• The Grifters (1990)

    Hard-as-nails Lily Dillon (Anjelica Huston) works as a swindler for dangerous bookie Bobo (Pat Hingle), probably the only man she fears. Arriving in Los Angeles on "business," Lily looks up her son, Roy (John Cusack), a small-time con artist content with paltry sleight-of-hand cheats. Roy's girlfriend, Myra (Annette Bening), looks like an All-American type but is a grifter looking...

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The Grifters
86
metacriticBased on 18 Critics
89
Based on 59 Users

Release Date: December 5th, 1990

DVD Release Date: June 30th, 1998

R |1 hr 53 min

Plot Summary

Hard-as-nails Lily Dillon (Anjelica Huston) works as a swindler for dangerous bookie Bobo (Pat Hingle), probably the only man she fears. Arriving in Los Angeles on "business," Lily looks up her son, Roy (John Cusack), a small-time con artist content with paltry sleight-of-hand cheats. Roy's girlfriend, Myra (Annette Bening), looks like an All-American type but is a grifter looking to pull off another big-time con. The convergence of the three hustlers inevitably means trouble for all of them.

Cast: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Charles Napier

Director: Stephen Frears

Genres: Crime drama

Production Co: Cineplex-Odeon Films

Distributors: Miramax Films

Keywords: Hospital, Los Angeles, Intense, Rivalry, Son, 1990s, Revenge, Mother, Quest

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Ratings & Reviews

  • 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]

  • 100
    Roger EbertChicago Sun-Times

    The performances are all insidiously powerful. show more

  • 88
    Gene SiskelChicago Tribune

    Huston gives one of her very best performances as a strong lady who can con almost everyone but herself. Her manner on the screen in this picture and in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors'' marks Huston as the one contemporary actress who comes closest to having the power of classic female dramatic stars of years past. [25 Jan 1991]

See all critic reviews on metacritic.com

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Awards

Nominated Actress in a Supporting Role
Oscars Academy Awards (1990)
Nominated Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
Golden Globes (1991)
Nominated Actress in a Leading Role
Oscars Academy Awards (1990)
Nominated Actress in a Supporting Role
British Academy of Film & Television Arts (1992)
Nominated Directing
Oscars Academy Awards (1990)
Nominated Writing (Screenplay - Based on Material From Another Medium)
Oscars Academy Awards (1990)