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Grifters (film)
''The Grifters'' is a 1990 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Stephen Frears, produced by Martin Scorsese, and starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening. The screenplay was written by Donald E. Westlake, based on Jim Thompson's 1963 novel of the same name. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and was declared one of the Top 10 films of 1990 by The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Plot Lilly Dillon is a veteran con artist. She works for Bobo Justus, a mob bookmaker, making large cash bets at race tracks to lower the odds of longshots. On her way to La Jolla for a race, she stops in Los Angeles to visit her son, Roy, a small-time grifter she has not seen in eight years. She finds him in pain and bleeding internally after one of his victims caught him pulling a petty scam and hit him in the stomach with a bat. When medical assistance finally comes, Lilly confronts the doctor, threatening to have him killed if he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Frears
Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accolades including three BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards. In 2008, ''The Daily Telegraph'' named Frears among the 100 most influential people in British culture. In 2009 he received the Commandeur de l' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Born in Leicester and educated at Gresham's School and Trinity College, Cambridge, Frears started his career working as an assistant director in theatre and film while directing numerous television plays. In 1971, he directed his first feature film, '' Gumshoe''. He received acclaim for his early films such as ''My Beautiful Laundrette'' (1985), ''Prick Up Your Ears'' (1987), and ''Dangerous Liaisons'' (1988). He received Academy Award for Best Director nom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crime Film
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but also include comedy, and, in turn, is divided into many sub-genres, such as mystery, suspense or noir. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identified crime film as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy, claiming that all feature-length narrative films can be classified by these super-genres. The other ten super-genres are action, fantasy, horror, romance, science fiction, slice of life, sports, thriller, war and western. Williams identifies drama in a broader category called "film type", mystery and suspense as "macro-genres", and film noir as a "screenwriter's pathway" explaining that these categories are additive rather than exclusionary. '' C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series ''Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the British period drama '' Mr Selfridge'', which tells the story of the man who created the English department store Selfridges, and portrayed Spence Kovak on Ellen DeGeneres's sitcom ''Ellen''. Early years Piven was born in Manhattan and raised in a Reconstructionist Jewish family of Ukrainian Jewish descent. His parents are Byrne Piven (1929–2002) and Joyce Hiller Piven (née Goldstein), both of whom were actors and drama teachers. His elder sister is director Shira Piven, whom he has described as one of his first acting teachers; his brother-in-law is director Adam McKay. He grew up in Evanston, Illinois, and graduated from Evanston Township High School. As a teenager, he attended Harand Theater Camp in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, wher ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Adelstein
Paul Adelstein (born April 29, 1969) is an American actor and writer, known for the role of Agent Paul Kellerman in the Fox television series ''Prison Break'' and his role as pediatrician Cooper Freedman in the ABC medical drama ''Private Practice''. In addition to supporting roles in films such as ''Intolerable Cruelty'' and ''Memoirs of a Geisha'', he is also known for his recurring role as Leo Bergen on ABC's ''Scandal'' and as Jake Novak in the Bravo television series ''Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce''. He also played David Sweetzer on the short-lived NBC comedy ''I Feel Bad''. Adelstein co-created the dark comedy TV series '' Imposters'', which aired on Bravo and ran for two 10-episode seasons from 2017 and 2018; he is credited as a writer on 6 episodes. He also played the role of Shelley Cohen on that show. Early life Adelstein was born in Chicago, Illinois, to a Reform Jewish family. Prior to his professional acting career, Adelstein attended the progressive Francis W. Par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gailard Sartain
Gailard Sartain (born September 18, 1946) is an American retired actor, often playing characters with roots in the South. He was a regular on the country music variety series ''Hee Haw''. He is also known for his roles in three of the Ernest movies and the TV series '' Hey Vern, It's Ernest!'', which ran for one season on CBS in 1988. He is also an accomplished and successful painter and illustrator. Early years and education Sartain was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of a Tulsa fire chief. He attended Cascia Hall Preparatory School, is a 1963 graduate of Will Rogers High School in Tulsa and was a member of the Epsilon Mu chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at the University of Tulsa, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1968, Gailard moved to New York City, where he worked as an assistant to illustrator Paul Davis. Career Sartain's entry into entertainment was launched in Tulsa. Working originally as a cameraman at a local television station, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Jones (actor)
