:
John Cusack,
John Cusack,
Anjelica Huston,
more...
:
Stephen Frears,
Stephen Frears
see all cast/crew...
: 
: HBO Home Video
: Independent, Classic Crime, Crime, Classic Crime, Neo Noir
: 114 min.
: English
: English, Spanish, French
see additional details...
This title is currently out of print.
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Director Stephen Frears' tense adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters was one of a number of revival film noirs in the first half of the '90s. Updating the setting to contemporary Los Angeles, the film follows a trio of con artists who are intent on out-foxing each other. Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a simple, two-bit con, whose life is thrown into turmoil when his estranged mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) returns home in an attempt to evade the law. Lilly doesn't warm to Roy's girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening), who is too similar to herself. Soon, the two women are competing for Roy in a battle that is more of a power struggle than a pursuit of affection, and the battle quickly turns dangerous. Huston was nominated for an Academy Award for her work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
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| Not so Noir
by conorpotpie
November 24, 2006 - 11:39 PM PST
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0 out of 1 members found this review helpful
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| Well, it's no Chinatown. Perhaps if I hadn't been expecting a neo film noir I wouldn't have been disappointed. This is more of a film about small-time crooks and their motivations, but without any real depth. The plot is fairly straightforward without any of the intricate twists and turns that make real film noir both intriguing and vexing. Also, the acting is spotty and the language often trite and uninteresting. Fun hair, though. |
| This Grifter was a Drifter
by Merty
March 14, 2004 - 10:38 AM PST
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1 out of 4 members found this review helpful
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Where was Roy (John Cusack) heading? Throughout the movie conflicting clues were dropped. At one point it seemed as though he was enthusiastically embracing the life of a grifter and yet he kept indicating to his mother (Anjeclica Huston) that he was getting out. His relationship with Annette Bening seemed to based almost exclusively on sex. He shed nary a tear at her demise. Protecting mommy?
If you have an interest in seeing how "the con" can be pulled off -- this is not your movie. Try The Sting or Ocean's Eleven instead.
My feelings about this movie really drifted as did Roy's mother at the end. |
| noir it is...
by FOlmstead
December 23, 2002 - 2:21 PM PST
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5 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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If you're into noir or Thompson, rent this film. I read the book 20 years ago and don't remember the details, so I can't say how faithful the film is to the book, but it definitely captures that sinking feel of Jim Thompson.
There was a reprint series awhile back that had both a forward and an afterward in each book, and somewhere in there, they described Thompson's novels, which were originally published in paperback in the 50's. The gist was that unsuspecting readers looking for a little escapist pleasure, were snagged by the lurid covers and racy blurbs, "He loved 2 women at one time!"... thinking these were your run-of-the-mill 50's crime paperbacks, where the murder is solved and all's resolved in the last chapter. The kind of book you take on a trip and when it's finished, you put it down never to think of it again. Instead, they were thrown into a scary world, where each hope and dream, all plans and schemes only seem to lead to misery... and finally, just when you think the protaganist has found a way out, a trapdoor opens and he falls through into the bowels of hell.
If you like that kind of thing, then this is your kind of film. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.94)
460 Votes
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