''Gloria'' is a 1999 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

crime thriller 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 ...

directed by

Sidney Lumet Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. He was nominated five times for the Academy Award: four for Best Director for ''12 Angry Men'' (1957), ''Dog Day Afternoon'' (1975), ''Network'' (1976), ...

and stars

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

as Gloria. It is a remake of the 1980 film of the same name that was written and directed by

John Cassavetes John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and direc ...

. It is also notable as

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

's final theatrically released film. The supporting cast also includes

Jeremy Northam Jeremy Philip Northam (born 1 December 1961) is an English actor and singer. After a number of television roles, he earned attention as Mr. Knightley in the 1996 film adaptation of Jane Austen's '' Emma''. He has appeared in the films ''An Idea ...

, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile,

Bonnie Bedelia Bonnie Bedelia Culkin (born ) is an American actress. After beginning her career in theatre in the 1960s, Bedelia starred in the CBS daytime soap opera ''Love of Life'' and made her film debut in ''The Gypsy Moths''. Bedelia subsequently appeare ...

, and Barry McEvoy. The music score is composed by Academy Award Winner Howard Shore.

Plot

Gloria has just gotten out of prison, where she has served three years to save her boyfriend, Kevin. During her stay in prison, she thinks about how Kevin never once visited her. She tells Kevin that the relationship is over and that all she wants is the money he promised her for taking the rap for him. He refuses to give it to her. Meanwhile, the gang's accountant has tried to protect himself by creating a computer disk with the names of all those involved in the outfit's criminal activities. The plan backfires, and—in trying to get the disk—one of Kevin's trigger-happy henchmen kills the accountant, his wife, his mother-in-law and his daughter. Only his seven-year-old son Nicky escapes, but is quickly caught and brought to Kevin's apartment. It is there that Gloria and Nicky meet. Gloria must decide whether or not to risk her life in order to save the boy. Gloria begins to feel love for the young boy as his innocence and intelligent nature inspires her. She tells him that she hates kids and that is why she doesn’t have kids. She lectures him to get used to this world and to grow up on his own. She then tries to ditch him in a subway, but Nicky comes back. As Gloria and Nicky spend more time together, they both develop feelings for each other. The boy sees news reports of his family being killed by the mob and runs away from the hotel room he and Gloria were staying in. Gloria follows in pursuit and Nicky gets on the train to go back to his family's apartment. Unable to catch Nicky before he gets on the train; Gloria is frantic and tells the cops her kid is on that train heading to 158th Street. After the cops apprehend Nicky, he and Gloria go back to the hotel room and Gloria gives Nicky a bath. Lying awake Gloria hears Nicky wake up. He asks "Did it really happen?"

Cast

as Gloria Swenson * Jean-Luke Figueroa as Nicky Nunez *

as Kevin * Cathy Moriarty-Gentile as Diane *

as Reuben "Ruby" * Mike Starr as Sean *

as Brenda * Barry McEvoy as Terry * Don Billett as Raymond * Jerry Dean as Mickey * Tony DiBenedetto as Zach *

Teddy Atlas Theodore A. "Teddy" Atlas Jr. (born July 29, 1956) is an American boxing trainer and fight commentator. Early life The son of a doctor, Atlas grew up in a wealthy area of Staten Island, New York City, New York. His mother, Mary Riley Atlas, w ...

as Ian * Bobby Cannavale as Jack Jesus Nunez *

Sarita Choudhury Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury (born 18 August 1966) is a British actress, known for her role as Mina in the Mira Nair-directed feature film '' Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Choudhury has played roles in American and international films and te ...

as Angela Nunez *

Míriam Colón Míriam Colón Valle (August 20, 1936 – March 3, 2017) was a Puerto Rican actress. She was the founder and director of New York City's Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she performed on Broadway and on ...

as Maria

Reception

The movie received generally negative reviews. The film was also a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

grossing only $4,197,729 at the North American box office despite its $30 million budget. ''Gloria'' currently holds a 14% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 29 reviews.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gloria (1999 Film) 1999 films American drama films 1999 drama films Films set in New York City Films about organized crime in the United States Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Sidney Lumet Remakes of American films Films scored by Howard Shore Mandalay Pictures films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films