THE GRIFTERS; The Curse of High Expectations
The one bad thing about being a talent is sooner or later, you raise the bar so high, you're bound to disappoint if you only meet people's expectations rather than exceed them. Such is the case with Anjelica Huston in THE GRIFTERS, a terrific film by director Stephen Frears, adapted by crime novelist Donald E. Westlake from the Jim Thompson novel.
As you might guess, the film is about grifters, or con artists. Specifically, it's about three of them. Roy Dillon (John Cusack) is a small-time grifter, content with pulling small money cons (like showing a bartender a rolled-up $20, asking for a drink, then replacing it with a rolled-up $10 while the bartender, oblivious, gives him change for a $20). His mother Lily (Huston) works for the mob, laying down bets on horse racing longshots so if they win, the gate doesn't have to pay out a lot. Finally, his girlfriend Myra Langtry (Annette Bening) sells her body to anybody, from a pawnshop owner (Stephen Toblowsky) to her landlord (Gailard Sartain), to avoid paying money. What no one knows is Myra was once specialized in big cons (the type showed in THE STING) with her partner and husband, Cole (the late J.T. Walsh), until he went insane, and she's looking for a new partner.
The plot kicks in when Lily has to drop by Los Angeles, where Roy is, for a job. She and Roy are estranged from each other (she had him when she was 11, and often told people he was her kid brother), but when they first meet, they don't have time for that. It seems Roy tried his bartender con once too often, and the bartender hit Roy in the stomach with a bat, so Roy has to go to the hospital. Lily gets him there (after promising the doctor she'll kill him if Roy doesn't live), and meets Myra there. This meeting, though Roy doesn't know it yet, spells his doom, as the two take an instant dislike to each other (Myra introduces herself as Roy's friend. Lily: "Yes, I imagine you're lots of people's friends." Myra: "Oh, now that I look, you're plenty old enough to be Roy's mother"). From then on, Roy is caught between the two. Lily, who doesn't buy Roy's cover (he claims to sell matchbooks) for a minute, knows he's on the grift and wants him off because "you haven't got the stomach for it." Myra, who didn't know Roy was on the grift until she saw him con some sailers with magnetic dice, wants Roy to be her new partner. But Roy wants to stay small-time, and alone (his former mentor (Eddie Jones) tells him to stay away from partners, because scamming a straight is second nature, but scamming a grifter, the one who's supposed to be wise, is a real score).
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