who originally built all of
4080-658: The acquisition of Finint S.r.l., one of Western Union's leading money transfer network agents in Europe, with more than 10,000 subagent locations across Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In May 2015, rumors emerged over a proposed merger of Western Union and competitor MoneyGram , at a time when both companies’ revenue were declining. Western Union denied this was the case. In January 2017, Ant Financial , Alibaba ’s financial technology firm instead unsuccessfully attempted to acquire MoneyGram for $ 880 million, but this
4165-651: The audience takes it, but I found it visually claustrophobic, and totally mechanical. It keeps cranking on, section after section, and it doesn't have a good spirit." In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The Writers Guild of America ranked the screenplay #39 on its list of 101 Greatest Screenplays ever written. On Rotten Tomatoes , The Sting holds
4250-403: The black-gloved man appears and shoots her dead before she could shoot Hooker. The man reveals to Hooker that he was hired by Gondorff to protect him and that the waitress was in fact Salino. At "Harmon's" direction, Lonnegan bets $ 500,000 at "Shaw's" parlor on a horse named Lucky Dan. As the race begins, "Harmon" arrives and expresses shock at Lonnegan's bet: when he said "place it" he meant that
4335-465: The company as two separate companies. One business consisted of the money transfer business, which was funded and operated to take advantage of the significant growth opportunity. The second unit consisted of all the non-strategic communications assets such as the long-distance analog voice network, satellite business and undersea cable assets. In the three-year period through 1990 Amman was supported by Robert A. Schriesheim , also installed by LeBow, as
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#17327802419664420-552: The company would remain as such due to the large number of immigrants wiring money home . From the perspective of the history of technology , Western Union notably completed the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861, being a part of U.S. industry's investments into developing American communications between the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean . The first messages went to then President of
4505-404: The end of Western Union's telecommunications carrier business. The official name of the corporation was changed to New Valley Corporation in 1991, as part of the company's move to seek bankruptcy protection to eliminate the firm's overleveraged balance sheet while continuing to grow the money transfer business. The name change was used to shield the Western Union name from being dragged through
4590-532: The film four out of four stars and called it "one of the most stylish movies of the year". Gene Siskel awarded three-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "a movie movie that has obviously been made with loving care each and every step of the way." Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film was "so good-natured, so obviously aware of everything it's up to, even its own picturesque frauds, that I opt to go along with it. One forgives its unrelenting efforts to charm, if only because The Sting itself
4675-527: The film into a full-length novel, The Sting (1974), based on the screenplay by David S. Ward . The movie was issued on DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment in 2000. "If Paul Newman really does retire, he can spend his rocking chair years feeling smug about this," enthused Bruno MacDonald for OK! "The story's not the important thing: what makes it are the quirky soundtrack, the card-sharp dialogue and two superduperstars at their superduperstarriest." A deluxe DVD – The Sting: Special Edition (part of
4760-688: The film, thereby bringing Joplin to a mass, popular public." Shipments figures based on certification alone. Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (music and lyrics), writer Bob Martin , and director John Rando created a stage musical version of the movie. The musical premiered at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey on March 29, 2018. Henry Gondorff was played by Harry Connick Jr. , with choreography by Warren Carlyle . The stage musical incorporates Joplin's music, including "The Entertainer". Robert Weverka adapted
4845-433: The film. Phillips' book asserts that Shaw was not nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award because he demanded that his name follow those of Newman and Redford before the film's opening title. Shaw's character's limp in the film was authentic. Shaw had injured his leg while playing handball shortly before filming began. Director Hill encouraged him to incorporate the limp into his character rather than withdraw from
4930-420: The genre didn't become fully fledged until the late 1940s and the early 1950s. The film widely agreed upon as the first to do so is John Huston's 1950 The Asphalt Jungle , starring Sterling Hayden and Sam Jaffee (with Marilyn Monroe in a supporting role). It contains many of the heist hallmarks, focusing from the criminal's perspective on the elaborate planning, flawed execution, and calamitous aftermath of
5015-462: The genre. A notable Italian heist film from this period is Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958), a parody of the genre. In the 1960s heist stories became more mainstream, with glossier and higher-budget heist films which moved away from the fatalism and darkness present in the earlier noir heists. Two examples of this from the early 1960s are the British film The League of Gentlemen (1960) and
