The Grifters [Blu-ray]

Director: Stephen Frears Stephen Frears

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2021
UPC:	0191329201947
Original Release:	1990
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	15,138

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Cusack	Roy Dillon
Anjelica Huston	Lilly Dillon
Annette Bening	Myra Langtry
Michael Laskin	Irv
Pat Hingle	Bobo Justus
Gailard Sartain	Joe
J.T. Walsh	Cole
Charles Napier	Rebbing
Ray Sharkey	FBI Man,FBI Man
Jan Munroe	Guy at Bar
Stephen Tobolowsky	Jeweler
Ivette Soler	Maid
Henry Jones	Simms,Mintz,Mintz
Richard Holden	Cop
Xander Berkeley	Lieutenant Pierson
Michael Greene	Dealer
Jason Ronard	Shill
John Drew Barrymore	Roper
Sandy Baron	Doctor
Lou Hancock	Nurse
Juliet Landau	Lilly (age 19-22)
Bradley Pierce	Roy (age 5)
Noelle Harling	Carol
Ashton Buzamat	Roy (age 8)
Jack McGee	Clerk
Ron Campbell	2nd Clerk
Steve Buscemi	Kaggs
Paul Adelstein	1st Soldier
Jeremy Piven	2nd Soldier
Gregory Sporlader	3rd Soldier
David Sinaiko	4th Soldier
Jeff Perry	Drunk
Micole Mercurio	Waitress
Jonathan Gries	Drunk's Friend
Sy Richardson	Cab Driver
Frances Bay	Arizona Motel Clerk
Teresa Gilmore	Vickie the Receptionist
Jimmy Noonan	Bartender
John Gillespie	Bartender
Elizabeth Ann Feeley	2nd Receptionist
Trisha King	1st Beachgoer
Robert J. Weems	Racetrack Announcer
Juliet Taylor	Actor
Victoria Thomas	Actor
Teresa Gilmore-Capps	Receptionist 1
Gregory Sporleder	Sailor - Spooney
Elmer Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

Donald E. Westlake

Stephen Frears	Director
Donald E. Westlake	Screenwriter
Barbara DeFina	Executive Producer
Martin Scorsese	Producer
James Painten	Producer
Robert A. Harris	Producer
John Gillespie	Stunts
Gary Jensen	Stunts
Juliet Taylor	Casting
Victoria Thomas	Casting
Jim Painter	Producer
Barbara De Fina	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Of the several movies made in the 1990s that mined the original material of writer Jim Thompson, Stephen Frears' The Grifters was easily the best. Adapted for the screen by noted crime novelist Donald Westlake, the intelligent, knowing script is a major strength. Like Frears' previous film, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters is full of smart, character-driven deceit and intrigue. It's essentially a morality play, but, in keeping with the material's film noir feel, its morals are not simple, and definitive conclusions are unclear. John Cusack, Annette Bening, and Anjelica Huston perfectly portray the three characters involved in the ethical tug-of-war: Cusack finally asserted himself an adult actor with his stylish, sympathetic performance, but Huston and Bening steal the show as the harpies out to devour him. They capture the film's peculiarly fragile tone. With its odd gloss and modern viewpoint, The Grifters is more akin to the post-noir sensibilities of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye than to such other neo-noir films as Red Rock West or the Thompson-inspired After Dark, My Sweet.

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