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Home , Afternoon Off, Mick Audsley, Mrs Henderson Presents, My Beautiful Laundrette, Oliver Stapleton, Prick Up Your Ears

April 12, 2011 (XXII:12) : (1990, 110 min)

Directed by Stephen Frears Written by Donald E. Westlake Based on the novel by Produced by Robert A. Harris, Jim Painter, Martin Scorsese Cinematography by Oliver Stapledon Editing by Music Composed by Elmer Bernstein

Anjelica Huston...Lilly Dillon John Cusack...Roy Dillon Annette Bening...Myra Langtry Pat Hingle...Bobo Justus J.T. Walsh...Cole

Four Oscar nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role (Huston), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Bening), Best Director (Frears), Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Westlake). JIM THOMPSON (September 27, 1906, Anadarko, Oklahoma – Stephen Frears (June 20, 1941 in Leicester, , UK) has 53 April 7, 1977, Hollywood, California) was an American novelist, directing credits, some of which are: 2010 'Tamara Drewe', 2009 many of whose works were translated to film, among them 2010 Chéri, 2008 “Skip Tracer”, 2006 The Queen, 2002 Dirty Pretty The Killer Inside Me, 1996 Hit Me (novel A Swell-Looking Babe), Things, 2000 Liam, 2000 “Fail Safe”2000 High Fidelity, 1997 “A 1993 , 1993 Fallen Angels (story “The Frightening Personal History of British Cinema by Stephen Frears”, 1996 The Frammis”), 1990 The Grifters, 1990 After Dark, My Sweet, 1989 Van, 1996 Mary Reilly, 1990 The Grifters, 1988 Dangerous The Kill-Off, 1981 (novel Pop. 1280), 1979 Série Liaisons, 1987 , 1987 Prick Up Your noire (novel ), 1976 The Killer Inside Me, and Ears, 1985 , 1984 The Hit, 1979 Bloody 1972 The Getaway. Thompson also worked on two screenplays for Kids, 1975-1979 “Play for Today”, 1979 “”, 1978 Stanley Kubrick: 1957 and 1956 . “Doris and Doreen”, 1978 “Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, 1977-1978 “BBC2 Play of the Week”, 1977 “Black Christmas”, (1948, , England, UK) has 53 1973 “Sporting Scenes”, 1971-1973 “Follyfoot”, 1971 Gumshoe, cinematographer credits, some of which are 2010 Don't Be Afraid of 1970 “Tom Grattan's War”, and 1969 “Parkin's Patch.” the Dark, 2010 Unthinkable, 2008 How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, 2007 “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Journey of Donald E. Westlake (July 12, 1933, Brooklyn, New York – Radiance”, 2006 The Hoax, 2005 Casanova, 2005 An Unfinished December 31, 2008, San Tancho, Mexico) has 39 screenwriting Life, 2003 Cheeky, 2003 Ned Kelly, 2001 The Shipping News, 2001 credits or credits for novels made into films, among them 2009 The Buffalo Soldiers, 2000 Pay It Forward, 1999 The Cider House Stepfather, 2006 Payback: Straight Up - The Director's Cut (novel Rules, 1999 A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1997 The Designated The Hunter/ as Richard Stark), 2005 Ripley Under Ground, 1999/I Mourner, 1996 Kansas City, 1993 Look Who's Talking Now, 1993 Payback (novel The Hunter/ as Richard Stark), 1995 Two Much “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”, 1992/I Hero, 1990 The (novel), 1992 “Stepfather III”, 1990 The Grifters, 1990 Why Me? Grifters, 1989 She-Devil, 1989 Cookie, 1988 Earth Girls Are Easy, (book / screenplay), 1987 The Stepfather, 1974 Bank Shot (novel), 1983-1988 “The Comic Strip Presents...” (6 episodes), 1987 Chuck 1973 Cops and Robbers (novel / screenplay), 1967 Point Blank Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, 1987 Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, (novel The Hunter / as Richard Stark), and 1962 “87th Precinct.” 1987 , 1985 My Beautiful Laundrette, 1983 ABC Mantrap, and 1982 The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Frears—THE GRIFTERS—2

Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922, New York City, New York – Mystery, 1991 The Addams Family, 1990 The Grifters, 1990 The August 18, 2004, Ojai, California) won a Best Music, Original Witches, 1989 Enemies: A Love Story, 1989 Crimes and Music Score Oscar for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967). He has Misdemeanors, 1989 “Lonesome Dove”, 1988 Mr. North, 1988 A 240 composer credits, some of which are 2002 Far from Heaven, Handful of Dust, 1987 The Dead, 1987 Gardens of Stone, 1985 1999 Bringing Out the Dead, 1999 Wild Wild West, 1997 The Prizzi's Honor, 1984 This Is Spinal Tap, 1983 A Rose for Emily, Rainmaker, 1996 Bulletproof, 1995 Devil in a Blue Dress, 1993 The 1982 Frances, 1981 The Postman Always Rings Twice, 1976 The Age of Innocence, 1993 Lost in Yonkers, 1993 Mad Dog and Glory, Last Tycoon, 1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and 1969 1992 The Babe, 1991 Rambling Rose, 1991 Oscar, 1990 The Hamlet. Grifters, 1990 One Day in Dallas, 1989 My Left Foot, 1988 Funny Farm, 1987 Leonard Part 6, 1986 ¡Three Amigos!, 1986 Legal JOHN CUSACK...Roy Dillon (June 28, 1966, Evanston, Illinois) has Eagles, 1985 Prince Jack, 1985 Spies Like Us, 1984 Ghost Busters, 59 acting credits, some of them for 2010 Shanghai, 2008 War, Inc., 1983 “Thriller”, 1983 Trading Places, 1981 The Chosen, 1981 An 2007 Martian Child, 2006/I The Contract, 2005 The Ice Harvest, American Werewolf in London, 1981 Honky Tonk Freeway, 1981 2003 Runaway Jury, 2001 Serendipity, 2000 High Fidelity, 1999 Stripes, 1980 Airplane!, 1979 The Great Santini, 1979 Meatballs, Being John Malkovich, 1999 Cradle Will Rock, 1999 Pushing Tin, 1979 Zulu Dawn, 1978 Animal House, 1977 Billy Jack Goes to 1998 The Thin Red Line, 1997 Midnight in the Garden of Good and Washington, 1976 The Shootist, 1975-1976 “Ellery Queen” (17 Evil, 1997 Con Air, 1997 Grosse Pointe Blank, 1996 City Hall, episodes), 1974 The Trial of Billy Jack, 1973 Cahill U.S. Marshal, 1994 The Road to Wellville, 1994 Bullets Over Broadway, 1993 1972 The Magnificent Seven Ride!, 1970 A Walk in the Spring Rain, Map of the Human Heart, 1991 Shadows and Fog, 1990 The 1969 The Bridge at Remagen, 1969 True Grit, 1968 I Love You, Grifters, 1989 Fat Man and Little Boy, 1988 Eight Men Out, 1987 Alice B. Toklas!, 1967-1968 “The Big Valley” (24 episodes), 1966 Broadcast News, 1986 Stand by Me, 1984 Sixteen Candles, and Hawaii, 1966 7 Women, 1965 The Sons of Katie Elder, 1965 Baby 1983 Class. the Rain Must Fall, 1964 The Carpetbaggers, 1964 The World of Henry Orient, 1963 The Great Escape, 1963 Hud, 1962 To Kill a ANNETTE BENING...Myra Langtry (May 29, 1958, Topeka, Mockingbird, 1962 Birdman of Alcatraz, 1962 Walk on the Wild Kansas) has appeared in 30 titles, some of which are 2010 The Kids Side, 1961 By Love Possessed, 1960 The Magnificent Seven, 1960 Are All Right, 2008/I The Women, 2006 Running with Scissors, From the Terrace, 1959-1960 “Johnny Staccato” (26 episodes), 2004 Being Julia, 2000 What Planet Are You From?, 1999 1958 Some Came Running, 1958 Anna Lucasta, 1958 God's Little American Beauty, 1999 In Dreams, 1996 Mars Attacks!, 1995 The Acre, 1958 Kings Go Forth, 1958 Desire Under the Elms, 1957 The American President, 1995 Richard III, 1994 Love Affair, 1991 Tin Star, 1957 Sweet Smell of Success, 1956 The Ten Bugsy, 1991 Regarding Henry, 1990 The Grifters, 1990 Postcards Commandments, 1955 The Man with the Golden Arm, 1953 Cat- from the Edge, 1989 Valmont, 1987 “Miami Vice”, and 1986 Women of the Moon, 1952 Battles of Chief Pontiac, 1952 Sudden “Manhunt for Claude Dallas.” Fear, 1952 Boots Malone, and 1951 Saturday's Hero. PAT HINGLE... Bobo Justus(July 19, 1924, Miami, Florida – ANJELICA HUSTON...Lilly Dillon (July 8, 1951, Santa Monica, January 3, 2009, Carolina Beach, North Carolina) appeared in nearly 200 films and TV drama and series, some of which were 2008 Undoing Time, 2006 Waltzing Anna, 2006 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, 2001 Morning, 2001 The Hunter's Moon, 2001 Road to Redemption, 2000 Shaft, 1998 “Homicide: Life on the Street”, 1997 Batman & Robin, 1995 “Truman”, 1995 Batman Forever, 1995 The Quick and the Dead, 1993 “Cheers”, 1992 “Citizen Cohn”, 1992 Batman Returns, 1986-1991 “Murder, She Wrote”, 1990 The Grifters, 1989 Batman, 1988-1989 “War and Remembrance”, 1985 Brewster's Millions, 1985 The Falcon and the Snowman, 1984 “Magnum, P.I.”, 1983 Sudden Impact, 1982 “Hart to Hart”, 1980 “M*A*S*H”, 1979 Norma Rae, 1979 When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, 1977 The Gauntlet, 1975 “McCloud”, 1974 “The Six Million Dollar Man”, 1973 “Kung Fu”, 1972 “Ironside”, 1971 “Gunsmoke” (6 episodes), 1970 WUSA, 1970 Bloody Mama, 1969 “Bonanza”, 1968 Hang 'Em High, 1967 “Mission: Impossible”, 1966 “The Andy Griffith Show”, 1964-1965 “The Fugitive”, 1963 “Twilight Zone”, 1963 The Ugly American, 1962-1963 “The Untouchables”, 1956 “The Alcoa Hour”, 1955- California) won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 1956 “The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse”, 