The Grifters (1990)

Agreed, it is one of my all-time favorites. So many intense scenes and terrific cast.

Permanent damage.

Annette Bening naked seducing the fat landlord

Because it's all about awards...

Dear God that movie is over 30 years old?

The Grifters ... the Trump family story.

the one thing that bugs me is that Angelica Huston looks old enough to be John Cusack's mother. Don't know why that is supposed to be such a shock to everyone.

I think Melanie Griffith had the part first. She would have been more believable in the unbelievability.

Outstanding effort all around that is failed by John Cusack's inability to perform. Everyone else, literally everyone else is perfection and it's weighed down by one amateur. Still, it's a great movie.

Also a case where a Best Actress tie would have been appropriate and may have been close.

Huston was outstanding. I sort of get what you mean, R8, but I think his “inability” was perfect for this character.

The scene where Myra is killed is chilling and sad. It gives me the shivers.

The fact that this brilliant movie only gets a 6.9 on IMDB also makes me shudder.

R7 I respectfully disagree. Anjelica Huston's character was 14 when she had Cusack, which would make her character 39. Huston was only 38 when she played it, but she had a very hard, worn look about her. I thought it was perfect.

Melanie Griffith was considered, but fortunately, dismissed. Griffith can be great in the right part and with a strong director. I think she would have been a disaster in this. I didn't have a problem with John Cusack. As written, the character is supposed to be weak. It's how both Huston and Annette Benning so easily take advantage of him. But like I wrote, (OP here), it was my second time seeing it after many years, so maybe I was more accepting.

The image I could never get out of my mind was the way Pat Hingle sucked all the juice out of that orange, like he was a vampire. I wonder whose idea that was. You knew everything you needed to know about him just by the way he ate that orange. Chilling!

Here's the IMDB trivia page...some fun stuff.

The image that sticks with me is of Huston moaning and undulating on the floor after the murder. She was exquisite.

Hingle and J.T. Walsh were both fantastic.

Annette Bening had an odd start to her career. She had very few credits yet somehow got the lead in Valmont.

Then the next year (this year 1990) she was in everything.

I'd ask how she slept with but she didn't do that to the next year with Bugsy. (Beatty actually seemed to slow down her career.)

I think Melanie would have been great in this, actually, since she was much better at playing more offbeat characters than the cheesy, heroine films they tried to put her in during the '90s (Paradise, Shining Through). However, I don't think anyone could top Huston's masterful performance and I think Griffith and Bening would have looked too similar maybe? And sound similar? Or maybe that was the point with casting Griffith? But I am glad Huston got it.

I love Bates but I still feel that Huston deserved the Oscar. For this and The Witches. 1990 was Anjelica's year.

Geena Davis turned down the Bening role for some reason.

I can't see Griffith as Lilly, but maybe as Myra... But I too really wouldn't change a thing.

The orange scene haunts me.

Cher and Debra Winger turned down the Huston's part.

The two of them both turned down a lot of good roles.

R14 I worked in the business around the time Bening's career took off. It was Broadway that did it for her. She was in a play called Coastal Disturbances, got rave reviews and a Tony nomination, and everybody went nuts. Every casting director had to meet her. (maybe she invested money in a good PR agent? who knows)....

But that's your explanation.

However, it's not like she became a flash in the pan. Her career went way beyond many people's expectations.

R19 That's right. Cher! I wonder if someone slipped that in as a joke. I love Cher, but no fucking way could she have been considered for Lily. The only role in which she could have beaten out Anjelica Huston was Morticia Adams.

(Although, you know what? Cher could have been great in The Witches).

[quote] I love Bates but I still feel that Huston deserved the Oscar. For this and The Witches. 1990 was Anjelica's year.

I agree. I LOVE Kathy, but “Misery” just doesn’t scream Oscar to me. I loved her in “Dolores Claiborne,” for which she should’ve been nominated for, but I think she should’ve won for “Primary Colors.” Her moon monologue still gives me chills and tears.

Huston was sooo good in this, though. The best of that year.

One of my favorite films. Bennet is mesmerizing.

Huston had just won for Prizzi's Honor. It was too soon for another one they probably thought.

Huston deserved wins for both. Her work in Prizzi’s Honor is the best supporting performance of that decade (and any suggestion that Oprah should have won that award is laughable, so don’t even consider it).

And, as much as I love Kathy Bates, her Oscar should have been for Primary Colors. The moon speech that R22 mentioned was Oscar-worthy, but I prefer her confrontation scene with Travolta and Thompson.

R24, the Prizzi’s Honor Oscar was five years earlier and in supporting. Actresses have won second Oscars in less time, so I don’t think it ultimately hurt her chances too much. She also had a string of highly acclaimed performances leading up to ‘The Grifters’—‘The Dead,’ ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ ‘Enemies: A Love Story’ and ‘The Witches.’ Huston easily could have been a two-time Oscar winner, and I imagine was a close runner-up to Bates. IMO, she should have won by a landslide for that final scene in Cusack’s apartment.

But when people win within five years or so there is usually a reason:

sort of like Jodie Foster's only competition for Silence was the two from Thelma and Louise and they were sort of equal

or

Sally Field winning because everyone else had already win (except Judy Davis and she only had mixed reviews and was a surprise nominee.)

I think having a win under your belt only really hurts you if you’re competing against a respected industry veteran who has never won.

Huston was the most recent winner in the group, but her film was also the most nominated of the five lead actress nominees, in major categories such as Screenplay and Directing. I think she was very much in that race—Streep and Roberts were obviously not winning, and Woodward was also a previous winner with the added disadvantage of representing a film with little buzz.

