The Grifters details
Movie Details:
- Director: Stephen Frears
- Produced By: Cineplex Odeon Films, Miramax
- Year: 1990
- Run Time: 114 minutes
- Country: USA
- Language: English
- MPAA Rating: R
- Category: Feature
- Genre/Type: Crime
- Filmed In: Color
- Release: 1990 12 05 (USA)
- Key Cast: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Charles Napier, Juliet Taylor, Stephen Tobolowsky, Full Credits
- Awards: Best Supporting Actress (British Academy of Film and Television 1991), Best Actress (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie 1990), Best Actress (Independent Spirit Awards 1990), Full Awards
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. by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
Keywords:
- double-cross
- murder
- gangster
- girlfriend
- manipulation
- mother
- son
- con-artist
Themes:
- Criminal's Revenge
- Mothers and Sons
- Cons and Scams