1951-1954 Prizzi's Honor (1985), directed by her father, John Huston. She also “Suspense”, and 1954 On the Waterfront. acted in her father’s final film, The Dead, 1977. Some of her other 73 acting credits are 2010 When in Rome, 2008-2009 “Medium” (8 J.T. WALSH...Cole (September 28, 1943, San Francisco, episodes), 2008 The Kreutzer Sonata, 2007 The Darjeeling Limited, California– February 27, 1998, La Mesa, California) appeared in 74 2006 “Huff”, 2004 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2002 Blood films and TV series, among them: 1999 Hidden Agenda, 1998 Work, 2001 The Royal Tenenbaums, 2000 The Golden Bowl, 1998 Pleasantville, 1998 The Negotiator, 1996-1997 “Dark Skies” (19 Buffalo '66, 1995 The Crossing Guard, 1993 Addams Family episodes), 1996 Sling Blade, 1996 Executive Decision, 1995 Nixon, Values, 1993 “And the Band Played On”, 1993 Manhattan Murder 1995 Black Day Blue Night, 1995 “The X-Files”, 1995 Outbreak, Frears—THE GRIFTERS—3

1994 “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman”, 1994 performances made for an entertaining film that exposed many of Silent Fall, 1994 The Client, 1994 The Last Seduction, 1994 Blue the inequities of British society. Chips, 1994 Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, 1993 Red Rock West, Between these two efforts, Frears directed 's 1993 Sniper, 1993 One Little Indian, 1992 Hoffa, 1992 A Few Good adaptation of John Lahr's biography of playwright , who Men, 1991 True Identity, 1991 Backdraft, 1990 The Russia House, was brutally murdered at the height of his fame by his longtime 1990 Misery, 1990 The Grifters, 1990 Why Me?, 1989 Dad, 1989 lover and roommate Ken Halliwell. Rather than a standard Wired, 1988 Tequila Sunrise, 1987 Good Morning, Vietnam, 1987 biography, "Prick Up Your Ears" (1987) concentrated mainly on the House of Games, 1987 Tin Men, 1986 , relationship of these two men as a study of marriage gone tragically 1985 Hard Choices, and 1982 “Little Gloria... Happy at Last.” sour. In 1988, Frears fulfilled his longtime wish to work in the Hollywood system, a move he hoped would broaden his potential while providing greater financial rewards. "," an adaptation of Christopher Hampton's play (which itself was based on Choderlos de Laclos' 18th-century novel), displayed the customary Frears trademarks: good performances and witty dialogue. But it was also his most glossy, stylized film, lacking the conviction and force of his earlier efforts. As if in response to this, Frears' next Hollywood outing, "The Grifters" (1990), retained the stylization (a timeless Southern California floating somewhere between the 1950s and the 80s), but added the grittiness that had informed his British features. Adapted from the novel by Jim Thompson and starring John Cusack, Annette Bening, and Anjelica Huston, the film garnered critical acclaim and confirmed Frears' bankable status in Hollywood, capped by a Best Stephen Frears (Screenrush.co.uk): Director Oscar nomination. He followed with "Hero" (1992), a Armed with a keen visual awareness and compelling ability to tell a lightweight Capraesque fable about the power of the media and the story, Stephen Frears became established as a leading director in nature of heroism. Starring Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis and Andy British cinema and TV in the 1980s. While studying law at Garcia, the film received some positive reviews but fizzled at the Cambridge, Frears' interest in the stage was piqued and soon after box office. Moreover, it broke little new ground for the director obtaining his degree, he joined London's Royal Court Theater. He who reportedly clashed on set with star Hoffman. did not become involved in film until 1966 when Karel Reisz Frears had better luck when he returned to England to offered an unemployed Frears a job as assistant director on direct "The Snapper" (1993). Based on a novel by Roddy Doyle and "Morgan" setting the stage for his apprenticeship as assistant made for British television, this film was a sequel to Alan Parker's director to Reisz, Lindsay Anderson and Albert Finney before he "The Commitments" (1991) centering on an Irish working-class had the opportunity to step into the director's chair for "Gumshoe" family coping with the teenager daughter's pregnancy. It featured a (1971), a satire on American detective films with Finney as a literate script and strong performances, particularly from Colm romantic dreamer who envisions himself a private eye. Meaney as the father confused by circumstances. Frears directed the It was not until 1984 that Frears would work on another third installment "The Van" (1996), again starring Meaney, which project intended specifically for theatrical release. During this screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Before its release, however, interval, he worked continuously in TV, refining his craft while the helmer had spent almost two years on "Mary Reilly" (1996). developing a reputation for workmanlike efforts and an ability to Adapted from Valerie Martin's novel that recounted the Dr. get along with both writers and actors. Frears returned to feature Jekyll/Mr. Hyde story from the point of view of a parlor maid, filmmaking with "The Hit" (1984), a taut, well-crafted thriller "Mary Reilly" opened to lackluster box office and harsh reviews, which, like "Gumshoe," provided an interesting twist to the crime with critics carping over the miscast Julia Roberts as Mary and John genre. Terence Stamp played an informer living out his days in Malkovich as Jekyll/Hyde. Spain, with John Hurt as a hard-boiled hit man hired to take him "The Hi-Lo Country" (1998) reunited Frears with back to Paris to receive his comeuppance from the crime boss he producers Barbara De Fina and Martin Scorsese from "The had snitched on. This downbeat film regarded its characters and Grifters" and revealed the director completely at home with the their predicaments with a biting sense of humor, a quality which has Western genre. Overwhelmed by the weight of responsibility studio marked all of Frears' films. money entailed, he insisted the movie be made as an independent With "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985), shot in 16mm on and successfully grafted film noir onto the Western, benefiting from a budget of only $900,000 for British television, Frears achieved a a superb, charismatic turn by Woody Harrelson as the "last real breakthrough. Working with writer , the director cowboy". Keeping to his penchant for variety, Frears next helmed portrayed the effects of racism and underemployment on working- "High Fidelity" (2000), a quirky comedy exploring the romantic class London through the eyes of a young Pakistani attempting to misfortunes of its main character. John Cusack starred in a fearless carve his own place in the world. The next Kureishi/Frears effort, and ferociously funny performance, as well as co-adapting and "Sammy and Rosie Get Laid" (1987), dealt with these same themes remaining faithful to Brit writer Nick Hornby's excellent source in a multi-layered look at the social relations revolving around a material, despite switching the London locale to Chicago. The liberal, educated, mixed-race couple (Pakistani and upper-middle- director continued to push the envelope in his career by making his class British) living in a poor section of London. Though the themes American TV debut at the helm of a live small screen remake of were not explored to their fullest, the rich visuals and good "Fail Safe". The two-hour, black-and-white CBS project was a personal project for producer-star George Clooney and although Frears—THE GRIFTERS—4

Frears did yeoman work, capturing the drama's inherent suspense, it Cambridge from 1960 to 1963…. Frears currently lives in London proved too old-fashioned to audiences raised on the razzmatazz of with his wife, the painter Anne Rothenstein, and his two younger MTV. children Frankie and Lola. He also has two children, Sam and Will Frears surprised (a stage and film director), from Hollywood with his next career his previous marriage to Mary- move, heading back to Europe to Kay Wilmers. Early in his career direct the French film "Liam" he made a programme featuring (2000) which chronicled the the band The Scaffold and is name effects of Liverpool's Depression checked in their hit song, "Lily the on the family of sprightly, if Pink". stuttering, 8-year-old (Anthony Borrows). He remained in Hal Hison on The Grifters, Europe to make the dark, Washington Post, January 25, critically-trumpeted morality 1991: meditation "Dirty Pretty Things" Stephen Frears's "The (2003) featuring Chiwetel Grifters" is a delectable con job of Ejiofor and Audrey Tatou as a movie. It seduces you into immigrants caught up in the believing