The Grifters (film)
Encyclopedia
The Grifters is a 1990 neo-noir
film directed by Stephen Frears
and produced by Martin Scorsese
. It stars John Cusack
, Anjelica Huston
and Annette Bening
and is based upon The Grifters, a pulp novel by Jim Thompson
.
Lilly works for a bookmaker, Bobo Justus, handling playback at the tracks — that is, betting money to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for the horse races, she stops in Los Angeles
to visit Roy, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally. When medical assistance finally comes, Lilly confronts the doctor, threatening to have him killed if her son dies.
At the hospital, Lilly meets and takes an instant dislike to Roy's girlfriend, Myra Langtry, who is a few years older than her son. Lilly urges her son to quit the grift, saying he literally doesn't have the stomach for it. Because she leaves late for La Jolla, she misses a race where the winner was paying 70-1. For this mistake, Bobo burns her hand with a cigar.
Myra plays all the angles. She uses her body to persuade her landlord to overlook the rent. She makes a similar offer to a jeweler to get what she wants for a gem she is trying to pawn.
Upon leaving the hospital, Roy takes Myra to La Jolla for the weekend. On the train, she notices him conning a group of sailors in a rigged dice game. Myra reveals to Roy that she is also a grifter and is looking for a new partner for a long-con operation.
Myra describes her long association with another man, Cole, and how they took advantage of wealthy marks in business cons, including a greedy oil investor, Gloucester Hebbing. A flashback scene in a plush office building culminates in a fake FBI
raid with a fake shooting of Myra to discourage Hebbing from going to the police.
Roy resists the proposition, fearing she may try to dupe him herself. Myra sees his mother's influence behind Roy's decision and makes a move for revenge. She lets it be known that Lilly has been stealing from Bobo over the years and stashing money in the trunk of her car. Lilly is warned by a friend and flees. Myra follows with the intention of killing her.
Roy is called by an FBI agent to identify his mother's body, found in a motel room with the face disfigured. While identifying it as Lilly's, he silently notes that there is no cigar burn on the corpse's hand. Coming back home, he finds Lilly trying to steal all of his money. She shot Myra while being attacked at the motel and arranged things so that it looked like she was the one killed.
Roy refuses to let her go with his money. A desperate Lilly is willing to try anything, first pleading with him, then seducing him, even going so far as to tempt Roy by claiming he is not really her son. Roy rejects her, disgusted. In anger, Lilly swings a suitcase at him and unintentionally breaks a glass onto his neck, slashing an artery.
Lilly sobs convulsively while she packs up the money as her son bleeds to death on the floor. In the famous penultimate shot, she is seen dressed in red, riding an elevator that's heading down, symbolism for her descent into the hell she has now created for herself. Then she gets into a car and drives off into the night.
and was looking for another project when Scorsese approached him. The British filmmaker was drawn to Thompson's "tough and very stylistic" writing and described it, "as if pulp fiction
meets Greek tragedy". Scorsese looked for a screenwriter, and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff
recommended Donald Westlake.
Frears contacted Westlake who agreed to re-read the Thompson novel but, after doing so, turned the project down, citing the story as "too gloomy." Frears then phoned Westlake and convinced him that he saw the story as a positive one, if considered as a story of Lily's drive to survive. Westlake changed his mind and agreed to write the adaptation. Frears was unsuccessful, however, at convincing Westlake to write the script under his pseudonym "Richard Stark," a name he had used to write 20 noir-influenced crime novels from 1962 through 1974. (Stark's name appears in the film, though, on a sign reading "Stark, Coe and Fellows"; Westlake explains in the film's commentary track that he has written novels as Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and "some other fellows.")
Meanwhile, John Cusack had read Jim Thompson's novel in 1985 and was so impressed by it that he wanted to turn the book into a film himself. When Cusack found out that Scorsese and Frears were planning an adaptation, he actively pursued a role in the project. Cusack has said that he saw the character of Roy Dillon as "a wonderfully twisted role to dive into." To research his role, he studied with real grifters and learned card and dice tricks as well as sleight-of-hand tricks like the $20 switch that his character does in the film. He even successfully pulled off this trick at a bar on a bartender he knew well.
For the role of Lilly, Frears originally considered Cher
but she became too expensive after the success of Moonstruck
. Sissy Spacek
also read the part of Lily Dillon.
Frears first contacted Anjelica Huston about playing Lilly in 1989 while she was filming Crimes and Misdemeanors
but, after reading the script, she was unsure. A few months later, Frears contacted Huston again to see if she was still interested. He was reluctant to cast her because she looked like "a lady" and decided to cheapen her look with a bleached blond wig and "vulgar clothes." Huston read the script again and felt more passionate about the part and was cast in the role. To research her part, she studied women dealers at card parlors in L.A. county.
The shoot was emotionally challenging for Huston. After completing the final scene between Lilly and Roy, she was so drained from the experience that she ran from the set and the studio. It took her hours to recover. After shooting the scene where Bobo Justus tortures Lilly for information, Huston was so affected by the rough quality of the scene (which did not make the final cut of the film) that she spent that night throwing up.
and Los Angeles
before opening wide in January.
