The Grifters
A dark-hearted neonoir comes to a boil under the bright Los Angeles sun, in British director Stephen Frears’s rousing adaptation of the novel by dime-store bard Jim Thompson, a film that raises pulp to the realm of existential tragedy. A possessive mother (Anjelica Huston), her cynical son (John Cusack), and his scheming, seductive girlfriend (Annette Bening) are career swindlers circling one another in an elaborate emotional confidence game that grows increasingly perverse as love and trust turn to betrayal and Oedipal undercurrents rise to the surface. In Frears’s first film made in Hollywood, the ever-assured director and his trifecta of magnetic actors conjure a moody, unstuck-in-time vision of toxic Americana.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Oliver Stapleton, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring director Stephen Frears, actors John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake
- New interview with actor Annette Bening
- Short making-of documentary featuring Cusack, Frears, Huston, Westlake, and production designer Dennis Gassner
- Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of “The Grifters,” featuring interviews with Frears, Stapleton, editor Mick Audsley, executive producer Barbara De Fina, and coproducer Peggy Rajski
- The Jim Thompson Story, featuring Westlake and Robert Polito, biographer of The Grifters novelist Jim Thompson
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde
DIRECTOR-APPROVED 4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, approved by director of photography Oliver Stapleton, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- Audio commentary featuring director Stephen Frears, actors John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake
- New interview with actor Annette Bening
- Short making-of documentary featuring Cusack, Frears, Huston, Westlake, and production designer Dennis Gassner
- Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of “The Grifters,” featuring interviews with Frears, Stapleton, editor Mick Audsley, executive producer Barbara De Fina, and coproducer Peggy Rajski
- The Jim Thompson Story, featuring Westlake and Robert Polito, biographer of The Grifters novelist Jim Thompson
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
New cover by Drusilla Adeline/Sister Hyde
Cast
- John Cusack
- Roy Dillon
- Anjelica Huston
- Lilly Dillon
- Annette Bening
- Myra Langtry
- Pat Hingle
- Bobo Justus
- J. T. Walsh
- Cole Langley
- Stephen Tobolowsky
- Jeweler
- Charles Napier
- Gloucester Hebbing
- Henry Jones
- Simms
- Gailard Sartain
- Joe
- Frances Bay
- Arizona motel clerk
- Noelle Harling
- Nurse Carol
- Jimmy Noonan
- Bartender
- Michael Laskin
- Irv
- Eddie Jones
- Mintz
- Sandy Baron
- Doctor
- Paul Adelstein
- Sailor
- Jeremy Piven
- Sailor
- Gregory Sporleder
- Sailor
- David Sinaiko
- Sailor
- Jan Munroe
- Guy at bar
- Robert Weems
- Racetrack announcer
Credits
- Director
- Stephen Frears
- Producer
- Martin Scorsese
- Producer
- Robert A. Harris
- Producer
- Jim Painten
- Script by
- Donald E. Westlake
- Based on the novel by
- Jim Thompson
- Executive producer
- Barbara De Fina
- Coproducer
- Peggy Rajski
- Editor
- Mick Audsley
- Cinematographer
- Oliver Stapleton
- Production design
- Dennis Gassner
- Music
- Elmer Bernstein
- Casting
- Juliet Taylor
- Casting
- Victoria Thomas
- Sound
- John Sutton
- Art direction
- Leslie McDonald
- Costume design
- Richard Hornung
- Hair
- Cydney Cornell
- Makeup
- Julie Hewett
- Script supervisor
- Mary Cybulski
- Stills photographer
- Suzanne Hanover
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A scene from The Grifters
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