it's merely a cheeky shadowy secrets of a hotel's trifle, and then, when you least black market underbelly. Frears next made the rare jump to expect it, lowers the boom. television, directing the made-for-British-television movie "The Indeed, the tone of this nimble, persistently odd movie is Deal" (Channel Four, 2003), a political drama that focused on the wicked and buoyant. With a script from Donald Westlake, who relationship between England's Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael worked from the Jim Thompson novel about a trio of small-time Sheen) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (David crooks, the picture is brisk and sleekly contoured, with a Morrissey) and their eventual fallout when Blair dishonored an sophisticated sense of cynical fun. The line Westlake and Frears agreement made between the two allies. Frears won a British walk skirts the edge of parody; it's the most puckish of film noirs. Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Single Their characters are scoundrels, but they have a hipster's arrogance; Drama in 2003, an honor shared with producers Christine Langan they play the sucker for nobody, and the sneaky thrill here comes and Peter Morgan. from watching them work the angles for the upper hand. Back in the feature world, Frears directed Dame Judi Frears plays up the venal gamesmanship of his wise-guy Dench in "Mrs. Henderson Presents" (2005), a moving and amusing opportunists; clearly, he appreciates the precision craftsmanship story about a recent widow (Dench) of considerable wealth and that goes into their con artistry. Though the milieu resembles that of connections whose dissatisfaction with the prospect of a quiet, "The Sting," in spirit the picture recalls "Beat the Devil" or "Prizzi's lonely life prompts her to buy a theatre. Wary of the local Honor." Like Frears's last movie, "Dangerous Liaisons," "The competition, she introduces naked dancing girls, much to the delight Grifters" is a celebration of amoral scheming; it has a knowing, of patrons and dismay of the government, which fights to shut the ironic glint in its eye. theatre down. Though known for its typically strong performance There's a sly deception in the movie's jauntiness, however. from Dench, "Mrs. Henderson Presents" did earn Frears a 2005 It's not what we might have expected it to be: It's not shallow. But it Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture - Musical or doesn't do what most movie adaptations of Thompson's novels do; it Comedy. Frears again found himself the recipient of critical doesn't roll out the existential thunder drums. adulation for his next film, "The Queen" (2006), a quiet and richly Instead, Frears penetrates to the human element in textured look at Queen Elizabeth II (an excellent Helen Mirren) Thompson's tabloid universe, to the core of his characters' lives. during her struggle to publicly mourn the death of Princess Diana in The movie has teeth, and it bares them without losing its mangy 1997. Newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen skid-row sass. Frears has assembled a sublime cast of actors to play again) privately and publicly battles Her Majesty to in some way his sleazy pack of operators. Roy (John Cusack), who claims to sell honor Diana despite the Queen's strict adherence to tradition to matches and lives in a borderline reputable hotel in L.A., plays the mourn the death in private. Mirren was hailed by critics and "short con," working low-risk nickel-and-dime grifts designed to bestowed various awards for her strong, nuanced performance, keep him in the game but out of trouble. while Frears quietly earned his own recognition, including a Golden What Roy shoots for in his everyday life is a kind of bland Globe nomination for Best Director - Motion Picture. Though he anonymity; he's low-key to the point of invisibility. Roy is inured to was passed over for perennial Hollywood Foreign Press Association a scaled-back, bunkered-in existence; he doesn't mind being a favorite Martin Scorsese, Frears went on to earn his second Best small-timer. There's a problem, though; his girlfriend, Myra Director nomination at the . (Annette Bening), is built for limousines and the fast lane. She used to work the high-end cons, suckering oil-rich Texans out of their From the Wikipedia entry on Frears: millions. Recently, though, she's fallen on hard times and casually Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, turns tricks to make ends meet. With her platinum tastes, Myra is and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant.[1] itching to get back into the big money, and she sees Roy as her He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his ticket. Roy sees otherwise; if the "long con" artist slips up, he goes late '20s.[2] He was educated at Gresham's School, Norfolk from to jail, violating the first of Roy's two commandments -- never do 1954 to 1959, and later went on to study law at Trinity College, time. Frears—THE GRIFTERS—5

