Grifters, The (Blu-ray Review)

• Reviewed by: Dennis Seuling
• Review Date: Jan 13, 2025
• Format: Blu-ray Disc
• 

Director

Stephen Frears

Release Date(s)

1990 (January 21, 2025)

Studio(s)

Cineplex Odeon Films/Miramax Films (The Criterion Collection – Spine #1246)

• Film/Program Grade: A
• Video Grade: A
• Audio Grade: A
• Extras Grade: A+

Review

“Grifter,” a word not much used these days, is defined as “a con artist; someone who swindles people out of money through fraud.” The Grifters, adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson, follows three people who make their living by deception, thievery, and risk.

Small-time Los Angeles grifter Roy Dillon (John Cusack, Say Anything) deals in the short con—quick swindles he carries out in restaurants and bars. To the outside world, he’s a matchbook salesman. Roy has a troubled relationship with his mother, Lilly (Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor), whom he hasn’t seen in nearly a decade. Lilly travels to racetracks around the country, manipulating odds for a big-time bookmaker (Pat Hingle, Batman). She’s also skimming some of the winnings.

Lilly shows up unexpectedly at Roy’s apartment and finds him in terrible shape from an injury he received when one of his scams backfired. She calls an ambulance and has him brought to the hospital. There she meets Roy’s girlfriend, Myra Langtry (Annette Bening, American Beauty). Lilly takes an immediate dislike to Myra.

Knowing first hand the risks and seeing her son close to death from a con gone wrong, Lilly urges Roy to get out of that line of work and get a regular job, but her plea falls on deaf ears. Like Lilly herself, Roy seems unable to break free.

Myra, too, is a con artist. Her specialty is to serve as the lure for big-time con operators with elaborate set-ups. Myra is in the business for the “long con”—a payoff of big bucks. The problem is, her former partner in crime is incarcerated and she’s been left adrift. Myra’s tools of the trade are her attractiveness, her wit, her survival instincts, and her ability to string people along. After seeing Roy scam a group of drunken sailors on a train, she thinks he has what it takes to be her new partner.

The art of the con is to win confidence by radiating confidence and believability. Lilly looks like a business executive with her tailored suits, fashionable hairstyle, and classy bearing. She has an almost condescending manner that passes for wealth and entitlement. Her attire and bearing enable her to place big bets at racetracks without arousing suspicion. Roy is strictly small time. He comes across as an ordinary guy. That’s his cover. He spots a mark and moves in by being friendly, seeming innocent, engaging in conversation, then pouncing, leaving his victims unaware that they have been swindled. Myra is flexible, working her cons either through blatant sexual allure or rich southern-lady charm, as the situation requires.

All three are good at what they do and have honed their skills to such a degree that taking a legitimate job is impossible to fathom. What other line of work are they fit for? How else could they earn the kind of money they’re making now?

Huston is outstanding as Lilly. The look on her face is serious, severe, with a “Don’t mess with me” aspect. She walks with perfect posture that exudes innate confidence even as she deals with a boss who can be brutal. She speaks softly even when situations are tense, and breaks down only once. This is a woman with nerves of steel.

As Roy, Cusack conveys self-assurance at times and insecurity at others. His eyes and body communicate what he might not say, and it’s clear what he’s thinking. He also suggests confusion in his scenes with Huston. He can’t seem to bear her character’s motherly attention, even to save his life.

Bening uses her body as an invitation, slinking and batting her eyes, her grin a welcome to good times. Her cheerful demeanor suggests a good- time girl, which is precisely the image she wants to project. Bening plays Myra as a cuddle kitten, her motivations hidden by a beautiful body and an irresistible smile.

Director Stephen Frears has created a fascinating neo-noir world. The characters are intriguing, the milieu dark and the settings reminiscent of films noir of the 1940s. Locations intentionally suggest an older Los Angeles, though costumes, cars, and hairstyles reflect the fashions of fifty years later. Many scenes are purely visual as we watch Lilly and Roy engage in their cons of choice. In the opening scene, a split screen shows Lilly, Roy, and Myra each getting ready for a new day of scamming, and linking them thematically.

