I heard Elmer Bernstein's funky theme for "The Grifters" before I saw the film. When I finally saw it, I appreciated how much Elmer's music was part of the magic. "The Grifters" is neo-noir on steroids, but with a light touch.It's about people who seem to live in a parallel universe. No nine-to-fivers here. They live by their wits with the art of the con almost a religion. For a story where the three main characters have almost no redeeming traits, this is one of the most absorbing movies you will ever see.Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a small-time con artist. When his estranged mother Lilly (Anjelica Huston) comes to visit him in Los Angeles, their meeting is more like a collision. The bond between mother and son has an edge that is slowly revealed. Adding to all the bad chemistry is Mrya Langtry (Annette Bening), Roy's girlfriend.Their world is peopled with men like Bobo Justus, Lilly's brutal bookie boss and Mrya's ex-partner, Cole Langley, a master of the long con. These two are played by Pat Hingle and J.T. Walsh, adding to the overload of talent in this movie.John Cusack plays it low-key, but you feel his Roy Dillon has almost too much going on beneath the surface. Anjelica Huston's Lilly is tall, aloof and calculating but can't shake loose from her scamming lifestyle; her relationship with the unpredictable Bobo is a scary one.Hard as it was to steal the show off Cusack and Huston, Annette Bening as Myra just about manages it. This is a sexy, totally uninhibited performance, but served up with genuine wit; Myra's dealings with the landlord, the jeweller and all the men in the film are fascinating too watch.The film was directed by Englishman, Stephen Frears. The outsider view can be the most penetrating and I think that explains the unusual ambiance of this movie, right down to the way Los Angeles is photographed. The film almost feels like it's set in the 1940's although it is actually present day - 1990 that is."The Grifters" is a desert island disc for me. When the interventionists arrive to throw out my decades of accumulated stuff, they will have to prise the DVD of "The Grifters" out of my tightly clenched fingers.

The Grifters is a clever and entertaining film with a dark edge. The three protagonists are con-artists who work on different types of con. Their stories eventually intertwine leading to a shocking confrontation.Angelica Huston works for the mob, rigging the odds on horse racing. John Cusack pulls small time cons in bars using sleight of hand. Annette Bening is Cusack's girlfriend and is working her way back up to a con of her own.The film is shot in an authentic 1940's film noir style and the story is a classic piece of thriller writing. Overall I give The Grifters an 8 out of 10. I love this film and I would highly recommend it to lovers of crime movies.

THE GRIFTERS is quite simply brilliant. The basic premise is straightforward: small-time conperson Roy (John Cusack) tries to prosper while trying to sustain his relationships with mother Lily (Anjelica Huston) and girlfriend Myra (Annette Bening). However the love-triangle gets complicated when Lily and Myra try to rival one another for Roy's affections, leading to death and destruction. But what makes this film so brilliant is its precise delineation of the conperson's life: all three protagonists are engaged in the same trade. Sometimes they are outstandingly successful; for the most part, however, they lead hand-to- mouth existences, either wondering about where their next buck will come from, or working for sadistic gangland bosses such as Bobo Justus (Pat Hingle). Director Stephen Frears vividly captures the seedy ambiance in which the three protagonists operate - dilapidated motels, racetracks, darkly lit rooms and the inevitable automobiles. One of the film's main subplots concentrates on the characters' search for personal stability: Lily tries to be a mother to Roy, while Myra acts as a surrogate mother. This produces one of the film's most fascinating plot-twists. Add to the mix the wonderful cinematography in a series of iconic locations, both urban and rural(by Oliver Stapleton), and you have an almost perfect piece.

The Grifters is not really a movie, it's a language with verbs only about life and debt. It is an almost comic rhyme about punches to the gut and the moral ambiguities of being on the slide. Even for the con, life ain't free.The actors in this odyssey largely speak in physical grammar and the slick, witty and hard boiled dialog is largely muzak. Anjelica Houston's Lilly postures in brash suits like a school girl far beyond her years - even though she seen a few already. That's not to say Lilly doesn't utter a few daggers now and then - "My son will be all right, if not I'll have you killed."Cusack's Roy barely utters every meager syllable while clenching his gut with a half open stare. Roy sells self confidence and wants to be a real con, but never listens enough to mom, even though she wrote the book. Roy frequently brushes with dangers and somehow mom is always there to save his life. "Second time I gave it to you." Then there is Annette Bennign's Myra, Roy's giggle "Friend," trotting around like a bobble head fixture on a taxi dashboard with clip on earrings but garnering enough attention to slice you from behind for a dollar. You can well imagine she is a lot of people's friend. Just ask the landlord.Each of these performers puts in what well may be the best performance of their careers. Director Stephen Frears uses a restrained hand on Donald E. Westlake's literal script and largely lets the actors play this out on their own.So greed is good? Maybe for Myra. Ultimately The Grifters is about survival and the illusion of getting something for nothing. But even somewhere inside Roy knows not everything is a free ride, "Lilly, I guess I owe you my life.""You always did."