With his soulful eyes and tiny, Allen Barra: “Time for Jim Thompson pensive mouth, Cusack is like a Valley Boy to Be Famous Again,” Wll Street Byron; his patter is tough, but he looks too Journal, 17 June 2010: sensitive, too poetic, for the line of work 'You just wait," Jim Thompson he's chosen. It's shrewd for Frears to have said in 1977 shortly before his death in picked the fresh-faced Cusack for the part of near obscurity. "I'll become famous after Roy, and brilliant of him to choose Anjelica I'm dead about 10 years." If Thompson Huston to play the part of his mother. Lily, was known at all when he died, it was for who's only 14 years older than her 25-year- his contribution to the script of Stanley old son, drops in on him just after he's had a Kubrick's first film, "The Killing," or for baseball bat shoved into his gut. She's in the his hackwork on countless TV shows and business too, handling "playback" at horse "novelizations" of series such as tracks around the country for a Baltimore- "Ironside." based bookie (Pat Hingle). But even after His prediction for his fame was off by she's rushed Roy to the hospital, saving his three years. In 1990, three of Thompson's life, he wants nothing to do with her. novels were made into films, most notably They're blood enemies, really, and though "The Grifters," starring John Cusack, Roy's animosity toward Lily has something Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening, to do with her abandoning him at an early produced by Martin Scorsese and directed age, the tension between them goes far by Stephen Frears. The film earned four beyond that into something Oedipal. Academy Award nominations. Lily's protectiveness can't be fully Now it's 2010, and time for explained as blossoming maternal urges, Thompson to be famous again. His best- either. Sex is a major figure in the geometry known novel, "The Killer Inside Me," has Frears sets up between his characters. The been made into a controversial film (in film's real battle is between Myra and Lily, limited release Friday) by the English who both want a piece of Roy — who decides he wants nothing to director Michael Winterbottom, starring Casey Affleck as the do with either of them. Lily's haughty disdain for Myra is riotously seemingly amicable, dim-witted and murderous small-town Texas lowdown; she manages to snub her with nearly every feature of her sheriff, Lou Ford. anatomy. Huston's thoroughbred elegance has never seemed Nearly all of Thompson's books are currently in print from swankier than it does here. She appears more womanly here than Vintage paperbacks. At least one is in the process of being optioned ever before, and with her snow-white hair cropped close to her head, her limbs seem so impossibly elongated that the sight of her merely walking across a room in her stepladder heels becomes an eye-popping occasion. (Imagine the spirit of Mae West entering the body of a giraffe.) But if Huston's physical attributes seem grandly overscaled, her emotions are precisely tailored and exact. None of the characters in the novel is fully articulated; they're sketches really, cartoons. But if Huston is a cartoon, she's drawn in flesh and blood. She brings a vital conviction to her scenes; they're scorchingly immediate, and her ability to get in sync with what Lily's feeling is what gives the movie weight. She may be the best we have. As Myra, Bening gives one of the most feline performances in movie history; she's pure cat. If Huston anchors the film, Bening supplies it with something else -- something like a champagne tickle. She slithers through the movie, clothes on and clothes off, as if the camera were some sort of aphrodisiac. She's the for movie production, with others likely on the way. Later this year, latest in a