The Grifters
The Grifters is a 1990 American neo-noir crime thriller 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 1963 novel of the same name. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and was declared one of the Top 10 films of 1990 by The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Plot
Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist. She works for Bobo Justus, a mob bookmaker, making large cash bets at race tracks to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for a race, she stops in Los Angeles to visit her son, Roy, a small-time grifter 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.
Awards
Cast
- Anjelica Huston
- Annette Bening
- Charles Napier
- Eddie Jones
- Frances Bay
- Gailard Sartain
- Gregory Sporleder
- Henry Jones
- J. T. Walsh
- Jeff Perry
- Jeremy Piven
- John Cusack
- Jon Gries
- Juliet Landau
- Lou Hancock
- Martin Scorsese
- Michael Laskin
- Micole Mercurio
- Pat Hingle
- Paul Adelstein
- Richard Holden
- Sandy Baron
- Stephen Tobolowsky
- Steve Buscemi
- Xander Berkeley
More details
| author | Donald E. Westlake |
|---|---|
| award | National Board of Review: Top Ten Films |
| contentLocation | Los Angeles |
| director | Stephen Frears |
| editor | Mick Audsley |
| events | gambling |
| genre | crime drama thriller |
| keywords | american mafia bleed bookmaker claim con artist con man gunshot wound kill long con mob motel room race track shot to death steal |
| musicBy | Elmer Bernstein |
| nomination | Academy Award for Best Actress Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay |
| producer | Jim Painten Martin Scorsese Robert A. Harris |
| productionCompany | Cineplex Odeon Films |
| publisher | Miramax Films |
| recordedAt | Arizona California San Diego |
| theme | heist independent neo-noir |