The Grifters

Three con artists: Lilly, who has placed bets for the mob for years, her small-time hustler son Roy, and Roy's girlfriend Myrna. When Lilly comes back into the life of the son she has not seen in eight years, the three of them start wrecking each other's games. Stephen Frears directed and Martin Scorsese produced. Donald E. Westlake adapted Jim Thompson's 1963 novel. Westlake turned the first offer down, finding the book too gloomy. Frears convinced him by reframing it: this is a story that celebrates Lilly's drive to survive. Anjelica Huston plays Lilly, John Cusack plays Roy and Annette Bening plays Myrna. It grossed 13.4 million dollars. Roger Ebert gave it four stars and wrote that it captured the essence of film noir better than any in recent memory. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 92 percent. Huston and Bening were nominated for acting Oscars, Frears for Best Director and Westlake for Best Adapted Screenplay. It won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and made the National Board of Review's 1990 top ten. Who it is for: viewers who like noir and morally murky characters. Who it is not for: anyone who would rather not see where the mother and son end up. The last scene spares nothing.