The Grifters

[silverscreenselect]

One of the advantages of having over 2000 films on DVD is the ability to find something to fit practically every occasion. In memory of Donald Westlake and Pat Hingle, we watched The Grifters again on DVD last night. It had been years since I'd seen it, and I'd almost forgotten just how good it is. It's a real shame that Annette Bening made so few movies during her prime castability years (and she's only 50 now); she could have approached Meryl Streep in terms of Oscar recognition.

Pat Hingle is only on screen for about five minutes but he makes a memorable impression, as does fellow character actor extraordinaire J. T. Walsh. The best way to describe most Hingle roles, whether on the side of the law or against it as here was "no nonsense." Westlake got an Oscar nomination for the screenplay, and, although it's tough to tell how much of the movie's dialogue was Westlake's and how much original writer Jim Thompson, it was well deserved as well. Another attribute of the film is a solid score by Elmer Bernstein.

It's too bad we don't get to see more films like this. Instead of acting, character, and plotting, there's far too much CGI and onscreen noise.

[etaoin22]

That indeed was a good movie. Taught me a new word, too.

[BigDrawMan]

i think that was benings first film.she was 29.

[Tocqueville3]

One of the advantages of having over 2000 films on DVD is the ability to find something to fit practically every occasion. In memory of Donald Westlake and Pat Hingle, we watched The Grifters again on DVD last night. It had been years since I'd seen it, and I'd almost forgotten just how good it is. It's a real shame that Annette Bening made so few movies during her prime castability years (and she's only 50 now); she could have approached Meryl Streep in terms of Oscar recognition.

Pat Hingle is only on screen for about five minutes but he makes a memorable impression, as does fellow character actor extraordinaire J. T. Walsh. The best way to describe most Hingle roles, whether on the side of the law or against it as here was "no nonsense." Westlake got an Oscar nomination for the screenplay, and, although it's tough to tell how much of the movie's dialogue was Westlake's and how much original writer Jim Thompson, it was well deserved as well. Another attribute of the film is a solid score by Elmer Bernstein.

It's too bad we don't get to see more films like this. Instead of acting, character, and plotting, there's far too much CGI and onscreen noise.

Wow! 2000 films on dvd. We might have that many but it seems like most of them are the following types:

Dora the Explorer
The Little Einsteins
Baby Einstein
SpongeBob Squarepants
Every Disney movie ever made.

I seem to watch My Fair Lady a lot and David watches Patton every now and then.

[Bob Juch]

i think that was benings first film.she was 29.

Actually it was her 4th. Her first was The Great Outdoors (with John Candy). She started on Broadway though and was nominated for a Tony for "Coastal Disturbances".