According to film historian David P. Hayes, THE STING was filmed in 4:3 (equivalent to "full-screen") ratio because director George Roy Hill wanted it to look like an old movie. The studio (and/or the exhibitors) apparently had second thoughts about it, though, so theatrically-released prints had the top and bottom sections blocked ("matted") to fit the widescreen format.

What you see on this DVD is not "pan and scan" (with missing left and right content), but the original format with the top and bottom restored.

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141 of 151 found the following review helpful:

WHY NOT GET THE FACTS BEFORE COMPLAINING???  Dec 16, 2004
By J. Caruso
I just bought this DVD for my father because this movie IS a classic, no matter what anyone says. But, when it came in the mail, I was surprised to see "Full Screen" on the front of the box. So I did what many of you did NOT do (with the exception of reviewer cammonro dated Sept 2, 2003), I went to the Universal web site and emailed their Home Entertainment division.

From Universal Studios Home Entertainment:

'The Sting' is only available on DVD in the 1.33:1 aspect ratio, which in this case displays the same picture information side-to-side as was seen theatrically. Also, more information is shown top-to-bottom than in the theatrical version because of the way the film was originally shot.

One process used in creating movies for theatrical exhibition is to place 'mattes' over the top and bottom of the 35 mm film frame to alter the aspect ratio to 1.85:1 'Widescreen.' To avoid black letterboxing bars on the top and bottom of the picture when it is displayed on standard television, the original mattes are removed in a process known as 'Open Matte.' (This is not to be confused with 'Pan & Scan,' a completely different process of transferring film to Video and DVD.) 'Open Matte' was used with in the production of 'The Sting.'

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT. For all of you complaining about how this DVD is PAN-AND-SCAN, you are WRONG. And for all of you still waiting for WIDESCREEN, you ALREADY HAVE IT with this DVD if you understand what Universal is saying above; you are actually seeing MORE than what you'd see in the theater version because of the "Open Matte" process Universal used, NOT pan-and-scan.

If anyone begs to differ with these facts, argue with the source, Universal.

30 of 33 found the following review helpful:

Awesome Movie on HD DVD!  Feb 12, 2007
By James Morrison "Jay"
Honestly i've seen better HD DVD's but still this one is remastered like crazy,its a hell of alot clearer than the original dvd release and its amazing to see what they can do with movies such as old as this one. I mean 1973 this movie comes out and after watching the HD DVD you would think it was a new release. All in all to keep this short this is an amazing film and you should pick it up on HD DVD right now!

16 of 18 found the following review helpful:

FULL SCREEN AND WIDESCREEN ARE BOTH GREAT  Aug 24, 2005
By E
Here's the real deal. The U.S. out-of-print "The Sting" DVD's are full screen. The U.S. September 6, 2005 "The Sting" DVD is cropped widescreen. I have watched both presentations, and BOTH ARE FINE. Neither presentation distracts from the FUN. If widescreen gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, get the new one. Purists will want the old full screen with no top/bottom picture loss. The dreaded "This film has been modified from its original version - It has been formatted to fit this screen." message on the 1998 full screen version is MISLEADING. The only "modification" is more picture at the top and more picture at the bottom than the widescreen theatrical release had. The director shot the film using 35 mm 4:3 open matte, but his bosses chose to crop the theatrical version. Oh, and note that this and all earlier reviews were written before the September 6, 2005 cropped widescreen version release date.

9 of 9 found the following review helpful:

Greatest story-line ever written  Feb 16, 2000
By CanniBull
The acting is wonderful, the suprises are unpredictable, and overall, this is one of the most original movies I've ever seen in my life. There can be no duplicates. And evey time i watch this movie, some how I notice about five things I've never seen before, like it changes every time. And no, I'm not an old movie collector or total classic lover, actually, I'm only sixteen. But this is easily one of my favorite movies in history. My favorite scene is with the card playing on the train.

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