There are some violent moments in The Grifters that illustrate the inherent dangers of constantly working scams. For the most part, however, the focus is on the relationships among the three principals. Since all three are interesting characters, this approach sustains the drama and builds suspense.

The Grifters was shot by director of photography Oliver Stapleton on 35 mm film with Panavision cameras and lenses and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. According to information in the enclosed booklet from The Criterion Collection, a new 4K master, supervised by Stapleton, was created from the 35 mm original camera negative. “When The Grifters was released in 1990, the 35 mm prints that circulated were made using a ‘bleach bypass’ process.” Stapleton provided his personal bleach bypass print as a guideline for grading the scans of the negative. This is a beautiful-looking Blu-ray. Contrast and clarity are first-rate, with details well delineated. Production design conjures the peak years of film noir while also projecting a contemporary feel. Older Los Angeles locations were used whenever possible. There are no perceptible visual imperfections, such as scratches, dirk specks, or emulsion clouding, making for a nearly pristine viewing experience.

The soundtrack is English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. English SDH subtitles are an available option. Dialogue is clear and sharp. Anjelica Huston speaks in a modulated tone that contrasts with her “tough broad” demeanor. Sound effects include ambient noise at a bar, airport, racetrack, and on a train. Body pummeling, shattered glass, car motors, traffic noise, and gun shots contribute to atmosphere. Elmer Bernstein’s music channels classic noir scores with its jazz inflections, heavy bass beats, and exciting tempos.

Bonus materials on the Blu-ray release from The Criterion Collection include the following:

• Audio Commentary with Stephen Frears, John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Donald E. Westlake
• The Making of The Grifters (16:26)
• Interview with Annette Bening (20:04)
• Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of The Grifters (74:41)
• The Jim Thompson Story (8:01)
• Trailer (1:47)

Commentary – This commentary from 2013 features director Stephen Frears, actors John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake. Cusack comments on the impressive title sequence and the misspelling of the word “Albuquerque.” Westlake says he was initially unwilling to adapt the novel because it was too gloomy, but Frears changed his mind by telling him to think about the story from Lilly’s point of view. Westlake took a week and came up with the idea of the opening triptych, focusing on all three main characters at once. A design decision was made not to show the color red until later in the film. In one scene, a bright red car in the background had to be covered with a tarp. The production design blended styles from different periods. The Bryson is an apartment building that suggests an earlier period in Los Angeles. Frears speaks about scenes that were shot, but cut during editing. Cusack explains how Frears approaches a scene that isn’t working. During filming, there was a discussion about the tone of the dialogue; there was concern that it might sound too 40s-ish. The crew had only three days to film the long con’s climax in the offices of a law firm before they were renovated for a new tenant. The “long con” type of character shows up often in the short stories of O. Henry. Westlake created the long con in the movie because it was more modern. The climactic payoff in the law office was blocked so that it could be shot in one, uninterrupted take. According to the filmmakers, “detail is what really matters” to create atmosphere. “Myra and Lilly are on the road to nowhere;” only Roy has a chance to extricate himself from grifting. Huston notes that “Los Angeles is the perfect location for drifters and people living outside the neighborhood of life.” Many flashbacks were written, but had to be eliminated because a movie tells a single story while a novel tells many. Every time a flashback was used, it distracted from the main story. According to Westlake, “You need a straight line.”

