Search - The Grifters [Widescreen] on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1990 DVD Release: 06/30/1998 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 54 mins Studio: HBO Home Video Members Wishing: 8 Genres: Crime, Post-Noir (Modern Noir), Crime Drama See Also: The Grifters [Widescreen]

Director Stephen Frears' tense adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel The Grifters was one of a number of revival film noirs in the first half of the '90s. Updating the setting to contemporary Los Angeles, the film follows a trio of con artists who are intent on out-foxing each other. Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a simple, two-bit con, whose life is thrown into turmoil when his estranged mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) returns home in an attempt to evade the law. Lilly doesn't warm to Roy's girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening), who is too similar to herself. Soon, the two women are competing for Roy in a battle that is more of a power struggle than a pursuit of affection, and the battle quickly turns dangerous. Huston was nominated for an Academy Award for her work. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide

John Cusack - Roy Dillon
Anjelica Huston - Lilly Dillon
Annette Bening - Myra Langtry
Pat Hingle - Bobo Justus
J.T. Walsh - Cole

Stephen Frears' sharp modern noir The Grifters comes to DVD with a standard full-frame 1.33:1 image that fails to produce the original theatrical aspect ratio. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. There are no subtitles available on this release. Supplemental materials are limited to cast biographies. The low list price for this disc might keep people from being disappointed about the lack of extras, but one can still hope that there will be a collector's edition of this fine film sometime in the future. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide