• Genre: Crime
• MPAA Rating: R
• AMG Rating:
• Regional Coding: 1
  USA and territories, Canada

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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Bonus Features

• cc Feature commentary track with director Stephen Frears, screenwriter Donald E. Westlake, and actors John Cusack and Anjelica Huston
• The Making of The Grifters
• The Jim Thompson story
• The Grifters scrapbook
• French language track
• Dolby Digital Surround Sound
• Widescreen (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 televisions

Actors

John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Charles Napier

Director

Stephen Frears

Producer

Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity

• Sound : DDS
• Language : Eng/Fre
• Subtitles :

• Screen : WSE
• Dar : 1.85:1

Review

Of the several movies made in the 1990s that mined the original material of writer Jim Thompson, Stephen Frears' The Grifters was easily the best. Adapted for the screen by noted crime novelist Donald Westlake, the intelligent, knowing script is a major strength. Like Frears' previous film, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters is full of smart, character-driven deceit and intrigue. It's essentially a morality play, but, in keeping with the material's film noir feel, its morals are not simple, and definitive conclusions are unclear. John Cusack, Annette Bening, and Anjelica Huston perfectly portray the three characters involved in the ethical tug-of-war: Cusack finally asserted himself an adult actor with his stylish, sympathetic performance, but Huston and Bening steal the show as the harpies out to devour him. They capture the film's peculiarly fragile tone. With its odd gloss and modern viewpoint, The Grifters is more akin to the post-noir sensibilities of Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye than to such other neo-noir films as Red Rock West or the Thompson-inspired After Dark, My Sweet. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

• Release Date : September 24, 2002
• Length : 110 Minutes
• Dvdsides : 1
• Dvddiscs : 1
• Upc : 786936190953