ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Ed-Shullivan I especially love the 1970's film making era, and with a seasoned director such as Robert Aldrich managing the cameras, I was sure I would not be disappointed with the Grissom Gang. The opening panoramic scene which takes place at a gas station/general store was vintage 1970's film making style, and I thought the film was off to a great start. The movie takes place in the 1930's era and stars Kim Darby as Barbara Blandish who plays a rich and spoiled heiress who is kidnapped by a crew of semi smart gangsters who are led by a tough talking Ma Grissom played by Irene Dailey. Ma Grissom's slow witted son Slim Grissom who has never had physical contact of any kind with the opposite sex becomes infatuated with their kidnap victim Barbara. While in captivity Barbara is shown several times screaming her rich pretty little head off, thus the scream queen summary. The dim witted Slim takes a lot of verbal abuse from the other gang members as they like to make fun of his so called friendship with Barbara when in fact they know that after the ransom is paid, they will have to dispose of Barbara as she is the only living witness to their crime.No plot is complete without including a weasel eyed gang member in the story line and who better to play this part than the venerable character actor Tony Musante who plays Eddie Hagan. Eddie expresses that he is more than up to the task of killing Barbara when the time is right because he knows how much that will just torment Slim who has fallen in love with Barbara.As the law closes in on the gang, Barbara continues to try and escape and Slim promises to protect his new found love from the other gang members. Tempers flare amongst the gang members, and the audience is anticipating one of those great Bonnie and Clyde shootouts with the law. Director Robert Aldrich includes a number of car chases and shoot outs in the Grissom Gang, the three main characters are exposed to the audience for who they are and who they believe in. I wouldn't want to spoil a good ending so you will just have to watch it. I would not call this a great movie, but it is certainly worth a Sunday matinée watch. I give it a 6 out of 10, and I thank Robert Aldrich for another good film on his extensive resume which includes the classic and hard to find on DVD Choirboys, as well as box office bonanzas The Longest Yard, and the Dirty Dozen.

shepardjessica This little gem of a film was treated as exploitation trash, but a fascinating kidnapping tale with unrequited love and dysfunctional family relations. Scott Wilson (so brilliant in In Cold Blood) is incredible as Slim, the lonely offbeat member of the gang who is somewhat understood (but very edgy). Throw in Kim Darby, Tony Musante, Irene Dailey (more demented than she was in Five Easy Pieces), and Joey Faye as Woppy, how wrong can you go?There's a good sense of time period. This film is nothing compared to Bonnie and Clyde, but closer to Thieves Like Us. Connie Stevens is an added attraction. Give these folks a chance. Rated 7 out of 10.

howlermonkey a better Patty Hearst movie than the ones actually made about Patty Hearst. not quite up there with the likes of Bonnie and Clyde and Thieves Like Us, but definitely worth seeing as an example of the 1970's ambivalence about anti-social characters and crime. the reviews make quite a big deal about the violence but you will hardly notice it--a great deal of shooting, some of that orange glop they used in the 1970s, but hardly emotionally wrenching like, say, The Wild Bunch or Texas Chainsaw Massacre...great performance by Scott Wilson who shows up on TV a lot these days.

gridoon A disappointing adaptation of a James Chase novel (which I have read, incidentally). It's a cheap, mostly badly cast production, with an incredibly choppy beginning, and full of poorly-drawn characters that don't make much of an impression on the viewer. The one important exception is the character of Slim Grissom; neurotic, explosively unpredictable and complicated, this guy functions like a human-size time-bomb. Scott Wilson's convincing, excellent performance in the role elevates this movie, which, however, still should have been much better. (**)