For the first 45 minutes or so, I wondered why my son liked this movie so much. After that, it's easy to get caught up in the twists and turns. Of course, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are very easy on the eyes :o) I was surprised at the PG rating, however, considering the amount of language in it. This will become one of our favorites.
100 plus better than a recent caper-like movie I've seen (Duplicity-yugh) but it did have some semi-graphc violence, like when a character is shot in the head, but it's brief. The language in today's terms would definitely earn a PG-13, but that didn't bother me any. I haven't seen any other movies from 1973, but this one probably deserved the Best Pic win.
The Sting is actually a good movie, good for kids who don't have a problem with swearing. It is an interesting movie because the main character is actually not a very good role model, I liked it though.