The actresses were nominated for a few notable international prizes, including the BAFTA (Bening) and the Golden Globe (Huston): They were both awarded by the American National Society of Film Critics
. Westlake's screenplay was nominated by the Writers Guild of America
, but lost to Michael Blake's Dances with Wolves
.
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
film directed by Stephen Frears
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
and produced by Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
. It stars John Cusack
John Cusack
John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
, Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston
Anjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
and Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
and is based upon The Grifters, a pulp novel by Jim Thompson
Jim Thompson (writer)
James Myers Thompson was an American author and screenwriter, known for his pulp crime fiction....
.
Plot
Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist who begins to rethink her life when her son Roy, a small-time grifter, suffers an almost-fatal injury when hit with a thrust from the blunt end of a baseball bat, right after a failed scam.Lilly works for a bookmaker, Bobo Justus, handling playback at the tracks — that is, betting money to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for the horse races, she stops in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to visit Roy, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally. When medical assistance finally comes, Lilly confronts the doctor, threatening to have him killed if her son dies.
At the hospital, Lilly meets and takes an instant dislike to Roy's girlfriend, Myra Langtry, who is a few years older than her son. Lilly urges her son to quit the grift, saying he literally doesn't have the stomach for it. Because she leaves late for La Jolla, she misses a race where the winner was paying 70-1. For this mistake, Bobo burns her hand with a cigar.
Myra plays all the angles. She uses her body to persuade her landlord to overlook the rent. She makes a similar offer to a jeweler to get what she wants for a gem she is trying to pawn.
Upon leaving the hospital, Roy takes Myra to La Jolla for the weekend. On the train, she notices him conning a group of sailors in a rigged dice game. Myra reveals to Roy that she is also a grifter and is looking for a new partner for a long-con operation.
Myra describes her long association with another man, Cole, and how they took advantage of wealthy marks in business cons, including a greedy oil investor, Gloucester Hebbing. A flashback scene in a plush office building culminates in a fake FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
raid with a fake shooting of Myra to discourage Hebbing from going to the police.
Roy resists the proposition, fearing she may try to dupe him herself. Myra sees his mother's influence behind Roy's decision and makes a move for revenge. She lets it be known that Lilly has been stealing from Bobo over the years and stashing money in the trunk of her car. Lilly is warned by a friend and flees. Myra follows with the intention of killing her.
Roy is called by an FBI agent to identify his mother's body, found in a motel room with the face disfigured. While identifying it as Lilly's, he silently notes that there is no cigar burn on the corpse's hand. Coming back home, he finds Lilly trying to steal all of his money. She shot Myra while being attacked at the motel and arranged things so that it looked like she was the one killed.
Roy refuses to let her go with his money. A desperate Lilly is willing to try anything, first pleading with him, then seducing him, even going so far as to tempt Roy by claiming he is not really her son. Roy rejects her, disgusted. In anger, Lilly swings a suitcase at him and unintentionally breaks a glass onto his neck, slashing an artery.
Lilly sobs convulsively while she packs up the money as her son bleeds to death on the floor. In the famous penultimate shot, she is seen dressed in red, riding an elevator that's heading down, symbolism for her descent into the hell she has now created for herself. Then she gets into a car and drives off into the night.
Production
The project originated with Martin Scorsese who subsequently brought in Stephen Frears to direct while he produced. Frears had just finished making Dangerous LiaisonsDangerous Liaisons
Dangerous Liaisons is a 1988 drama film based upon Christopher Hampton's play, Les liaisons dangereuses, which in turn was a theatrical adaptation of the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos....
and was looking for another project when Scorsese approached him. The British filmmaker was drawn to Thompson's "tough and very stylistic" writing and described it, "as if pulp fiction
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
meets Greek tragedy". Scorsese looked for a screenwriter, and filmmaker Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff
Volker Schlöndorff is a Berlin-based German filmmaker who has worked in Germany, France and the United States...
recommended Donald Westlake.
Frears contacted Westlake who agreed to re-read the Thompson novel but, after doing so, turned the project down, citing the story as "too gloomy." Frears then phoned Westlake and convinced him that he saw the story as a positive one, if considered as a story of Lily's drive to survive. Westlake changed his mind and agreed to write the adaptation. Frears was unsuccessful, however, at convincing Westlake to write the script under his pseudonym "Richard Stark," a name he had used to write 20 noir-influenced crime novels from 1962 through 1974. (Stark's name appears in the film, though, on a sign reading "Stark, Coe and Fellows"; Westlake explains in the film's commentary track that he has written novels as Richard Stark, Tucker Coe and "some other fellows.")
