And yes, No. 1 is a surprise
The 5 greatest con man (and woman) movies of all time
Jun 5, 2019, 6:56 am
Robert Redford (left) and Paul Newman in The Sting, an all-time great. Getty Images
Last week, we provided the five best gambling movies of all time. We put together a specific set of criteria. This week we delve into con movies. While there is overlap with gambling and other genres, these are movies specifically based on con men (or women) or one big con. A movie like Trading Places has con elements, but it is not the key driving point of the plot. It is a comedy that leads to a con. Movies like that, while great, do not make our list. That would include Wall Street as well as Wolf of Wall Street. So with that specific criteria in mind, here are the top 5:
5) Oceans 11 (2001)
The original was pretty good, but the George Clooney/Brad Pitt remake is solid gold. While it could technically be considered a heist movie, the entire heist is set up by a long set of cons that creates the final plot. The acting is terrific, the story moves fast, and it features some really clever cons along the way, all designed to rip off Andy Garcia's character.
4) Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Based on a true story, the real gift of this movie is the acting and exchanges between Tom Hanks and Leo DiCaprio, who plays a young check/forger con man who is incredibly brilliant and fills several fake roles, including doctor and airline pilot. DiCaprio is believable, clever, and constantly stays one step ahead of Hanks. A very enjoyable film.
3) Grifters (1990)
An absolute gem featuring John Cusack and Annette Benning, Cusack is a small-time grifter who winds up embroiled between Benning, his love interest, and his grifter mother, Anjelica Houston. He is talented but flawed, and those flaws wind up biting him in the end. If you watch the scene where Benning is naked and tells her landlord "the money or the lady" and aren't, um, moved, well you don't like nudity.
2) The Sting (1973)
An all-time classic with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, this has been the gold standard for a long time. The acting is off the charts, and the twists and turns along the way make for a roller coaster ride. The original con movie won seven Oscars, including best picture, and still holds up today. It is too easy to make it No. 1 on the list. However...
1) Diggstown (1992)
Some might consider it blasphemy to put anything over The Sting, but if you have ever seen it, you will understand why. James Woods, Louis Gossett, Jr. and Oliver Platt set up a long con that involves boxing. (Because of that, some have tried to classify it as a sports movie, but it really is about the con). Pay attention to what happens early in the movie, because it sets up a dynamic finish. A young Heather Graham only adds to a terrific storyline, and vintage Bruce Dern as the mark - and a con man in his own right who tries to outdo Woods at every turn - is well worth your time. A terrific, fun movie you can watch time and time again.
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There was a conversation Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell had during training camp, the topic being all the teams that were generating the most preseason buzz in the Eastern Conference. Boston was coming off an NBA championship. New York got Karl-Anthony Towns. Philadelphia added Paul George.
The Cavs? Not a big topic in early October. And Mitchell fully understood why.
“What have we done?” Mitchell asked. “They don't talk about us. That's fine. We'll just hold ourselves to our standard.”
That approach seems to be working.
For the first time in 36 seasons — yes, even before the LeBron James eras in Cleveland — the Cavaliers are atop the NBA at the 25-game mark. They're 21-4, having come back to earth a bit following a 15-0 start but still better than anyone in the league at this point.
“We've kept our standards pretty high,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And we keep it going.”
The Cavs are just one of the surprise stories that have emerged as the season nears the one-third-done mark. Orlando — the only team still unbeaten at home — is off to its best start in 16 years at 17-9 and having done most of that without All-Star forward Paolo Banchero. And Houston is 16-8, behind only the Cavs, Boston, Oklahoma City and Memphis so far in the race for the league's best record.
Cleveland was a playoff team a year ago, as was Orlando. And the Rockets planted seeds for improvement last year as well; an 11-game winning streak late in the season fueled a push where they finished 41-41 in a major step forward after a few years of rebuilding.
“We kind of set that foundation last year to compete with everybody,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said. “Obviously, we had some ups and downs with winning and losing streaks at times, but to finish the season the way we did, getting to .500, 11-game winning streak and some close losses against high-level playoff teams, I think we kind of proved that to ourselves last year that that's who we're going to be.”
A sign of the respect the Rockets are getting: Oddsmakers at BetMGM Scorebook have made them a favorite in 17 of 24 games so far this season, after favoring them only 30 times in 82 games last season.
“Based on coaches, players, GMs, people that we all know what they're saying, it seems like everybody else is taking notice as well,” Udoka said.
They're taking notice of Orlando as well. The Magic lost their best player and haven't skipped a beat.
Banchero's injury after five games figured to doom Orlando for a while, and the Magic went 0-4 immediately after he tore his oblique. Entering Tuesday, they're 14-3 since — and now have to regroup yet again. Franz Wagner stepped into the best-player-on-team role when Banchero got hurt, and now Wagner is going to miss several weeks with the exact same injury.
Ask Magic coach Jamahl Mosley how the team has persevered, and he'll quickly credit everyone but himself. Around the league, it's Mosley getting a ton of the credit — and rightly so — for what Orlando is doing.
“I think that has to do a lot with Mose. ... I have known him a long time,” Phoenix guard Bradley Beal said. “A huge fan of his and what he is doing. It is a testament to him and the way they’ve built this team.”
The Magic know better than most how good Cleveland is, and vice versa. The teams went seven games in an Eastern Conference first-round series last spring, the Cavs winning the finale at home to advance to Round 2.
Atkinson was brought in by Cleveland to try and turn good into great. The job isn't anywhere near finished — nobody is raising any banners for “best record after 25 games” — but Atkinson realized fairly early that this Cavs team has serious potential.
“We’re so caught up in like the process of improve, improve, improve each game, improve each practice," Atkinson said. “That’s kind of my philosophy. But then you hit 10-0, and obviously the media starts talking and all that, and you’re like, ‘Man, this could be something special brewing here.’”