The Grifters (1990)

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Director: Stephen Frears

Writers: Donald E. Westlake, based on the novel by Jim Thompson

Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe, Robert Weems, Stephen Tobolowsky, Jimmy Noonan, Richard Holden, Henry Jones



The paths of three grifters converge, bringing tragedy to all. 



Lily (Angelica Huston) and Myra (Annette Bening) have established themselves within the world of the professional con—with all the sublimation of personal relationships to calculated self-interest that it involves.



 Roy (John Cusack) is more sentimental, a practitioner of the short con, which doesn’t require him to maintain long-term relationships steeped in deception. 



Myra sees him as a tool to get her back into the world of the long con after the collapse of a previous partnership, and while Lily's relationship with him is more nuanced, because she is his mother, she ultimately values him for his usefulness. 



Shortsighted Roy doesn’t stand a chance against these smart strategically thinking women. 



In the moral hellscape of this neo-noir, these are no iconoclastic outsiders have nothing resembling a moral compass. 



An exceptional film with a shocking, powerful ending. 



Huston stands out in a film packed with great performances.















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