Bates was also a fat character actress primarily known for her theater work at the time, and was nominated for a horror film. A loss to a respected former winner (and Hollywood royalty, on top of that) should not have been out of the question.

Oh yes I agree that Huston was in contention but I think the recent win still hurt her.

and Bates had a lot of buzz and won the Globe which started her path.

Mr and Mrs. Bridge is barely remembered now, but I believe there was a lot of sentiment for Joanne Woodward, and it was a two- actress rate between Woodward and Huston. Bates was considered a dark horse until the Golden Globe win. Bates was terrific, but, (in my opinion), Misery was not. After a great 2/3rds, it became very formulaic by the end. Bates character went from a 3-dimensional, highly sympathetic believable woman with plausible mental issues, to a 1-dimensional come-back-from-the-dead cartoon villain. Huston also transformed into a monster, but every emotion was earned. What made her final scene so devastating was that you believed every minute of it.

I also agree with the the posters regarding Bates performances in Dolores Claiborne and Primary Colors.

Huston has given so many great performances, she does seem a bit underrated. She was amazing in Enemies, A Love Story. She deserved that Oscar nomination as well. I watched it earlier this year and it reminded me of how great she was in it.

Love this film. Huston was fucking amazing in this.

[quote]r14 Annette Bening had an odd start to her career. She had very few credits yet somehow got the lead in Valmont.

She had already been nominated for a Tony Award for her first Broadway appearance before doing films. That gets you attention from directors, producers, casting people, etc.

Bening had the goods to back up the early attention, plus she was very beautiful, so got cast in movies quickly.

Anjelica Huston started out as sort of the original Sofia Coppola. Her father, renowned director John Huston, gave her the lead in his adaptation of A Walk with Love and Death in 1969. She was 18 yrs old with no previous acting experience and gave the worst performance until Sophia Coppola in Godfather III. She abandoned her movie career to pursue modeling, then hooked up with Jack Nicholson. She went from being known as John Huston's no-talent daughter to Jack Nicholson's no-talent girlfriend. I guess she took acting lessons when nobody was looking, and begged her father to give her another chance and cast her in Prizzi's Honor. People didn't know what to expect. Well, she blew everybody the fuck away! She was the best thing in the movie, and it was a great movie! with everyone at the top of their game! Her Oscar win was considered a shoo-in.

With Enemies: A Love Story, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Dead, The Witches, and then The Grifters, she proved it she was no fluke.

She then proved she could direct as well with the movie Bastard Out of Carolina.

[quote]R34 she took acting lessons when nobody was looking, and begged her father to give her another chance and cast her in Prizzi's Honor.

She was approached for the film first, with the knowledge she might bring her father and Jack Nicholson to the table. She didn't have to beg them to be in it... though the producers themselves offered her a low salary.

She talks about it at the 20:00 mark.

R25 [quote] And, as much as I love Kathy Bates, her Oscar should have been for Primary Colors. The moon speech that [R22] mentioned was Oscar-worthy, but I prefer her confrontation scene with Travolta and Thompson.

Yes, that confrontation scene is amazing! She just nailed every bit of that role.

Primary Colors is severely underrated. If I see it, I always get the urge to watch it.

Kathy lost the supp oscar for Primary Colors to Judi Dench for Mrs. Brown.

We are not amused.

[quote] Melanie Griffith was considered, but fortunately, dismissed.

She was NOT dismissed - she had the part and was getting ready to film. But found out she was pregnant and had to drop out.

Angelica really wanted the part, and was thrilled to get it, even at the expense of Melanie dropping out

I liked Angelica in Gardens of Stone, a very quiet but well-made film.

Thanks for the link r33. I assume Bening is a heavy smoker because she really aged fast.

Bening and Stephen Tobolowsky are great together in a particularly well-written scene; Donald Westlake's adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel gives the cast a lot of opportunities to shine.

Judi Dench won for Shakespeare in Love not Mrs. Brown.

Did you watch it on Hulu OP? I don't have that. I have Amazon Prime, HBO/Cinemax, Showtime, and Netflix and refuse to pay for more.

Whether R37 meant it or not, Dench indeed won her Oscar for Mrs. Brown, R43. Nominally it was for SiL, but the only reason she won was because she lost the year before.

R37 here. Yes R45, you are correct, that is exactly what I meant!! lol I knew there'd be someone wise enough on her to catch it. :):)

I just saw that Annette Bening Directed a revival/reading of Coastal Disturbances back in October to benefit the Actors Fund. You can check it out here...

R44 I taped it off of Starz.

I always enjoyed it.

bump

Watched this last night and it really holds up. I think Cusack is much better than I remember, but it's clearly Huston and Bening's show. I'm surprised Pat Hingle was not nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He was brilliant. So charming and so intimidating. A rare villainous role from him.

I was reading on the old IMDB boards some thought Huston's acting in the oranges sequence was very poor (the pe-pe-permanent damage line reciting) but I thought she was great in every scene. It was very chilling to see how Bobo beat up Lilly.

I used to love John Cusack. I always thought he would become a Oscar winning actor. This was such a good movie. Annette Bening is so good in this movie. The part where her partner/boyfriend is going insane. Such a chilling part.

An interesting thing about The Grifters is Bening uses a different higher voice for most of the film and then in one part where she is disguising her voice (I think, I forget, fill me in) she uses her natural low speaking voice.

This is the perfect example of a film where you spend 2 hours with a bunch of losers, and yet, they're all interesting characters because they're so well written and well acted and because they're human. Not easy to pull off as a filmmaker and actor, but Frears and the cast do an admirable job.

Great noir. Great script, great cast, lots of solid character actors to fill things out, all under the sure eye of a competent director. In short, it’s the opposite of “Wonder Woman 1984”.