The Grifters

From director Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons) and producer Martin Scorsese, comes The Grifters (1990), a taut thriller in which seduction and betrayal could lead to murder.

Adapted for the screen by Donald E. Westlake, from a novel by Jim Thompson, The Grifters features a stellar cast, including Anjelica Huston (Crimes and Misdemeanors), John Cusack (Grosse Pointe Blank), and Annette Bening (American Beauty).

When small-time cheat Roy Dillon (Cusack) winds up in hospital following an unsuccessful scam, it sets up a confrontation between his estranged mother Lilly (Huston) and alluring girlfriend Myra (Bening). Both Lilly and Myra are con artists playing the game in a league far above Roy, and always looking for their next victim. As Roy finds himself caught in a complicated web of passion and mistrust, the question is who’s conning who?