The Grifters

Starring:Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe, Robert Weems, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jimmy Noonan, Richard Holden, Henry Jones, Michael Laskin, Eddie Jones, Sandy Baron, Lou Hancock, Gailard Sartain, Noelle Harling, Ivette Soler, Pat Hingle, Paul Adelstein, Jeremy Piven, Gregory Sporleder
Director: Stephen Frears
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Annette 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

Description

Academy Award(R)-winning actress Anjelica Huston (Best Supporting Actress, PRIZZI'S HONOR, 1985), John Cusack (SERENDIPITY), and Annette Bening (AMERICAN BEAUTY) star in this acclaimed hit where seduction and betrayal could lead to murder! When small-time cheat Roy Dillon (Cusack) winds up in the hospital following an unsuccessful scam, it sets up a confrontation between his estranged mother Lilly (Huston) and sexy girlfriend Myra (Bening). Both Lilly and Myra are ruthless confidence artists playing the con game in a league far above Roy ... and always looking for their next victim! The question soon becomes who's conning who as Roy finds himself caught in a complicated web of passion and mistrust!

Customer Reviews:

More Grift for DeMille.......2007-06-02

This Hollywood look at con artists is well done. The casting is near perfection. Classy Annette Benning in her youth has a smoking-hot body as well as an excellent grasp of her part, and she shows it all several times. This is almost a film noir in its dialogue, character depictions, and stylized presentation, but it has too much "light" to win that prize. John Cusack and Anjelica Houston are at the top of their form for portraying "brooding" and "steel hardness", respectively. The story is good if a little forced. Supporting cast is also top notch.

Classic Film Noir.......2007-03-18

It is a simple, well-shot and straight-forward film.
All greed and deceit.
With a surprise ending.
A definate must-see!

Semi-serious, dream-like movie in dealing with a serious theme .......2007-01-28

GRIFTERS is an entertaining movie, having no real beginning
middle or ending. Its goal is to underline a very specialized,
and specific behavior carried out by a limited number of people, of
small time scams, also known as grifting. Perhaps at the time
the movie was released, pop culture found this type of theme somewhat
hip and cool in a flic, but in any event, the strong aspect of this movie,
are the 3 main actors, who very skillfully give out an aura of
semi-seriousness, in a movie that itself, deals with a theme that
normally could be taken very literally, seriously and dramatically.

It also has many dream-like elements, which is difficult to do,
unless the story is written and filmed by experienced pro's, which
was the case in this movie.

Finally, Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Benning all
visibly sport a lot of charisma, pleasure and natural excitement
in playing their roles, and clearly, the audience will appreciate
that aspect, as well, since the comedy side to the film is also
appreciated by a lot of viewers.

Perhaps the best of the 90s genre.......2006-07-14

Perhaps this was the best directorial accomplishment for Stephen Frears. Perhaps it was the roles of a lifetime for Huston, Cusack and Bening. Perhaps, no definitely, it was the best crime film of its time.

THE GRIFTERS... I won't go into the plot. Other reviewers have done enough. But it does poke at some old questions. Is there honor among thieves? No, not really. But can there be respect? Yes, I think the film brings that out. What about love? Ooof! That's a tough one.

IF you've seen the movie, and liked it, the commentaries are wonderful. But even more important is the glimpse at the life of Jim Thompson whose novel inspired the film. The making of THE GRIFTERS is equally intriguing. I'm no grifter, although at times I wish I were... But still, trust me, this Collector's Series is worth the reasonable price.

I want to keep my teeth........2005-06-09

To me, The Grifters reminded me of a plain cheese sandwich. While you specifically order the sandwich for the "cheese" element, without the bread there would be no sandwich at all. When you take a bite, the softness and delicate nature of the bread will give you your first impressions of the rest of the sandwich. It is the first and last thing you taste, so it needs to remain consistent, tasty, and fresh. The Grifters was the bread to your average sandwich. The beginning and end of this film was innovative and creative as was the darkly depressing ending, just like a slice of fresh bread, but the center of the film left much to be desired. The center of the film ruined the entire cinematic experience due to its lack of direction, consistently poor filler, and sub-par feeling that this wasn't the best cheese sandwich ever made, but instead just one created for the masses. It was disappointing to see this film implode from the inside, but one cannot shake those breathtaking moments that anchored this film out of their mind. Director Frears did a decent job, but I think that if Scorsese would have helmed this project, it would have been something entirely different ... and enjoyable.

