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The Grifters
Studio: Miramax
Year: 1990
Rated: R
Film Length: 110 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 16X9 Enhanced Widescreen (1.85:1)
Subtitles: English
Seduction. Betrayal. Murder. Who's Conning Who?
I have always been very public about being a
fan of John Cusack. Those that know how much
I enjoy his work have been persuading me to
watch The Grifters, one of the few films
of his I have managed to see.
"The Grifters" is a gloomy, tense film that
explores the lives of three con artists and
their relationships to each other. There's
Roy (John Cusack) a young grifter, working
'short cons' on innocents such as bartenders
and sailors. Roy's mother, Lilly (Anjelica
Huston) works the racetracks for a sadistic
mobster (Pat Hingle). Then there's Roy's
girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening), a ruthless
con artist, who preys on desperate businessman
and perhaps, is preying on Roy himself. Every
one of these characters is just waiting for
a sucker to be born.
With everyone scamming everyone else, The
Grifters works as a character study, delving
into the minds of these desperate criminal types.
It's interesting to learn that this was the film
where Cusack was finally coming into his own as
a serious actor coming off of starring roles in
more wilder '80s teen comedies.
I think the biggest surprise in this film for
me was hearing a familiar voice and then seeing
one of my all-time favorite character actors,
Henry Jones. This film was one of his very last
theatrical appearances. He died 9 years later.
How is the transfer?
Considering this film is already 12 years old,
I wasn't expecting the film to look this good...
but it does! Miramax has given us an extremely
clean anamorphic transfer that remains crisply
detailed in both its day and night lit scenes.
Colors are very pronounced and accurate all around.
The only problem I see here is a visible amount of
noise that shows up in scenes with white background
or sky. You'll notice it most prominently in the
opening credits of the film as well as during a
few darker interior sequences. All of this is
quite minimal and should not deter from your
enjoyment of the film.
Though there is no 5.1 here, you'll be pleasantly
surprised how good the Dolby surround mix is. Elmer
Bernstein's musical soundtrack distributes itself
rather evenly between the front and rear channels.
While most of the film's action comes across the
front channels with lots of underlying bass, the
rears provide some terrific effect sounds such as
a crowd at a racetrack, the sounds of street
traffic, or the echo of the racetrack announcer's
PA system.
Special Features
Released under Miramax's Collector Series
banner, The Grifters contains an interesting
amount of added material that compliments the film.
Take a look at this Feature Commentary! At
first glance you can't help but to get excited over
a commentary that features Director Stephen Frears,
Screenwriter Donald E. Westlake and actors John
Cusack and Anjelica Huston. The problem is, like
most commentaries on recent DVD releases, all of
the material has been recorded separately, thus
the commentary comes off quite bland with absolutely
no spontaneity. Right off the bat, Cusack talks
about being this young actor who felt the weight
of the film's success upon his shoulder -- especially
given the fact that he was surrounded by adult
co-stars. Director Stephen Frears talks about
casting the young actor under recommendation without
having to do an exhaustive search. He also talks
about the problems he had filming at most racetracks
(they wouldn't permit it), until Arizona let them
use theirs. Donald Westlake reveals that both
Anjelica Huston and Cher were the first choices
to play the character of Lilly. He also readily
discusses how difficult it was to translate from
Jim Thompson's novel to film and how he often had
to improvise scenes. As the film rolls along,
Angelica provides some interesting insight into
her character relaying where that character's
thoughts are at the moment. Obviously her character
has gotten deeper into the grift than anyone else's.
All in all, the commentary remains interesting, but
it is just done so blandly, with everyone giving
quiet, low-key commentary that could have been
much lighter had all of them been in the same room
together during the recording sessions.
The Making Of The Grifters begins with
Director Stephen Frears (who really should comb
his hair) and Screenwriter Donald E. Westlake
discussing how they first came into the film
project. John Cusack talks about the casting
session he had with Frears in a NY hotel room.
It was certainly one of the strangest meetings
he had ever had. Huston talks about being taken
back by the script, coming to the audition wearing
a beautiful red dress. Both actors talk about
Annette Benning's professional acting ability.
The cast fondly talks about Jim Thompson's novel,
and his ability to write about the wrong people
being in the wrong place. The documentary also
covers the periodic look of the film, the costume
designs and what it was like to be on the set with
Director Stephen Frears. Finally, we learn about
the release of the film and the critical acclaim
that it received. After all, it was the film
that put Miramax on the map.
(length: approx. 16 minutes)
The Jim Thompson Story takes a look at
the author who was considered to be darkest and
boldest of all the American crime writers. This
featurette traces his life from birth through
his young years when he came in touch with the
underworld. Jim Thompson, like many of his
characters, was a man in the wrong place in
the wrong time. He had immense talent but never
got the respect he deserved. After his death, and
with the release of The Grifters, he is
slowly being recognized for his literary talents.
(length: Approx. 7.5 minutes)
The Grifters Scrapbook give us almost 40
publicity and production still photos that you
browse through using your DVD remote. I sort of
enjoyed the unique approach to displaying these
pictures, as they stack themselves upon one another
as if they were files being placed on top of a
desk.
There is absolutely no original theatrical
trailer included here (which is quite odd), but
there are trailers for Serendipity, High
Fidelity, Grosse Point Blank and 40 Days
and 40 nights.
Final Thoughts
I personally found The Grifters to be a
very startling film full of intrigue and depth.
I'm not sure, however, if I found it to be an
enjoyable movie experience simply because of its
dark storyline. Still, I respect the fact that
this film has a rather large following.
Miramax has done an ample job of releasing a
Collector's Edition that is sure to please fans
of this film, despite the fact that the commentary
is a little bland and the DVD lacks a theatrical
trailer.
Release Date: October 8, 2002
