Look for 'ship free' to find qualifying products. Applies to mailiable products sold by Sears and Kmart. Excludes Marketplace and delivery items. Additional exclusions apply. Please see offer details on qualifying product pages
As a SHOP YOUR WAY MAX member, you get FREE 2-day shipping on many Sears and Kmart items plus FREE standard shipping on millions more. There is no limit and no minimum purchase. Products eligible for SHOP YOUR WAY MAX have this logo.
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, Rovi
Menu
Side #1 --
Play Movie
Special Features
Feature Commentary
View the Film With English Audio Commentary by Director Stephen Frears, Screenwriter Donald Westlake, and Actors John Cusack and Angelica Huston: On
View the Film With English Audio Commentary by Director Stephen Frears, Screenwriter Donald Westlake, and Actors John Cusack and Angelica Huston: Off
The Making of The Grifters
The Jim Thompson Story
The Grifters Scrapbook
Production Stills
Publicity Stills
Set Up
Spoken Languages
English
French
Captions
English for the Hearing Impaired
Captions: None
Scene Selection
Sneak Peeks
Serendipity
High Fidelity
Grosse Pointe Blank
40 Days and 40 Nights
Chapters
Side #1 --
1. Main Credits [2:35]
2. Lilly, Roy and Myra [9:59]
3. Roy's Story [6:12]
4. "Says She's Your Mother" [4:19]
5. The Hospital [2:15]
6. Troubadour [1:31]
7. Nurse Carol [7:34]
8. The Lady or the Loot [5:04]
9. Bobo [8:33]
10. Taking the Train [5:22]
11. Myra and Cole [10:15]
12. Lilly Eats Alone [1:15]
13. Separate Rooms [2:27]
14. "I Pay My Debts" [2:43]
15. At the Track [2:00]
16. "What a Team We'll Make" [5:36]
17. Roy Calls Lilly [1:12]
18. On the Run [4:14]
19. "A Room in Back" [5:14]
20. Next of Kin ID [3:29]
21. "I Need That Money" [14:43]
22. End Credits [3:30]
James Painten Peggy Rajski Martin Scorsese Robert Harris
Editors
Mick Audsley
Screen Writers
Donald E. Westlake
Set Designers
Nancy Haigh
Others
Art Director - Leslie McDonald
Book Author - Jim Thompson
Casting - Juliet Taylor
Casting - Victoria Thomas
Cinematographer - Oliver Stapleton
Composer (Music Score) - Elmer Bernstein
Costume Designer - Richard Hornung
Executive Producer - Barbara de Fina
Makeup - Julie Hewett
Production Designer - Dennis Gassner
Production Manager - Llewellyn Wells
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, Rovi
Annette Bening : Best Supporting Actress - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 1991
Anjelica Huston : Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 1990
Anjelica Huston : Best Actress - Independent Spirit Awards, 1990
Anjelica Huston : Best Actress - National Society of Film Critics, 1989
Annette Bening : Best Supporting Actress - National Society of Film Critics, 1989
Anjelica Huston : Best Actress - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 1990
Donald E. Westlake : Best Adapted Screenplay - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 1990
Stephen Frears : Best Director - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 1990
Annette Bening : Best Supporting Actress - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 1990
Anjelica Huston : Best Actress - Los Angeles Film Critics Association, 1989