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Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American comedy movie, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time. The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits from the 1980s.
essional assassin Martin Q. Blank (John Cusack) finds himself depressed and irritable, dissatisfied with his work and the increasing competition from rival assassins, including Grocer (Dan Aykroyd), whose efforts to cartelize the business puts him at potentially lethal odds with the solitary Martin.
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Quotations
A psychopath kills for no reason. I kill for money, it's a job... that didn't come out right.
A thousand innocent people get killed every day, but you detonate a millionaire's pet and you're marked for life.
Don't listen to him, lady — he's a professional!
Easy there, chief. I don't see hollow-point wound care on the menu.
Hey, hey — bing bing bing bing bang! POPCORN!
I guess you could say I went west. You know — the way of Horatio Alger, Davy Crockett, the Donner Party..
Encyclopedia
Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American comedy movie, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.
In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time. The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits from the 1980s.
Plot
Professional assassin Martin Q. Blank (John Cusack) finds himself depressed and irritable, dissatisfied with his work and the increasing competition from rival assassins, including Grocer (Dan Aykroyd), whose efforts to cartelize the business puts him at potentially lethal odds with the solitary Martin. Following a botched contract, Martin receives an invitation to his 10 year high school reunion in his home town of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Initially reluctant to attend, he is pressured into it by both his (understandably nervous) therapist (Alan Arkin) and his secretary (Joan Cusack), already booking him for a contract to re-establish ties with a disgruntled client over the botched contract.
Upon arriving in Grosse Pointe, Martin seeks out Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver), now a radio DJ, whom Martin had abandoned on prom night to enlist in the Army. While Debi's visit suggests hope for redemption, Martin's subsequent visit to his family only heightens his depression; his father is dead, his mother is an Alzheimer's patient in a nursing home and his childhood home has been demolished and replaced with a convenience store. Reconnecting with friends like Paul (Jeremy Piven) is likewise depressing, as many have integrated themselves with the local community through low-paying, overlooked jobs. When asked about his livelihood, Martin readily reveals that he is a professional killer, a response taken as a joke by everyone he meets. Meanwhile Martin is being stalked by rival hitmen, including Grocer and Felix LaPoubelle (Benny Urquidez), a Basque terrorist hired to kill him; as well as two awkward National Security Agency agents (Hank Azaria and K. Todd Freeman), briefed by Grocer, waiting for him to do his "job" so they can kill him. Despite these dangers, Martin remains distracted by his desire to make amends and procrastinates, not even bothering to glance at the background dossier on the prospective target.
At the reunion, Martin mingles with his former classmates, one of whom hands him her newborn baby. Martin stares into the child's face and experiences an existential transformation, recognizing that his recent dissatisfaction with his work and his amends with Debi signify an opportunity to change his life. Moments later, reflecting on his decision while exploring the halls of his old high school, Martin is attacked by LaPoubelle, whom he kills in self-defense. Debi stumbles upon the scene and, horrified to find that Martin was not joking after all, flees the reunion. Paul only follows moments later to find Martin, who corrals him into disposing of LaPoubelle's body in the school furnace. Later Debi confronts Martin in his hotel room, where he reveals that psychological testing in the Army revealed "a certain moral flexibility" that made him suitable for a CIA-sponsored "mechanical operations program." After leaving the CIA, he went into business for himself. His rationalizations for his work only horrify Debi even more; she rejects his attempts at reconciliation, and storms out. Martin, concluding that it is futile to attempt to change his life, fires his psychiatrist over the phone and finally opens the dossier containing the details of the contract that brought him to Grosse Pointe – and is startled to find that the target is Bart Newberry (Mitchell Ryan), Debi's father, a journalist whose column have gotten him into hot water with one of Martin's clients.
Grocer decides to stop waiting for Martin to kill Bart and attempts the job himself, to impress Martin's client and boost his own business. Out of loyalty to Debi, Martin abandons the contract and rescues Bart from certain death, speeding him to the Newberry house and holing up inside, narrowly ahead of Grocer and his team of mercenaries. During the siege, Martin finally reveals that he stood Debi up on prom night to enlist in the Army to channel his strong homicidal urges away from his family and friends. Martin gradually kills the team of mercenaries, the NSA agents (with Grocer's gleeful help) and Grocer himself, moments before proposing marriage to Debi. Debi, shell-shocked from the day's events, doesn't respond. Hours later she and Martin speed out of Grosse Pointe together.
