The Grifters
1990 Directed by Stephen Frears
Synopsis
Based on the pulp novel by Jim Thompson, this neo-noir film tells the story of Lilly Dillon, a long-time female con artist who begins to rethink her life when her son Roy, also a grifter, suffers an almost-fatal injury when he is beaten after a failed scam.
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The slow burn is a little slower than I remember, and I don't think "The Grifters" has held up all that well.
We don't get a real interplay of con artists conning each other, more just listening them talk about themselves and their situations without a lot of real interaction. The last half hour or so doesn't really shock as much as it just feels out of place and random.
The score is great and performances are strong, but the sum of the parts don't add up to much substance. Still an okay watch for what it is.
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Easily the best adaptation from a Jim Thompson novel, this must be thanks to the combined stellar efforts of Donald Westlake, Stephen Frears, Martin Scorsese, John Cusack, Annette Bening and Anjelica Huston. A truly winning combination.
The story stays true to Thompson, it is beyond dark, holding up a circus mirror to life that only reflects the ugly, uncomfortable and depressing and is peopled by conniving, back stabbing, selfish characters.
There's a torture scene that has to be right up there in a Top 10 of movie torture scenes with Marathon Man and Reservoir Dogs, it was in the novel but the direction adopted by Frears makes it so much more memorable and horrific. Poor Anjelica Huston.
As with Miller's Crossing, it is near perfect but could have used some minutes trimmed from its runtime.
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The Grifters is an interesting picture on the art of... well, grifting. It has a great cast and a great story line but i feel it leaves you hanging without finalizing the story. Not all movies have to end in such a way, but i feel like The Grifters sort of misses this mark. Overall though, its a pretty decent film.
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Man, talk about a slow-burn. Going into The Grifters I was expecting a slick and quick-paced con thriller, but what I got was something much darker and much more absorbing. Director Stephen Frears, working off a script by Donald Westlake (adapted from the Jim Thompson novel) lets these characters get established before they start to bring us into the tangled web they are all weaving.
Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a con man pulling small jobs every day to slowly build up his savings, while his girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening) is doing anything she can to get by and his mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) is working on a long play of her own. The tagline of “Who’s conning who?”…
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I'm a big John Cusack fan, but I didn't appreciate this one at all. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood? Let's blame this one on me and give the movie, the benefit of the doubt.
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Nothing radical, but its sharp editing and direction serve the three leads well. The craft elements peak with the split-screen that introduces the characters, give or take that final descent.
Cusack is an actor I've never had much use for, but he's largely convincing here, particularly when playing opposite Huston. Bening's part and performance initially feel limited, but our shifting perceptions highlight the layers she brings to the role. Huston is the star, though, shifting from calculating softness to steely intensity within seconds. Her scene with Pat Hingle is the film's highlight. The performances are enhanced by the fact that their characters are constantly acting within the film; it's fascinating to watch the moments when these charade artists let their…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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I'm having this quarter life crisis where I feel the need to watch John Cusack movies...
With that being said, The Grifters did not disappoint. How can you go wrong with a cast like Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Benning? They were all stellar.
At first it was kind of hard to follow, but you picked up on lingo and what was going on fairly quickly. Definitely worth the watch!
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The slow burn is a little slower than I remember, and I don't think "The Grifters" has held up all that well.
We don't get a real interplay of con artists conning each other, more just listening them talk about themselves and their situations without a lot of real interaction. The last half hour or so doesn't really shock as much as it just feels out of place and random.
The score is great and performances are strong, but the sum of the parts don't add up to much substance. Still an okay watch for what it is.
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Long con—
Cigar in mouth, glass in hand.
The red and the black. -
Easily the best adaptation from a Jim Thompson novel, this must be thanks to the combined stellar efforts of Donald Westlake, Stephen Frears, Martin Scorsese, John Cusack, Annette Bening and Anjelica Huston. A truly winning combination.
The story stays true to Thompson, it is beyond dark, holding up a circus mirror to life that only reflects the ugly, uncomfortable and depressing and is peopled by conniving, back stabbing, selfish characters.
There's a torture scene that has to be right up there in a Top 10 of movie torture scenes with Marathon Man and Reservoir Dogs, it was in the novel but the direction adopted by Frears makes it so much more memorable and horrific. Poor Anjelica Huston.
As with Miller's Crossing, it is near perfect but could have used some minutes trimmed from its runtime.
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pretty damn good.
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With three strong performances and an intelligent script, "The Grifters" is an entertaining, unpredictable thriller.