The Sting was released in the US and Canada on 25 December 1973.
David Ward stated that the idea for the story came to him while he was researching pickpockets. His script sat unread in a slush file until Rob Cohen discovered it and wrote coverage on it for his boss, agent Mike Medavoy. "Will make an award-winning, major-cast, major-director film," Cohen wrote, which Medavoy used in his pitch and the film sold in less than a day.
David Mauer would later sue for plagiarism, claiming that the screenplay used his 1940 nonfiction book, The Big Con, which chronicled confidence men and their scams, including Fred and Charley Gondorff. Mauer received $600,000 in a settlement.
Directed by George Roy Hill (who had also directed Paul Newman and Robert Redford in 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), The Sting was a huge commercial and critical success. It is among the top 20 all-time box office earners (when adjusted for inflation), and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Redford), Best Cinematography (Robert Surtees), and Best Sound.
It received Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Score (Marvin Hamlisch), Best Editing (William Reynolds), Best Costume Design (Edith Head), and Best Art Direction.