long line of movie vixens, but she brings a joyous lack of "South of Heaven," one of Thompson's last books and few inhibition to the assignment. She takes naughty manipulation to noncrime novels, will be republished in a special edition by Arion new levels of abandon. Press with illustrations by the black-humored cult artist Raymond "The Grifters" is pretty sparsely populated; it's mostly Pettibon. these three rats, but Hingle does execute a suave bit of cruelty as Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma Territory, in 1906, the Lily's mobster boss. His presence drops a little gravel into the mix. son of a legendary lawman. He liked to tell the story that he was What's fascinating about the film is how it never loses its Southern born in a jail. After a hard-scrabble existence in which he was California airiness; it never turns dark, even when it turns grim. The everything from a doorman in a seedy hotel to a golf caddy to the range of colors in Oliver Stapleton's cinematography is splashy director of the WPA's Oklahoma Writer's Project, he embarked, at without being overbright or gratuitously stylish. Frears has taken a age 43, on a career as a writer of crime fiction after failing at novel approach to Thompson's losers; he's decided to have fun with "serious" novels in the socially conscious mode of John Steinbeck. them. And as a result, that's what we get too. (He had also attended college for a while in the 1920s. The man Frears—THE GRIFTERS—6 whose novels are so often called "hellish" once described hell as the Westlake collapsed and died of an apparent heart attack on College of Agriculture at the University of Nebraska.) his way to dinner New Year's Eve while on vacation in Mexico, his He had 29 novels published in his lifetime, nearly all of wife, Abigail, told . them what were once called paperback pulps—most printed by Lion The author of more than 90 books—most of them written Books, whose volumes generally sold for 25 cents and whose on a typewriter—Westlake wrote under a variety of pseudonyms authors included Robert Bloch, the author of "Psycho," and David including Richard Stark, Tucker Coe, Samuel Holt and Edwin West Goodis, whose "Shoot the Piano Player" became a film by François -- in part because people didn't believe he could write so much, so Truffaut. But by the time of Thompson's death, his books were out fast. of print in this country. Though written in the 1950s and early '60s, all of Thompson's crime novels are a nightmarish reflection of the Depression he grew up in. He created a noirish world of prostitutes, pimps, con artists, gamblers and corrupt lawmen—the last as revenge on a father from whom he was alienated. The French, of course, first appreciated Thompson's brand of Americana. "In America," says Arnold Hano, Thompson's editor at Lion Books, "if someone had heard of Jim but had not read him, they thought of him as a producer of drugstore book-rack fodder. In France, they thought of him as an American Dostoyevsky. To the French, he was the inheritor of Poe's legacy, someone who could open doors to the darkest parts of the human mind." The torch that lit the way for the Thompson revival was the French writer-director Alain Corneau's "Série Noire" in 1979, adapted from "A Hell of a Woman." Two years later, Bertrand Tavernier turned "Pop. 1280" (yet another thriller about a "In the beginning, people didn't want to publish more than murderous sheriff) into "Coup de torchon" and set it in French one book a year by the same author," Susan Richman, his publicist Equatorial Africa. The film, staring Isabelle Huppert and Philippe at Grand Central Publishing, told the New York Times. Noiret, was a huge international hit nominated for an Oscar as the In recent years, Westlake wrote under only his own name best foreign film. (As good as the film is, one can't help wonder and the pseudonym Richard Stark. More than 15 of his books were what Jean-Luc Godard, who had earlier expressed interest in made into films, and he wrote a number of screenplays -- most acquiring the film rights for the novel, might have done with it.) prominent among them, "The Grifters," the adaptation of the Jim What spurred the Thompson revival with American Thompson pulp novel, which was nominated for an Academy readers, though, was Barry Gifford's Press. Mr. Award in 1991. Gifford, a Bay Area novelist best known for his "Sailor and