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The Sting

1973 · directed by George Roy Hill · 129 min
27,225 feet · Prominence
67th of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘The Sting’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey →

How this film scores

Draw81

Lifetime worldwide gross $160m, re-releases included; about $1.19bn in 2026 money.

Rank124 of 11,051In 19732 of 48

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise93

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics88 baseAwards91 signal → +5 lift

Oscars7 won Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Costume Design, Production Design, Film Editing, Original Song Score3 nominated Actor, Cinematography, Sound
Golden Globes1 nominated Screenplay
How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy78

Judged directly: Best Picture classic, iconic con caper.

Verdict78 of 100IMDb8.2 from 299kWikipedia47k views a monthAge53 years

On the listsNational Film Registryevidence, not an input to the score
Scored beside it · 137 of 4,039 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 81 praise 93 legacy 78averages 84, placing it at27,225 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

Whose apex this is

▲ Robert Redford

In these careers — elevation for this film

Robert Redford20,908 ftPaul Newman20,664 ftRobert Shaw19,755 ftCharles Durning18,646 ftRay Walston17,974 ftEileen Brennan17,937 ftHarold Gould17,928 ftJack Kehoe17,873 ftSally Kirkland17,636 ft