5100-427: The genre. The 1990s would see the return of the heist film, with a number creating new interest. While pictures like John Woo 's Once a Thief (1991) and Steven Soderbergh 's Out of Sight (1998) would bring some attention to the genre, the three returned the genre to prominence were Reservoir Dogs (1992), Heat (1995) and The Usual Suspects (1995). This led to a large output of heist films throughout
5185-419: The heist and most of its planning, choosing instead to focus almost exclusively on the aftermath. Another example of this is The Italian Job (1969), which shows the planning and execution of the heist but doesn't fully show the aftermath. Other tropes of the genre include the failure of the heist due to fate, or the traits of the criminals involved. Among them is one of the participants getting injured during
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#17327802419665270-642: The heist, or betraying the others during or after. This trend started as a result of the initial films in the genre being made in Hollywood during the Motion Picture Production Code , which prohibited criminals from getting away with their crime. While this has changed since the disappearance of the code, the trope of failed heists still remains. One of the most dynamic examples is Reservoir Dogs , which focuses solely on trying to figure out which of their group members betrayed them after
5355-495: The horse would "place" (i.e., finish second ). In a panic, Lonnegan rushes to the teller window and demands his money back, at which point Polk, Snyder, and a half-dozen FBI agents storm the parlor. Polk tells Hooker he is free to go. Shocked at the betrayal, Gondorff shoots Hooker. Polk shoots Gondorff and orders Snyder to get the ostensibly respectable Lonnegan away from the crime scene. With Lonnegan and Snyder safely away, Hooker and Gondorff rise amid cheers and laughter: "Polk"
5440-435: The major crime, this major crime is the centerpiece of the film and is the event which informs much of the film's plot. As a result of this, heist films tend to focus on the process of the crime, often planned in great detail, followed by extended exposition of the heist itself. The genre is also distinct for almost exclusively following those committing the crime rather than whoever is trying to stop them. This often leads to
5525-521: The motion picture production code was abolished, paving the way for a number of heist films that didn't shy away from portraying graphic violence. This included films like Charley Varrick (1973) and The Getaway (1972). The period between 1975 and the early 1990s is considered a low point for productivity in the heist genre. While some were made, such as Thief (1981) and a remake of Big Deal on Madonna Street called Crackers (1984), some critics do not consider them as meaningful developments of
5610-486: The planning and aftermath of the crime and too little to the actual job. All of these films are also notable for having elements which are indebted to film noir , including their moody, expressionistic black and white cinematography and dark fatalistic tone. As a result, scholars such as Daryl Lee refer to such examples as “noir heists”. Anne Billson of the BBC cites Akira Kurosawa 's Seven Samurai (1954) as an influence on
5695-502: The proceedings (and the resulting bad PR). Under the day to day leadership of Amman and the backing of LeBow , the company's value increased dramatically through its years operating under chapter 11. Following various restructurings, including negotiations with Carl Icahn who became a large bond holder, New Valley Corporation was sold in a bankruptcy auction to First Financial Management Corporation in 1994 for $ 1.2 billion. In 1995, First Financial merged with First Data Corporation in
5780-571: The producers agreed to give him top billing, $ 500,000 and a percentage of the profits. His previous five films had been box-office disappointments. In her 1991 autobiography You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again , producer Julia Phillips writes that Hill wanted Richard Boone to play Lonnegan. Much to her relief, Newman had sent the script to Robert Shaw while shooting The Mackintosh Man in Ireland to ensure his participation in
5865-535: The project. Hill wanted the film to be reminiscent of movies from the 1930s and watched films from that decade for inspiration. He noticed that most '30s gangster films had no extras. "For instance", Andrew Horton's book The Films of George Roy Hill quotes Hill as saying, "no extras would be used in street scenes in those films: Jimmy Cagney would be shot down and die in an empty street. So I deliberately avoided using extras." Along with art director Henry Bumstead and cinematographer Robert L. Surtees , Hill devised
5950-426: The screenplay was based too heavily on his 1940 book The Big Con , about real-life tricksters Fred and Charley Gondorff. Universal settled out of court for $ 600,000, irking Ward, who resented the presumption of guilt implied by an out-of-court settlement done for business expediency. Writer/producer Roy Huggins maintained in his Archive of American Television interview that the first half of The Sting plagiarized
6035-428: The successful laying of a transatlantic cable in 1866. In 1866, Western Union acquired the American Telegraph Company and the United States Telegraph Company, its two main competitors, for a time gaining a virtual monopoly over the American telegraphy industry. The company also began to develop new telegraphy-related services beyond the transmission and delivery of telegrams, launching the first stock ticker in 1866,
6120-581: The telephone business completely in 1879. Financier Jay Gould orchestrated a merger of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company with Western Union in 1881, giving him a controlling share of the merged company. When the Dow Jones Railroad Average stock market index for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was created in 1884, Western Union was one of the original eleven companies to be included. By 1900, Western Union operated