One of my major concerns with this film was the acting. Here we have this gritty, pulp-ish film that really needed to have some powerhouse actors ensuring that we see this darkness from our couches, but instead it seemed like none of the main cast was giving their full potential. I had trouble with Cusack because of his 80s comedy roots. He was my major issue with the film Eight Men Out, and a big element in this one. He just cannot seem to release that raw emotion that takes you away from Cusack the actor and immerses you deeply into the life of Roy Dillon. For the entire film, I kept seeing Cusack (a la Better off Dead...) instead of the powerful character he was supposed to be. The same can be said for the other actors as well. While I do believe that Huston was the stand out player in this film, she wasn't spectacular. Her character was too underdeveloped for us to really have a handle on her issues. I felt no emotion for her when she was having trouble with the mob because I knew nothing of her history. It was assumed, and that is where Frears tumbled this film. Bening, well, was a naked Bening. She spent more time without clothes than really showing us her intellect behind grifting. I realize that nudity was her superpower, but this was a character driven film, and these characters needed more development, more emotion, and more substance than what was presented.

The story seemed choppy to me. While, again, I will state that the beginning segment and ending climax were superbly designed, the rest of the film jumped from one place to another giving us less and less per each jump. It was as if Frears had extra time in his film and needed to fill it with whatever he could to pass the time. I would have loved to see more time with Dillon's mentor, more between Lilly and Bobo, and several more scenes with Myra to fully explain how she fell into this picture. Frears spent too much time filling holes with scenes that were fun, but not poignant. This ultimately hurt the film in the long run because by the end, we didn't care. An apathetic viewer proves that you have lost the battle.

Finally, the element that completely caught me off guard was the mother/son combination that Frears did incorporate well into the story. At first, I thought this was going to be a film about a big grift that would tear down our characters one by one with disgust and distrust, but instead Frears changed it to this wild dynamic between Cusack and Huston. Their chemistry together was decent. While some moments felt like reading was difficult for the two, other moments seemed to send electricity through the air. Frears developed the idea that the vicious circle of life does exist and this mother/son combination is living proof. Roy becomes what Lilly tried to leave him out of, and even falls for a girl that is similar to his mother. Roy is so engulfed in his mother that the ending should come as no surprise when Frears changes themes from mother/son to a near Oedipus complex. It is shivering, but in this film it works. This element kept my eyes focused on the film longer than I should have, but I had to see where Frears was going with this.

Overall, I wasn't impressed. As I bit into this cinematic cheese sandwich, I thought it was going to bring new flavors into my mouth. I was waiting for that surge of intense flavor (which happened on the first and last bit), but throughout the center I was left with nothing more than a couple of slices of cheese that provided me with no fulfillment. The actors could have been stronger. Cusack is still growing and I think that the early 90s were too early for him to try to develop his drama wings. He needed more time, with smaller roles in independent dramas, to fully grasp what he was getting into. I do not see where the awards were needed for this film, but perhaps it is because I had not read the book that this film was based. Maybe it was the darkness surrounding this film, or Bening's nudity, but it just didn't leave that lasting impression on me. Skip it, you will not be disappointed.

Grade: ** out of *****

Average customer rating:

More Grift for DeMille
Classic Film Noir
Semi-serious, dream-like movie in dealing with a serious theme
Perhaps the best of the 90s genre
I want to keep my teeth.

The Grifters
Starring: Anjelica Huston , John Cusack , Annette Bening , Jan Munroe , and Robert Weems
Director: Stephen Frears
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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