Intcatinfo
A Masterpiece!
Aubrey Hackett
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
Matylda Swan
It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.
Lee Eisenberg
Con artists are an occasional topic in cinema. "Paper Moon" and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" are among the most famous outings. Stephen Frears's 1990 film noir "The Grifters" takes a different approach to the topic by emphasizing the characters pulling the cons, as opposed to the tricks. Roy (John Cusack) is a typical grifter in LA, his mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) places bets at horseraces, and his girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening) likes to seduce men. But when these three meet up, all bets are off.One of the things that these movies do is give the viewer a different perspective on the setting. By 1990, LA had a reputation as the domain of empty-headed celebrity wannabes. "The Grifters" makes the City of Angels look like a gritty bastion of cynical types. The protagonists have no morals; they're totally in it for the money. That the opening sequence shows the screen split three ways only serves to emphasize the intensity that's about to follow.I wouldn't call this Frears's best movie - my personal favorite of his is "The Snapper" - but you can't deny how he masterfully sets up the story and films each scene. I recommend the movie, but just remember that you're in for some nasty stuff.
classicalsteve
In most films about "grifters", or "con artists", they are almost always the ones the audiences root for, such as the lovable characters in "The Sting", Gondorff and Hooker (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) whose only marks are those who deserve it. In reality, grifters mark anyone they think they can take. And the more the mark has, the more the grifter thinks he or she can take from them. A con artist (aka confidence man or woman) uses camaraderie and deception to convince a potential victim to willfully give them money. In the best con games, the mark doesn't realize he or she has been "taken".Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a small-con grifter who was taught by an older con artist and magician. He perpetrates small-time tricks, like switching bills at bars, and getting in with strangers to play rigged games of chance. But he's never enacted bigger cons. His mother Lilly Dillion is also a grifter who works for the mobs which own many of horse racing tracks in California. She's paid to bet on long shots to decrease the pay offs in case the long shot wins, using the mob's own money, even though the track itself doesn't know the mob is actually paying into its own betting pool. For example, if a horse had 50-1 odds to win, and Lilly adds money into the betting pool making the odds 40-1, if the horse wins, the mob only has to pay off $40 to every $1 bet instead of $50. But there's a small hitch. Lilly is skimming off the top, betting less money than the mob has given her, and she hides the extra in the trunk of her car.The wild card is a young female grifter name of Myra Langtry (Annette Bening) who was once in a big con game with a man name of Cole (J.T. Walsh). At the film's beginning we learn Roy is going with Myra, but he's not sure about her, and he doesn't know she's a grifter. After Roy unsuccessfully pulls one of his bate and switch the bills games on the wrong bartender which lands him a slug into the stomach, Lilly and Myra meet at hospital. From the get-go we know that Lilly and Myra are adversaries, both vying for the affections of Roy. Eventually, Roy and Myra leave on a road trip.During the trip, Myra recounts her days with Cole and how they swindled Texas millionaires out of thousands in cash. They set up a phony office when oil prices were down and convinced Texas magnates to invest thousands of dollars into a scheme. Cole and Myra would convince the mark they could defraud the stock or bonds market by placing orders depending upon a shift in the market, such as a stock, bond or currency, and then cash in on the profits. The trick was a 7-second delay in which if there was a significant move of a stock and/or commodity up or down on the Tokyo exchange, they could either buy or sell before the information reached New York. When the mark brought the money, and all that was needed was to make the actual transaction, a phony scenario was presented to the mark involving authorities, and the mark and his money would soon part company.But Roy has never tried anything so big before. And his mother Lilly wants Roy out of the con game, before he becomes like her, a loser who has sold her soul to the mob. She is physically punished by one of the mobsters for missing one of the high-stakes races when she takes Roy to hospital, and as luck would have it, one of the long-shots wins, forcing the mob to pay 70-1 odds. We know that this is a tug of war between these two women, the sexy upstart grifter Myra and the lonely loser old grifter Lilly.An excellent film which probably more accurately portrays the cut-throat world of con artists. In reality, some con artists are playing deadly games, not like the characters portrayed in "The Sting", "The Film-Flam Man" and "House of Games". A French nobleman who had invested with Bernie Madoff committed suicide when the fraud was revealed, and others have been killed by con artists. The world of Roy, Lilly and Myra portrays a much deadlier world. While a great and compelling film, I would have liked Myra and Roy to engage the "big con" which in the end they avoid.
Spikeopath
The Grifters is directed by Stephen Frears and adapted to screenplay by Donald E. Westlake from the novel of the same name written by Jim Thompson. It stars Anjelica Huston, John Cusack and Annette Bening. Music is by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography by Oliver Stapleton."The best reason I can think of is that you scare the hell out of me. I have seen women like you before, baby. You're double-tough and you are sharp as a razor, and you get what you want or else; but you don't make it work forever. Sooner or later the lightning hits, and I'm not gonna be around when it hits you"1990 was a grand year for neo-noir, of the dozen + titles that came out that year, The Grifters sits atop of the pile. A superlative film noir that boasts class on the page and on both sides of he camera. Set in modern day Los Angeles, the story follows three cynical and sly con artists through a psychological fog of bluff, double bluff, pain, misery, manipulations and shattering developments. That the trio consists of a boyfriend, girlfriend and an estranged mother only darkens the seamy waters still further.Los Angeles positively bristles with a smouldering atmosphere thanks to the work of Frears, Bernstein and Stapleton. Sexual tension is ripe, Westlake's adaptation doing justice to Thompson's novel, while the three leads – and Pat Hingle in super support – are on fire, bringing complex characters vividly to life as they trawl through the devilishly labyrinthine plot, adding biting humour and shallow savagery into the bargain.A top draw neo-noir that doesn't cut corners or pull its punches, from the split screen opening salvo to the pitch black finale, The Grifters delivers high quality for neo-noir fans. 9/10
adrongardner
The Grifters is not really a movie, it's a language with verbs only about life and debt. It is an almost comic rhyme about punches to the gut and the moral ambiguities of being on the slide. Even for the con, life ain't free.The actors in this odyssey largely speak in physical grammar and the slick, witty and hard boiled dialog is largely muzak. Anjelica Houston's Lilly postures in brash suits like a school girl far beyond her years - even though she seen a few already. That's not to say Lilly doesn't utter a few daggers now and then - "My son will be all right, if not I'll have you killed."Cusack's Roy barely utters every meager syllable while clenching his gut with a half open stare. Roy sells self confidence and wants to be a real con, but never listens enough to mom, even though she wrote the book. Roy frequently brushes with dangers and somehow mom is always there to save his life. "Second time I gave it to you." Then there is Annette Bennign's Myra, Roy's giggle "Friend," trotting around like a bobble head fixture on a taxi dashboard with clip on earrings but garnering enough attention to slice you from behind for a dollar. You can well imagine she is a lot of people's friend. Just ask the landlord.Each of these performers puts in what well may be the best performance of their careers. Director Stephen Frears uses a restrained hand on Donald E. Westlake's literal script and largely lets the actors play this out on their own.So greed is good? Maybe for Myra. Ultimately The Grifters is about survival and the illusion of getting something for nothing. But even somewhere inside Roy knows not everything is a free ride, "Lilly, I guess I owe you my life.""You always did."