Meanwhile, John Cusack had read Jim Thompson's novel in 1985 and was so impressed by it that he wanted to turn the book into a film himself. When Cusack found out that Scorsese and Frears were planning an adaptation, he actively pursued a role in the project. Cusack has said that he saw the character of Roy Dillon as "a wonderfully twisted role to dive into." To research his role, he studied with real grifters and learned card and dice tricks as well as sleight-of-hand tricks like the $20 switch that his character does in the film. He even successfully pulled off this trick at a bar on a bartender he knew well.
For the role of Lilly, Frears originally considered Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
but she became too expensive after the success of Moonstruck
Moonstruck
Moonstruck is a 1987 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Jewison. It stars Cher, Nicolas Cage, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia, and Olympia Dukakis....
. Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
also read the part of Lily Dillon.
Frears first contacted Anjelica Huston about playing Lilly in 1989 while she was filming Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes and Misdemeanors is a 1989 black comedy written, directed by and co-starring Woody Allen, alongside Martin Landau, Mia Farrow, Anjelica Huston, Jerry Orbach, Alan Alda, Sam Waterston and Joanna Gleason....
but, after reading the script, she was unsure. A few months later, Frears contacted Huston again to see if she was still interested. He was reluctant to cast her because she looked like "a lady" and decided to cheapen her look with a bleached blond wig and "vulgar clothes." Huston read the script again and felt more passionate about the part and was cast in the role. To research her part, she studied women dealers at card parlors in L.A. county.
The shoot was emotionally challenging for Huston. After completing the final scene between Lilly and Roy, she was so drained from the experience that she ran from the set and the studio. It took her hours to recover. After shooting the scene where Bobo Justus tortures Lilly for information, Huston was so affected by the rough quality of the scene (which did not make the final cut of the film) that she spent that night throwing up.
Reception
The Grifters had its world premiere on September 14, 1990 at the Toronto Film Festival at the Elgin Theater. The film had a brief Academy Award-qualifying run in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
before opening wide in January.
Awards
The Grifters was nominated in 1990 for four Academy Awards:- Best Director (Stephen FrearsStephen FrearsStephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...
) - Best Actress in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Anjelica HustonAnjelica HustonAnjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
) - Best Actress in a Supporting RoleAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
(Annette BeningAnnette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
) - Best Adapted ScreenplayAcademy Award for Writing Adapted ScreenplayThe Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. It is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source...
(Donald E. WestlakeDonald E. WestlakeDonald Edwin Westlake was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres...
)
The actresses were nominated for a few notable international prizes, including the BAFTA (Bening) and the Golden Globe (Huston): They were both awarded by the American National Society of Film Critics
National Society of Film Critics
The National Society of Film Critics is an American film critic organization. As of December 2007 the NSFC had approximately 60 members who wrote for a variety of weekly and daily newspapers.-History:...
. Westlake's screenplay was nominated by the Writers Guild of America
Writers Guild of America Award
The Writers Guild of America Award for outstanding achievements in film, television, and radio has been presented annually by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America, West since 1949...
, but lost to Michael Blake's Dances with Wolves
Dances with Wolves
Dances with Wolves is a 1990 epic western film directed by and starring Kevin Costner. It is a film adaptation of the 1988 book of the same name by Michael Blake and tells the story of a Union Army Lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and his dealings with a...
.
Cast
- John CusackJohn CusackJohn Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...
as Roy Dillon - Anjelica HustonAnjelica HustonAnjelica Huston is an American actress. Huston became the third generation of her family to win an Academy Award, for her performance in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, joining her father, director John Huston, and grandfather, actor Walter Huston. She later was nominated in 1989 and 1990 for her acting in...
as Lilly Dillon - Annette BeningAnnette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
as Myra Langtry - Pat HinglePat HingleMartin Patterson "Pat" Hingle was an American actor.-Early life:Hingle was born Martin Patterson Hingle in Miami, Florida, the son of Marvin Louise , a schoolteacher and musician, and Clarence Martin Hingle, a building contractor. Hingle enlisted in the U.S. Navy in December 1941, dropping out of...
as Bobo Justus - Henry JonesHenry Jones (actor)Henry Burk Jones was an American actor of stage, film and television.Jones was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Helen and John Francis Xavier Jones. He was the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk...
as Mr. Simms - Gailard SartainGailard SartainGailard Sartain is an American comedic and serious actor, often playing characters with roots in the South. He is also an accomplished and successful painter and illustrator.-Early years and education:...
as Joe - Stephen TobolowskyStephen TobolowskyStephen Harold Tobolowsky is an American actor. He is well known for his role as Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, as well as portraying Commissioner Hugo Jarry in Deadwood for nine episodes and Bob Bishop in Heroes for eleven episodes over the second and third seasons...
as the Jeweler - Sandy BaronSandy BaronSandy Baron was an American comedian who performed on stage, in films, and on television.-Biography:Baron was born Sanford Beresofsky in Brooklyn, New York, and changed his name while a student at Brooklyn College, taking his inspiration from the nearby Barron's Bookstore...
as the Doctor
External links
- The Washington PostThe Washington PostThe Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
Reviews: Hal Hinson, Desson Howe. - The Chicago Sun-Times Review: Roger Ebert
- The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Review: Vincent Canby