← Apex Mountain

The Sting

1973 · directed by George Roy Hill · 129 min
27,367 feet · Prominence
57th of 15,261 films scored
The Rewatchables‘The Sting’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey

How this film scores

Draw81

$160m worldwide in 1973 — $1.19bn in today's money.

As released$160mIn 2026 money$1.19bnRank121 of 8,589In 19732 of 43

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

Critics 88, awards 91. Half each, so Praise lands at 93.

Critics88 → 44Awards91 → 45

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

Half critics, half a tiered award record where Picture and Directing carry most of the weight. 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 · 136 of 3,430 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, which places it at27,367 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 Redford24,097 ftPaul Newman23,690 ft