Firstly, a massive thank you to our Patreon supporters. These supporters have become the single biggest contributing factor to the survival of DVDBeaver. Your assistance is essential to our survival.
What do Patrons receive, that you don't?
1)
Our
weekly
Newsletter
and
Calendar Updates
sent to your Inbox!
Please consider keeping us in existence with a couple of dollars or more each month (your pocket change! / a coffee!) so we can continue to do our best in giving you timely, thorough reviews, calendar updates and detailed comparisons. I am indebted to your generosity. |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
Directed by Stephen Frears
USA 1990
A dark-hearted neonoir comes to a boil under the bright Los Angeles sun, in British director Stephen Frears’s rousing adaptation of the novel by dime-store bard Jim Thompson, a film that raises pulp to the realm of existential tragedy. A possessive mother (Anjelica Huston), her cynical son (John Cusack), and his scheming, seductive girlfriend (Annette Bening) are career swindlers circling one another in an elaborate emotional confidence game that grows increasingly perverse as love and trust turn to betrayal and Oedipal undercurrents rise to the surface. In Frears’s first film made in Hollywood, the ever-assured director and his trifecta of magnetic actors conjure a moody, unstuck-in-time vision of toxic Americana. *** 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. |
Posters
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Theatrical Release: September 14th, 1990 (Toronto International Film Festival)
![]() |
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray / Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Also available on 4K UHD which includes this Blu-ray Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Criterion Spine #1246 - Region FREE - 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray | |
Runtime | 1:50:43.887 | |
Video |
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,422,162,138 bytesFeature: 33,355,216,896 bytes Video Bitrate: 35.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video |
|
NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
||
Bitrate Blu-ray: |
|
|
Audio |
DTS-HD Master
Audio English 1999 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1999 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 /
48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -31dB |
|
Subtitles | English (SDH), None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: Criterion
1.85 :1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-rayDisc Size: 47,422,162,138 bytesFeature: 33,355,216,896 bytes Video Bitrate: 35.92 MbpsCodec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Edition Details: 4K UHD • The film in 2160P resolutionBlu-ray • Audio commentary featuring director Stephen Frears, actors John Cusack and Anjelica Huston, and screenwriter Donald E. Westlake • New interview with actor Annette Bening (20:04) • Short making-of documentary featuring Cusack, Frears, Huston, Westlake, and production designer Dennis Gassner (16:26) • Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of “The Grifters,” featuring interviews with Frears, Stapleton, editor Mick Audsley, executive producer Barbara De Fina, and coproducer Peggy Rajski (1:14:41) • The Jim Thompson Story, featuring Westlake and Robert Polito, biographer of The Grifters novelist Jim Thompson (8:01) • Trailer (1:47) PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
Transparent Case Chapters 22 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
We compared four Blu-rays HERE; the 2009 Optimum, the 2013 Miramax, the 2015 Lions Gate and the 2018 101 Films.... and to the 2025 Criterion below. As you can see it is decidedly darker... to the point of removing details that get lost in the blackness. It is quite rich and heavy almost to the point of saturation, it has flesh tones cool, and the darker appearance works although some daylit sequences appear too overcast. Colors embolden (see the $10 bill capture), textures are more apparent and I think I like this new look. I'll know in my next few viewings. The 4K UHD appearance is similar exemplifying the style and darker tone of the film.
NOTE: We have added 50 more large
resolution Blu-ray captures
(in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE
On their
Blu-ray,
Criterion use a DTS-HD Master stereo track (24-bit) in the
original English language. The Grifters
has aggressive moments (gun shots, cigar burning, threats of the oranges,
Myra's 'Cackle-bladder'
etc.) that come through with effective depth and aplomb. The rhythmic score was by
Elmer Bernstein (The
Tin Star,
The
Shootist
The
Great Escape,
See No Evil,
Sudden Fear, From
the Terrace, The
Hallelujah Trail,
The
Grifters,
Robot Monster,
Devil in a Blue Dress,
Saturn 3, Birdman
of Alcatraz,
Love With the Proper Stranger,
The Bride at Remagen,
The Comancheros,
The World of Henry Orient,
Kings of the Sun,
Hud,
To Kill a Mockingbird,
Summer and Smoke)
and it adds to
the 'build' via the lossless transfer. Criterion offer optional English
(SDH)
subtitles on their Region 'A'
Blu-ray
and Region FREE
4K UHD.
The Criterion
Blu-ray
There is also a new 20-minute interview with actor Annette Bening
discussing her memories of the production and her role as Myra Langtry.
Seduction, Betrayal, Murder: The Making of “The Grifters,” runs 1
1/4 hours from 2018 and was on the 101 Films (UK) Blu-ray.
It features director Stephen Frears, cinematographer
Oliver Stapleton (The
Cider House Rules,
Earth Girls Are Easy,
Fears's
My Beautiful Laundrette,) editor Mick Audsley, executive producer Barbara De
Fina, and co-producer Peggy Rajski. Included is a 15-minute 'Making
of" produced in 2013. This featurette includes interviews with
director Frears, screenwriter Westlake, actors Huston and Cusack, as
well as production designer Dennis Gassner (Road
to Perdition,
O Brother, Where Art Thou?,
The Hudsucker Proxy.) The Jim Thompson Story is from 2013
and runs 8-minutes. It is a featurette about Jim Thompson, author of the
source novel The
Grifters, which includes interviews with screenwriter Donald E.
Westlake and Thompson biographer Robert Polito (Savage
Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson.) Lastly, is a trailer and the
package has a liner notes booklet with an essay by critic Geoffrey
O’Brien (Crime
Novels of the 1960s: Nine Classic Thrillers.)
Stephen Frears's The Grifters
is premium
neonoir
with stellar, and lauded, performances and a deep, dark story. John Cusack's character of Roy
Dillon is conflicted - distrusting the women in his life; his mother
Lilly (Anjelica Huston) and girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening.)
They too are 'Grifters' like him. The lessons he learned as an
apprentice is to never be 'the mark'. His distrust of Lilly and
Myra are an extension of his fear of being 'conned' and it keeps him
'small time'. He is uninterested, or incapable, of embracing the 'long con' as it would require him to
trust a fellow Grifter. He never smiles and seems to engender a form of
self-loathing - addicted to the chances he takes. He is drawn to his chosen profession for its control and
freedom - being leader of the confidence game. "If you don't know who
the sucker in the room is - it's you". Remarkably, film
preservationist Robert A. Harris (Lawrence
of Arabia,
Vertigo,
Rear Window, and
My Fair Lady) was a producer on The Grifters. I've
watched the film probably more than a dozen times over the years. The Criterion's
'fresh' look via their Blu-ray
|
Menus / Extras
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
1) 101 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM |
![]() |
![]() |
1) Optimum - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
![]() |
![]() |
1) 101 Films - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
![]() |
![]() |
1) Optimum - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - TOP 2) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM
|
![]() |
More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Also available on 4K UHD which includes this Blu-ray Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | Criterion Spine #1246 - Region FREE - 4K UHD - Region 'A' - Blu-ray |
Search DVDBeaver |
S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |