The Grifters (Miramax Collector's Series)
by Stephen Frears
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe, John Cusack, Robert WeemsDirector: Stephen Frears
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Barbara De Fina
Producer: Jim Painter
Producer: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Peggy Rajski
Producer: Robert A. Harris
Writer: Donald E. Westlake
Writer: Jim Thompson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
Published: 2002-09-01
DVD Release Date: 2002-09-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Miramax Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of The Grifters (Miramax Collector's Series)
Movie Review: Ample parts mystery and intrigue make this noir a must see film...
Summary: 5 Stars
The first time I saw `The Grifters' I was a little underwhelmed. I didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about. At that point I had yet to really understand the concept behind a crime-noir and so the acting and the dialog just didn't sit right with me. Years later I saw this film yet again, and my reaction was very different. `The Grifters' brilliantly captures the spirit of the noir and delivers a very solid film that stays true to its roots with style and flare and, when taken for what it is, serves as a very exciting and entertaining ride.
`The Grifters' tells the story of three con-artists (or `grifters') and their relationship to one another. Roy Dillon makes his money playing small cons on unsuspecting innocents like bartenders and sailors. His mother Lilly plays a different kind of con, working for big time bookie Bobo by hedging for him at the race track. Roy's girlfriend Myra uses her body and magnetism to con her way out of anything she can. The three of them grift in their own way yet soon they will find that their choice of lifestyle and means of living is going to catch up with them.
The script is expertly written, adding layers of mystery and intrigue to these characters and their predicament. The script is actually the one facet of the film that I disliked the first time I saw it yet adored the second time. My taste has obviously matured (when I first saw this film I was roughly twelve or so) within the eleven year time gap between sittings and so I am able to appreciate the art that went into this film. Director Steven Frears masterfully crafted this picture, allowing the style of the film to permeate each scene and drawing out of his entire cast performances that only elevate the material and compliment the films overall presence.
There are three main actors at play here, all of which do a stand up job with the material. John Cusack delivers one of his finest performances as Roy Dillon. His performance never really garnered much attention (his two lady co-stars do steal his thunder here) but he does deserve to be recognized. He really understood the concept behind the film and you could feel a connection between him and his character. He's not as polished an actor as Anjelica Huston, so she dominated him with ease when they shared the screen, but there is no denying that he grasped the style of the film he was in and delivered a commendable performance. Anjelica Huston is one of those actresses that acts from her fingertips down to her toes. There is one scene in particular, when Lilly is in her hotel room on the phone with Roy and she sits on her bed with on leg bent and cocked up on the mattress and just her position breathed through the screen and confirmed that Huston was fully amerced in this character. She became Lilly Dillon inside and out. As wonderful as Huston is, Bening is better. I have complained about Annette before to friends, calling her out on her tendency to overact, as if she feels that is the only way to act. This performance used her tendency to create a character that felt so real and so effortless I just couldn't help but find myself glued to her every movement. I just love the way that Myra is lighthearted and carefree one minute, her voice at a shrill and her head bopping from side to side, and then she shifts her countenance and her voice deepens a tad and her eyes sharpen and you know that she is conning you but you can't help but fall for it every time.
As far as supporting actors go, the list begins and ends with Pat Hingle. Hingle plays Lilly's boss Bobo Justus and his performance, while limited, is enormously captivating. His confrontation with Lilly is flawlessly acted with a realistic mixture of ruthless bravado and genuine interest.
`The Grifters' takes three very interested characters and fleshes them out for us, and while it leaves questions unanswered we feel completed when the film ends. Those unanswered questions may seem like a big deal at first (one of the reasons I disliked the film the first time) but you realize when you take a step back that those questions we're left with only help us appreciate the finished product all the more. This film is oozing with mystery and that helps us remember it well and desire to revisit it, if only to have a chance at answering some of those questions.
Summary of The Grifters (Miramax Collector's Series)
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 01/10/2006Annette Bening twists like a mink on a leash through Stephen Frears's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel. This may be the perfect trope for the moral hysteria that coils around a mother, her son, and his girlfriend in this slender but highly pleasurable neo-noir. Small in effect and local in scope, the film is about small-fry, attractive, bloodless con artists who view the world as neatly split between ropers and suckers, grifters and squares. "Grifter's got an irresistible urge to beat a guy that's wise," an old-timer tells Roy (John Cusack). And yet the three characters here--played by Angelica Huston, Cusack, and Bening--only beat the innocent: Lilly (Huston) gigs at the track for a mobster named Bobo, putting wads of cash on long-shot horses to even out the odds. Roy, her son, swindles citizens by dimes and degrees, flashing twenties at bars then paying for his beer with tens. His girlfriend, Myra (Bening), is hustling herself, her salad days as a long-con roper behind her. Theirs is a world of gut punches and smart lines, and the adrenaline these cheats and chiselers live by is palpable onscreen. But a larger canvas? Maybe it's there as a parallel universe. "What do you sell again?" Myra asks Roy, the matchbook salesman. "Self-confidence," he says, a wry allusion to the confidence game all three of them are playing. The movie boasts dazzling turns by Bening, Cusack, and especially Huston, whose mère fatale breaks new ground for noir. --Lyall Bush
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