Why The Sting Matters

To Me.

Hello friends and welcome to the Story Forge podcast. I'm Lyle Smith, your host, and I'm a writer, a storyteller, a runner, a dad of a legacy runner, a golfer, a student of human moves, a sometime fan of ragtime music and a passionate movie lover.

I believe movies matter.

In a way you can't quite describe sometimes.

They are not just entertainment. They are a part of our humanity in a way we often can't quite describe.

We argue about the best. We make lists of the best of the year. And the worst. We watch awards shows defining them and showing off their creators. But those shows are not about the what makes them the best. And the movies we love are often not the ones that make those lists. It's not about being the best. It's about the ones that connect to us. Speak to us. Teach us things.

It's why so many biopics aren't completely accurate. And book adaptations make changes we love and hate.

And in this hot-type episode of the pod, I want to talk to you about my favorite movie.

I have many, it's true.

There are so many. It's hard to make a top 5. Or a top 10. Or even a top 20.

But there are those we love more than others. Those we watch more than once. Sometimes much more than once.

And you have to ask why?

Movies matter. Movies really matter in America. Movies, in a lot of ways MADE America.

Or at least made the perception of America and Americans around the world.

And we all have favorites. For different reasons.

But I have one that speaks to me more than all the others.

One that I love and learn from even though I've seen it probably dozens of times.

For me, that's The Sting.

And I used to believe it was because I first saw it on TV sitting on our family room sofa with my dad.

The Scott Joplin ragtime music.

The costumes.

The setting.

The sound of the two-toned spectator shoes tip tapping up the wooden stairs at the beginning.

The undeniable cool of Redford and Newman.

I'd come to love Butch and Sundance later.

The surprise ending.

But Hooker and Gondorff running a long con on Doyle Lonnegan just to get justice for their murdered friend Luther.

When Gondorff tells the kid what's at stake...

"There ain't a fix in the world gonna cool him out if he blows on ya."

HOOKER

I'll take him anyway.

GONDORFF

(whirling on him)

Why?

HOOKER

(like steel)

'Cause I don't know enough about

killin' to kill him.

But there's more to it than that. There's things to be learned. And honor among thieves in the fictional world of Chicago con men in the 30s is just one of them.

They're pros.

They know what they're doing.

And they don't drop the ball.

Ever.

They can't afford to.

And it feels good when they know it worked.

And it's where I got the name for the cornerstone story product for my business.

And I love it when I tell the story of The Sheet and somebody really "gets it."

The Sting is just about my favorite movie in the world.

I learn things every time I watch it.

Things I use every day.

If you've ever worked with me, you'll know The Sheet.

We do a two-hour story session to dig down into the questions that matter most to the people who matter most to you, and then we use that to create...

... your brand story...

... in modular, memorable format...

... on one sheet. Front and back.

And what does that have to do with The Sting, you ask?

Well...

There's a scene that I always remember.

In the section of the movie called "The Hook," Kid Twist ducks into Duke Budreau's bar to recruit the best long-con men he can find in Chicago.

And Duke has a way of finding them right then and there. "Lacey! Bring me the sheet," he says.

And Lacey goes out to get a clip board with a page of names from behind the bar.

It's the sheet listing all the best men in town looking to get in on a con. All the resources by name and reputation that Twist needs right there on one page.

And that's what I created for Nymblesmith. To help businesses get all the language they use when they describe themselves in one place.

Easy to use.

Simple to remember. 

So everyone in your organization can tell the same tale, the same way, to everybody. A simple, memorable message that your people can remember and repeat and use to teach others, teach by repetition, to carry your message forward.

So while your sales guys are out there like Henry Gondorf on the Century Limited from New York to Chicago setting the hook in a fixed poker game, you can be back at Duke's telling the tale. Ensuring that your customers are all in on same story. The story that means most to them.

The story that makes them loyal to your brand. The story that makes them connect with you. The story that they tell other people when they ask "where'd you get that?"

And that's where The Sheet gets its name.

And its power.

And why movies are important.

Why we all should have one. A favorite.

It may not be the best movie ever made (The Godfather) or the most important movie ever made (Citizen Cane, Casablanca) or the best movie as told by my 14-year-old son (Star Wars - though he agrees with me that Rogue One is pretty awesome, too). There are great bad movies (Caddyshack), and fantastic artsy movies (The Seven Samurai, anything by Bergman), and cult movies you can't get out of your head (The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai across the 8th dimension).

Then, there are the favorite movies. The movies you want to watch at least once a year. The movies that when you spot them running on whatever channel you're spinning through, you stick with 'em 'til the end.

The movies that teach you things.

That's The Sting for me. 

If you haven't ever seen it, drop what you're doing now, and go fire up the ragtime. You're in for a treat.

And a list of lessons you can use.

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