Lula" As Stark, Westlake wrote a dark, spare series about a one- novels, had read "The Killer Inside Me" when he was 13 and was named criminal called Parker. "The Hunter," the novel that "enthralled." In 1982, in Paris, he read several of Thompson's books introduced Parker, was described by critic Anthony Boucher as "a in French editions, acquired the rights for his own company, and harsh and frightening story of criminal vengeance . . . written with reprinted 13 of the most popular crime classics—including "Savage economy, understatement and a deadly amoral objectivity." The Knight" (1953), "A Swell Looking Babe" (1954), "After Dark, My book was later adapted by director John Boorman into the 1967 film Sweet" (1955), "The Getaway" (1959), "The Grifters" (1963) and "Point Blank," starring Lee Marvin. And in 1999, the book was the "Pop. 1280" (1964). Black Lizard's paperback editions featured basis for the Mel Gibson film "Payback." introductions by Mr. Gifford and appropriately lurid covers from But writing under his own name, Westlake produced a artist Jim Kirwan that you could indeed judge the books by. series of books, comic in tone, about turns of John Over the years, Mr. Gifford says, "I've met a lot of people Dortmunder, whose efforts at organized crime are anything but who think they know Thompson from the movies made from his organized. books—'The Getaway,' for instance, which was the most successful In reviewing Westlake's "Don't Ask" in the Los Angeles movie made from a Thompson novel." (The 1972 film, directed by Times some years ago, critic Kenneth Turan called Dortmunder Sam Peckinpah and starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, Westlake's "most durable character." was a box-office hit—though Thompson received no screen credit Turan also noted that in these books, "Whatever can go for it.) wrong in the man's elaborate attempts at larceny invariably does, "But the movies generally soften or distort Thompson's and in the most amusing and unexpected ways possible." vision," Mr. Gifford says. "He's just too raw and to graphic for Westlake's latest novel, "Get Real," is scheduled for mainstream America." release in April. And probably he always will be. Donald Edwin Westlake was born July 12, 1933, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was raised in Yonkers and in Albany and Donald E. Westlake, LA Times obit, January 2, 2009 attended several colleges in New York state but did not graduate. Donald E. Westlake, a prolific mystery writer who won three Edgar He served in the Air Force in the 1950s. Awards and an Academy Award nomination for screenplay His first novel, "The Mercenaries," was published by adaptation in a career spanning five decades, has died. He was 75. Random House in 1960. His early works dealt with organized crime as seen from within. Critics said his early work showed a rigor and objectivity worthy of Dashiell Hammett. Frears—THE GRIFTERS—7

Westlake quickly established himself as a master of what story, "Too Many Crooks," in 1990; and for the screenplay for "The Boucher called "sustained narrative and observation within the Grifters" in 1991. In 1993, he was awarded the title of Grand framework of a self-consistent world, alien to law and convention." Master, the organization's highest honor. Westlake was given Edgar Awards by the Mystery Writers of America for best novel, "God Save the Mark," in 1968; best short

JUST TWO MORE IN THE SPRING 2011 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXII: Apr 19 Jafar Panahi DAYEREH/THE CIRCLE 2000 Apr 26 Ridley Scott BLADE RUNNER1982

PRELIMINARY FILM LIST FOR FALL 2011 BUFFALO FILM SEMINARS XXIII:

1933 Mervyn LeRoy, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 1938 Anthony Asquith & Leslie Howard, PYGMALION 1948 POWELL & PRESSBURGER THE RED SHOES 1959 Marcel Camus BLACK ORPHEUS 1963 Martin Ritt, HUD 1967 Arthur Penn BONNIE AND CLYDE 1967 Robert Bresson MOUCHETTE 1967 Frantisek Vlacil MARKETA LAZAROVÁ 1977 Peter Weir THE LAST WAVE 1981 István Szabó, MEPHISTO 1989 John Woo THE KILLER 1997 Erik Skjoldbjærg INSOMNIA 2008 Götz Spielmann REVANCHE 1964 George Cukor MY FAIR LADY

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The Buffalo Film Seminars are presented by the Market Arcade Film & Arts Center and State University of New York at Buffalo with support from the Robert and Patricia Colby Foundation and the Buffalo News.