Cast
Soundtrack
The score for Grosse Pointe Blank was composed by Joe Strummer, formerly of The Clash, and includes two songs from The Clash, "Rudie Can't Fail" (from the album London Calling) and their cover version of Willi Williams' "Armagideon Time".
In addition to The Clash, the tracks featured are a mix of popular 1980s punk rock, ska and New Wave from such bands as Violent Femmes, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Specials, The Jam, Siouxsie & the Banshees and a-ha.
The soundtrack album reached No. 31 on the Billboard 200 chart, prompting the release of a second volume of songs from the film.
While most songs played throughout the movie, and even more specifically the reunion, are true to the period of the students' graduation (circa 1986), several songs are contemporary:
Several songs in the film are not featured on the soundtrack albums.
Track listing
Volume 1
- "Blister in the Sun" (Violent Femmes) – 2:08
- "Rudie Can't Fail" (The Clash) – 3:31
- "Mirror In The Bathroom" (English Beat) – 3:09
- "Under Pressure" (David Bowie and Queen) – 4:03
- "I Can See Clearly Now" (Johnny Nash) – 2:46
- "Live and Let Die" (Guns N' Roses) – 3:02
- "We Care a Lot" (Faith No More) – 4:03
- "Pressure Drop" (The Specials) – 4:18
- "Absolute Beginners" (The Jam) – 2:50
- "Armagideon Time" (The Clash) – 3:53
- "El Matador" (Los Fabulosos Cadillacs) – 4:34
- "Let My Love Open the Door (E. Cola Mix)" (Pete Townshend) – 4:58
- "Blister 2000" (Violent Femmes) – 2:58
Volume 2
- "A Message to You, Rudy" (The Specials) – 2:53
- "Cities in Dust" (Siouxsie & the Banshees) – 3:49
- "The Killing Moon" (Echo & the Bunnymen) – 5:44
- "Monkey Gone to Heaven" (Pixies) – 2:56
- "Lorca's Novena" (The Pogues) – 4:35
- "Go!" (Tones on Tail) – 2:32
- "Let it Whip" (Dazz Band) – 4:24
- "The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight" (Dominatrix) – 3:40
- "War Cry" (Joe Strummer) – 5:58
- "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" (Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel) – 7:24
- "Take on Me" (a-ha) – 3:46
- "You're Wondering Now" (The Specials) – 2:37
- "99 Luftballons" (Nena)-3:52
Trivia
- The film features four of the five Cusack siblings. John as Martin; Joan as Marcella, Martin's secretary; Ann as Amy, the drunk girl in the Hippo Club; and Bill as the waiter who serves them in the same club. The fifth sibling, Susie, is not primarily an actress.
- Only two scenes of the film were actually shot in Grosse Pointe: the shootout in the home, and a helicopter view of Lakeshore Drive. The city of Grosse Pointe Farms did not allow the filmmakers to use any shots of Grosse Pointe South High School for the movie due to the presence of alcohol in the reunion scenes. Nor was any other part of the city filmed. Large portions of the film were shot in Monrovia, California.
- Benny Urquidez, who plays LaPoubelle, was referenced by John Cusack's character in Say Anything, Lloyd Dobler. Dobler was an aspiring kickboxer and mentioned Urquidez when listing famous kickboxers. As a result of his role in Say Anything, Cusack became a fan of kickboxing as well as a student of Urquidez's. Cusack was responsible for casting his instructor in Grosse Pointe Blank.
- A character is seen playing a stand-up arcade version of Doom II in a convenience store. This game was a mockup created for the movie and no arcade version of Doom was ever produced.
Similar film
According to Joan Cusack, the 2008 film War, Inc. is an informal sequel to Grosse Pointe Blank. Both films are black comedies with similar styles and themes, and both films star John Cusack as an assassin and Joan Cusack as his assistant, with Dan Aykroyd in a supporting role.
External links
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