The Grifters (film)
| The Grifters | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Stephen Frears |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Donald E. Westlake |
| Based on |
The Grifters by Jim Thompson |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Oliver Stapleton |
| Edited by | Mick Audsley |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $13,446,769 |
The Grifters is a 1990 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Stephen Frears, produced by Martin Scorsese, and starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening. The screenplay was written by Donald E. Westlake, based on Jim Thompson's novel of the same name.
Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist. She works for a bookmaker, Bobo Justus, making large cash bets at race tracks to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for the horse races, she stops in Los Angeles to visit her son Roy, a small-time grifter whom she has not seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally after one of his victims caught him pulling a petty scam and hit him in the stomach with a bat. 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 does not have the stomach for it. Because she leaves late for La Jolla, she misses a race where the winner was paying 70 to 1. For this mistake, Bobo burns her hand with a cigar.
Myra, like Roy and Lilly, plays all the angles. When her landlord demands payment of late rent, she uses her sex appeal to lure him into bed and forget 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. She describes her long association with a con man named 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.
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