Episode 123: The Grifters + The Hit

Stephen Frears is not an habitual purveyor of the sort of cult cinema we usually cover on this show. But we do love our noir, and Frears does have two outstanding neo-noirs in his filmography, so why not knock them both off the list in one episode? Bryce joins us to discuss The Grifters (1990), along with Frears' earlier effort, The Hit (1984). This is noir with an emphasis on existential. And his Oscar-nominated Grifters may have been an establishment darling, but adapted by Donald Westlake from a Jim Thompson novel, it has a hell of a crime fiction pedigree, and goes to some incredibly dark places.

We will be announcing a Spoiler Territory section for both films, so if you haven't seen them before you listen, you can nevertheless avoid spoilers for The Grifters by skipping ahead to the 1:30:59 mark, and for The Hit by skipping ahead to 2:29:02.

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Theme music: "The Cold Light of Day" by HKM. Check out HKM on #SoundCloud or Bandcamp

"Magdalena 318" by the Pixies