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The Grissom Gang (1971) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   432 votes
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Up 4% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Robert Aldrich
Writers:
James Hadley Chase (novel)
Leon Griffiths (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for The Grissom Gang on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
24 September 1971 (West Germany) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama more
Tagline:
The psychotic killer, the young heiress...the kidnapping that becomes a love story.
Plot:
Set in the 1920s Depression, a gang of half-witted small-time hoods led by Slim Grissom kidnap heiress... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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NewsDesk:
Actress Dailey Dies
 (From WENN. 7 October 2008, 9:10 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
THE GRISSOM GANG (Robert Aldrich, 1971) *** more (13 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Kim Darby ... Barbara Blandish
Scott Wilson ... Slim Grissom

Tony Musante ... Eddie Hagan

Robert Lansing ... Dave Fenner
Connie Stevens ... Anna Borg
Irene Dailey ... Gladys 'Ma' Grissom
Wesley Addy ... John P. Blandish
Joey Faye ... Woppy
Michael Baseleon ... Frankie Connor
Ralph Waite ... Mace
Hal Baylor ... Chief McLaine
Matt Clark ... Joe Bailey

Alvin Hammer ... Sam
Dots Johnson ... Johnny Hutchins (as Dotts Johnson)

Don Keefer ... Doc Grissom
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
128 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG | UK:X | West Germany:16 (f) | Argentina:18 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:R
Filming Locations:
Aldrich Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA more
Company:
ABC Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Robert Aldrich earned so much money off the back of his film The Dirty Dozen (1967) that he was able to buy his own film studio and make the kind of films he wanted to make. Unfortunately the first three that he made independently (The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) and Too Late the Hero (1970)) were all box office flops. When this movie also crashed and burned at the box office in 1971, Aldrich was forced to sell his studio and go back to being a director for hire. more
Quotes:
Eddie Hagan: How come you never get your ass out of bed?
Anna Borg: Well, it's the place you seem to like it the most.
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Movie Connections:
Version of Emmenez-moi au théâtre: Pas d'orchidées pour Miss Blandisch (1978) (TV) more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful.
THE GRISSOM GANG (Robert Aldrich, 1971) ***, 28 June 2006
7/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

Given its considerable reputation, it seems incredible to me that I've had this film on VHS for over a decade but only now have I gotten round to watching it! Actually, I opted to have a go at it finally after having just watched another James Hadley Chase adaptation - CRIME ON A SUMMER MORNING (1965) - the previous day...but also because, distressingly, many VHS tapes I've had for a very long time are starting to rot on me!!

Made in the wake of the gangster-film revival spawned by the runaway success of BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), it can also be seen as a companion piece to Roger Corman's BLOODY MAMA (1970). The film was much criticized at the time for its violence - coming in what is perhaps the cinema's most notorious year, with the likes of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, THE DEVILS, DIRTY HARRY, GET CARTER and STRAW DOGS! - but its gallery of grotesques is at least just as disagreeable!! It doesn't really have any sympathetic characters, but "The Grissom Gang" itself is such a lurid menagerie of harridans, dimwits and sleazeballs that one would doubtless need a shower after having spent two hours in this company! For what it's worth, the film is extremely well made (compelling, richly-detailed, exceptionally acted) and even very funny if one is attuned to the director's uniquely absurdist and delirious mind-set.

Still, its general unwholesomeness may well have curtailed Kim Darby's cinematic career - though here she demonstrates remarkable maturity when compared to her fresh-faced sparring with John Wayne in TRUE GRIT (1969). Scott Wilson's role is perhaps the best he ever had (even keeping in mind his impeccable work in both IN COLD BLOOD [1967] and THE NINTH CONFIGURATION [1980]) - though his dumb backwoods hoodlum, alternating between mother-fixation and drooling over Darby, eventually overstays its welcome. Irene Dailey's relentlessly overwrought performance as Ma Grissom (needless to say, the actress' most significant role), then, borders on camp and matches Shelley Winters in BLOODY MAMA. Tony Musante embodies the stylish side of crime with his chic attire and playboy ways, who's bound to clash with Wilson over attractive kidnapped heiress Darby. Also notable in the cast are Connie Stevens as Musante's ill-fated moll, Robert Lansing as the journalist investigating the kidnapping case and Wesley Addy as Darby's contemptuous father (who considers her 'tainted' by the experience and actually doesn't want her back!).

The finale, then, with the majority of the gang decimated at their hide-out - followed by Wilson's come-uppance outside a barn (after having spent the night with Darby for the last time) is appropriately vivid. By the way, the novel on which this is based had been filmed in Britain in 1948 under its original title, "No Orchids For Miss Blandish", but that version is only remembered - if at all - for how bad it actually was!

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