Henry Burk Jones (August 1, 1912 – May 17, 1999) was an American actor of stage, film and television. Early years Jones was born in New Jersey, and was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Helen (née Burk) and John Francis Xavier Jones. He was the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk, a German immigrant. Jones attended the Jesuit Saint Joseph's Preparatory School. Career Early in his career, he performed with the Hedgerow Theatre near Philadelphia. His first Broadway appearance was in Maurice Evans's 1938 ''Hamlet''. During World War II, he served in the army and was cast in Irving Berlin's ''This is the Army''. Jones is remembered for his role as handyman Leroy Jessup in the movie ''The Bad Seed'' (1956), a role he originated on Broadway. Other theater credits included ''My Sister Eileen'', ''The Time of Your Life'', '' They Knew What They Wanted'', ''The Solid Gold Cadillac'', and ''Sunrise at Campobello'', for which he won the Tony Awar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Napier (actor)
Charles Lewis Napier (April 12, 1936 – October 5, 2011) was an American character actor known for playing supporting and occasional leading roles in television and films. He was frequently cast as police officers, soldiers, or authority figures, many of them villainous or corrupt. After leaving his Kentucky hometown to serve in the Army, he graduated from college and worked as a sports coach and art teacher before settling on acting as a career. Napier established himself in character roles and worked steadily for the next 35 years. He made numerous collaborations with director Jonathan Demme, including roles in '' Something Wild'' (1986), ''Married to the Mob'' (1988), '' The Silence of the Lambs'' (1991), ''Philadelphia'' (1993), ''Beloved'' (1998), and ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (2004). Other notable roles include the short-tempered country singer Tucker McElroy in ''The Blues Brothers'', gruff army Commander Gilmour in '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'', and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Hingle
Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was ''On the Waterfront'' in 1954. He often played tough authority figures. Hingle was a close friend of Clint Eastwood and appeared in the Eastwood films ''Hang 'em High'', '' The Gauntlet'', and '' Sudden Impact''. He also portrayed Jim Gordon in the ''Batman'' film franchise from 1989 to 1997. Early life Hingle was born in Miami, Florida (some sources say Denver, Colorado), the son of Marvin Louise (née Patterson), a schoolteacher and musician, and Clarence Martin Hingle, a building contractor. He attended Weslaco High School, where he played tuba in the band. Hingle enlisted in the United States Navy in December 1941, dropping out of the University of Texas. He served on the destroyer USS ''Marshall'' during World War II. He returned to the University of Texas after the war and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Con
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ..intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". Terminology Synonyms include con, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam, and stratagem. The perpetrator of a confidence trick (or "con trick") is often referred to as a confidence (or "con") man, con-artist, or a " grifter". The shell game dates back at least to Ancient Greece. Samuel Thompson (1821–1856) was the original "confidence man". Thompson was a clumsy swindler who asked his victims to express confidence in him by giving him money or their watch rather than gaining their confide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookmakers in many countries focus on accepting bets on professional sports, especially horse racing and association football or Indian Premier League cricket. However, a wider range of bets, including on political elections, awards ceremonies such as the Oscars, and novelty bets are accepted by bookmakers in some countries. Operational procedures By "adjusting the odds" in their favour (paying out amounts using odds that are less than what they determined to be the true odds) or by having a point spread, bookmakers aim to guarantee a profit by achieving a 'balanced book', either by getting an equal number of bets for each possible outcome or (when they are offering odds) by getting the amounts wagered on each outcome to reflect the odds. W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Mafia
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its members as Cosa Nostra (, "our thing" or "this thing of ours") and by the American government as La Cosa Nostra (LCN). The organization's name is derived from the original ''Mafia'' or ''Cosa nostra'', the Sicilian Mafia, with "American Mafia" originally referring simply to Mafia (or ''Cosa nostra'') groups from Sicily operating in the United States, as the organization initially emerged as an offshoot of the Sicilian Mafia (known also as ''Cosa nostra'' by its members) formed by Italian immigrants in the United States. However, the organization gradually evolved into a separate entity partially independent of the original Mafia in Sicily, and it eventually encompassed or absorbed other Italian immigrant and Italian-American gangsters and Italia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Board Of Review Awards
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminates in the Academy Awards. Origins The organization which is now a private organization of film enthusiasts has its roots in 1909 when Charles Sprague Smith and others formed the New York Board of Motion Picture Censorship to make recommendations to the Mayor's office concerning controversial films. It quickly became known as the National Board of Motion Picture Censorship. In an effort to avoid government censorship of films, the National Board became the unofficial clearinghouse for new movies. The Board's stated purpose was to endorse films of merit and champion the new "art of the people", which was transforming America's cultural life. In March 1916 the Board changed its name to the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures to avoid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
