Synopsis
A young short-con grifter suffers both injury and the displeasure of reuniting with his criminal mother, all the while dating an unpredictable young lady.
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Cast
- Anjelica HustonLilly Dillon
- John CusackRoy Dillon
- Annette BeningMyra Langtry
- Jan MunroeGuy in bar
- Robert WeemsRacetrack Announcer
- Stephen TobolowskyJeweler
- Jimmy NoonanBartender
- Richard HoldenCop
- Henry JonesSims
- Michael LaskinIrv
Recommendations
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
The performances are all insidiously powerful. - 100
Entertainment Weekly
The movie is pulp, yet it attains a surprising emotional power-especially when Anjelica Huston's Lilly, a survivor who'll do whatever it takes to master her surroundings, is on-screen. - 100
San Francisco Chronicle
[Frears] has not only captured the bleak qualities of the old film noir melodramas but supplied an undercurrent that is as sly as it is unsettling. [25 Jan 1991] - 90
Washington Post
If Frears and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake (who scripted "The Stepfather") are light on substance, they're satisfyingly heavy on nuance. Grifters may not blow you away afterward but it keeps your attention riveted during. - 88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Indeed, as the film unreels to its extraordinary climax - a scene that will make your skin crawl - Frears has the larger target right in his sights and, bang, pulls the thematic trigger, taking no prisoners. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
Westlake's screenplay has the right combination of vivid characters, mordant wit and avaricious savagery which distinguishes the best noir. - 80
Washington Post
[Huston] brings a vital conviction to her scenes; they're scorchingly immediate, and her ability to get in sync with what Lily's feeling is what gives the movie weight. She may be the best we have. - 70
Time
Best to savor The Grifters for its handsome design -- the picture looks as clean as a Hockney landscape -- and its juicy performances. [11 Feb 1991]