The Making of The Grifters – This featurette from 2013 contains interviews with director Stephen Frears, screenwriter Donald E. Westlake, actors Anjelica Huston and John Cusack, and production designer Dennis Gassner. The project was brought by Martin Scorsese, who was busy with other projects at the time. A first draft was submitted by screenwriter Westlake. Frears didn’t like it, so Westlake placed all the scenes on cards and told Frears to tell him which ones he liked. Once Frears did that, Westlake had a clearer idea of the kind of film Frears wanted to make. Cusack speaks about meeting Frears. Anjelica Huston was cast even before pre-production. Both actors praise the high quality of the script, especially Jim Thompson’s ice-cold dialogue. Huston is described as a “force of nature.” The characters can’t simply walk away from their grifting. It becomes addictive. Frears strove to give the picture a period quality but keep it modern at the same time. Gassner had wide latitude in selecting locations. The color palette includes no reds early on, but the color dominates as the film progresses. Frears trusted his department heads and actors to “do their things,” offering his opinion only when he had a specific idea. The film received excellent reviews when released in Los Angeles and New York. Today it’s regarded as an “instant classic.” Frears designed The Grifters like a bleak B-movie because he felt at home directing “eccentric melodramas.”

Interview with Annette Bening – Bening says performing Myra was “liberating.” She recognized the script of The Grifters as something special and extremely well written. When Bening was making Valmont, Frears asked director Milos Forman to see some footage and ultimately cast her as Myra. He told her to watch some of the films with actress Gloria Grahame because he wanted that quality in the character of Myra. He asked her to “lighten” her voice a little. Bening speaks about the novels of Jim Thompson, many of which were made into films. His characters have rich backgrounds. Myra’s resources allow her to inspire confidence, especially with men. The relationship between Myra and Roy is practical. At the time the film was made, roles for women were getting better. Lilly, for instance, is tough, but there’s nuance to her character. Bening describes her process and preparation in portraying a character. The hairstyle she was given helped her to inhabit the role of Myra.

Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of The Grifters – This lengthy film was made in 2018 and features director Stephen Frears, director of photography Oliver Stapleton, editor Mick Audsley, executive producer Barbara DeFina, and co-producer Peggy Rajiski. They speak about creating a film noir world in The Grifters. Martin Scorsese got the project off the ground when he contacted Frears. Scorsese was supportive of the casting and the team Frears put together. Writer Donald Westlake was initially reluctant to write the screenplay because he felt the material was too dark, but eventually agreed to write a draft, which led to the final screenplay. The various crew members chime in on the casting of the principal characters and the score by Elmer Bernstein. Because it wasn’t exactly working, it was moved around, cut in places, and trimmed. This made Bernstein unhappy but his objections were put aside when the film was released and critics commented favorably on the score. For the split- screen sequence at the beginning of the film, timing had to be worked out carefully to get the characters in the right place in the frame. Anjelica Huston couldn’t stop crying after the final confrontation between Lilly and Roy. The crew had only one chance to get the shot, since setting it up again would take several hours. Stapleton is proud of a scene that’s supposed to take place in a moving train at night. With judicious lighting and creative sound design, he was able to shoot the scene in a stationery train.

The Jim Thompson Story – This short film features screenwriter Donald E. Westlake and Thompson biographer Robert Polito, who refers to Thompson as a “nihilistic writer” known for cynicism and despair who had “given Greek tragedy to the underclass” in his crime novels. Polito notes that second-generation noir writers were influenced by films. In his biographical overview, Polito speaks about Thompson’s lonely childhood and his job as a bellboy in a hotel where he procured women for guests and eventually became involved with underworld figures. Thompson’s characters tend to be desperate. The Grifters contains a number of autobiographical elements. Though Thompson wrote his greatest works in the 1950s, he’s recognized more these days because of the strength of his stories and characters.

Booklet – The enclosed accordion-style booklet contains the essay City of Angles by Geoffrey O’Brien; production credits; mustard-yellow and red-tinted photos from the film; cast and crew listing; and details about the master created for The Criterion Collection release.

There’s also a 2-Disc 4K Ultra HD edition presented in Dolby Vision HDR (High Dynamic Range) with the same 1080p Blu-ray disc.

The Grifters is about people who put up facades but are tormented by fear, low self-esteem, and guilt. Director Stephen Frears puts a spotlight on their dingy world, showing that when it comes down to love or money, the latter will usually prevail. Perfectly cast, the film features a standout performance by Anjelica Huston. The interplay among the three main characters is a sad game without a winner, and the inability to step away is their tragedy.

- Dennis Seuling