The Grissom Gang

The Grissom Gang
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Written by James Hadley Chase (novel)
Leon Griffiths
Starring Kim Darby
Scott Wilson
Tony Musante
Robert Lansing
Irene Dailey
Connie Stevens
Wesley Addy
Joey Faye
Ralph Waite
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography Joseph Biroc
Edited by Michael Luciano
Frank J. Urioste
Production
company
The Associates & Aldrich Company
Distributed by ABC Pictures
20th Century Fox (1971, original) MGM (2004, DVD)
Release dates
May 28, 1971
Running time
128 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $3 million[1][2]
Box office $590,000[1]

The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American period gangster film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich.[3] The screenplay was by Leon Griffiths, based on the novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase. The cinematographer was Joseph Biroc. The cast includes Kim Darby, Scott Wilson, Tony Musante, Robert Lansing, Irene Dailey, Connie Stevens, Wesley Addy, Joey Faye and Ralph Waite.

Plot

The story centers on a 1931 heiress kidnapped for ransom by a brutal gang, whose mentally-impaired "leader" (Scott Wilson) (his mother really runs things) falls in love with her. It was previously filmed in England in 1949 under its original title, and the central conceit was that the heiress, who felt stifled by her upper-class life-style, fell in love with the abductor and his comparative freedom to live his life on the edge. In this remake, Aldrich and Griffiths reversed this angle; here, she merely strings him along in an attempt to escape. This version was also played more for laughs, in particular the outlandishly deranged behavior of the gang.

Cast

Reception

The film earned $340,000 in North American rentals and $250,000 in other countries. It recorded an overall loss of $3,670,000.[1] It had admissions of 239,768 in France.[4]

The film holds a 67% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Trivia

In 2009 Empire Magazine named it #12 in a poll of the 20 Greatest Gangster Movies You've Never Seen* (*Probably)

DVD

The Grissom Gang was released to DVD by MGM Home Video on November 2nd, 2004 as a Region 1 widescreen DVD.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses", Variety, 31 May 1973 p 3
  2. Alain Silver and James Ursini, Whatever Happened to Robert Aldrich?, Limelight, 1995 p 281
  3. Variety film review; May 26, 1971
  4. French box office results for Robert Aldrich films at Box Office Story

External links

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