6205-637: The telex network was originally provided by Siemens & Halske AG and later by Teletype Corporation . Direct international telex services commenced in the summer of 1960, with limited service to London and Paris. In honor of Valentine's Day 1959, Western Union introduced the Candygram, a box of chocolates accompanying a telegram that was featured in a commercial with the famously rotund radio announcer Don Wilson . In 1963, Western Union organized its international cable system properties and its right-of-way for connecting international telegraph lines into
6290-507: The use of Western Union branding. Western Union purchased the TWX system from AT&T in January 1969, the only major competitor to its own telex network. Western Union became the first American telecommunications corporation to maintain its own fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites , starting in 1974. The fleet of satellites, called Westar , carried communications within
6375-414: The viewer building some form of sympathy or respect for the criminals. Another common characteristic is the assembling of a team to complete the heist, with each member contributing a unique skill or trait needed to complete the job. Over time filmmakers have taken these characteristics and changed them to create interesting plays on the genre. For example, Reservoir Dogs (1992) skips the execution of
6460-529: Was a courier for vicious Irish-American crime boss Doyle Lonnegan. Lonnegan's men murder Luther and the courier. After finding Luther dead, Hooker flees to Chicago. Hooker finds Gondorff drunk and in hiding from the FBI , running a carousel that is a front for a brothel , and asks for help taking down Lonnegan. Initially reluctant, Gondorff relents and recruits a team of experienced con men. They decide to resurrect an elaborate, obsolete scam known as "the wire", using
6545-447: Was also active in other forms of telecommunication services: Most of these services were discontinued by Western Union in the late 1980s due to a lack of profitability, with the company's divisions providing said services being divested and sold to other companies, such as the 1988 sale of WU's satellite fleet and services to Hughes Space and Communications , and the sale of WU's Airfone service to GTE in 1986. In 1914, Western Union
6630-400: Was also nominated for Best Actor . The film rekindled Newman's career after a series of big-screen flops. Regarded as having one of the best screenplays ever written, The Sting was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A sequel film , also written by David S. Ward,
6715-562: Was blocked by the U.S. government citing national security concerns. In 2018, the company moved its headquarters from Englewood, Colorado to the Denver Tech Center . The Englewood office complex was sold in 2020 for $ 40 million. In November 2020, Western Union acquired a 15% stake in the digital payments unit of Saudi Telecom Company for $ 200 million. In 2022, Western Union suspended operations in Russia and Belarus due to
6800-433: Was completed in 1987 when investor Bennett S. LeBow acquired control of Western Union through an outside of chapter 11 process that was a complex leveraged recapitalization. The transaction was backed by a total of $ 900 million in high-yield bonds and preferred stock underwritten by Michael Milken 's group at Drexel Burnham Lambert as part of an exchange offer. LeBow installed Robert J. Amman as president and CEO who led
6885-483: Was his own 1935 Pierce-Arrow limousine, which served as Lonnegan's private car. The film was a box-office smash in 1973 and early 1974, grossing $ 156 million in the United States and Canada. As of August 2018, it is the 20th highest-grossing film in the United States adjusted for ticket price inflation. Internationally, it grossed $ 101 million for a worldwide gross of $ 257 million. Roger Ebert gave
6970-443: Was inspired to write The Sting while researching pickpockets: "Since I had never seen a film about a confidence man before, I said I gotta do this." Daniel Eagan said: "One key to plots about con men is that film goers want to feel they are in on the trick. They don't have to know how a scheme works, and they don't mind a twist or two, but it's important for the story to feature clearly recognizable 'good' and 'bad' characters." It took
7055-517: Was later discontinued by CyberSource effective December 31, 2007. Western Union was a major shirt-sponsor of the Sydney Roosters NRL team from 2002 to 2003. The company still sponsors the team, but not as a shirt-sponsor. Globally Western Union sponsors numerous community events that help support the diaspora communities that use the global Money Transfer service. They also sponsored numerous WWE and WCW pay-per-view events such as
7140-623: Was released in 1983. In 1936, amid the Great Depression , grifter Johnny Hooker and his partners Luther Coleman and Joe Erie con $ 11,000 in cash from an unsuspecting victim in Joliet, Illinois . Hooker loses his share of the con on a rigged roulette game, while Luther, buoyed by the windfall, decides to retire. He tells Hooker to seek out his old friend Henry Gondorff in Chicago to learn "the big con". Corrupt Joliet police lieutenant William Snyder confronts Hooker, revealing that their mark
7225-542: Was the first to issue a charge card. As the Internet became an arena for commerce at the turn of the millennium, Western Union started its online services. BidPay was renamed "Western Union Auction Payments" in 2004 before being renamed back to BidPay. BidPay ceased operations on December 31, 2005, and was purchased for US$ 1.8 million in March 2006 by CyberSource Corp. who announced their intention to re-launch BidPay. BidPay
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