The Grissom Gang (1971)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

James Hadley Chase (novel)
Leon Griffiths (writer)

Release Date:

24 September 1971 (West Germany)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

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...

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapper Kidnapped Relationship | Kidnapping | Beautiful Woman | Nightclub Singer | Criminal Gang

Cast

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
Mort Marshall	...	Heinie
Elliott Street	...	Gas station boy
Dave Willock	...	Rocky
Alex Wilson	...	Jerry McGowen
Raymond Guth	...	Farmer
John Steadman	...	Oldman

Directed by
Robert Aldrich

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
James Hadley Chase		novel "No Orchids for Miss Blandish"
Leon Griffiths		writer

Produced by
Robert Aldrich	....	producer
William Aldrich	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Gerald Fried

Cinematography by
Joseph F. Biroc

Film Editing by
Michael Luciano
Frank J. Urioste

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Costume Design by
Norma Koch

Production Management
Fred Ahern	....	production manager

Stunts
Dick Durock	....	stunts
Jesse Wayne	....	stunt double: Alvin Hammer
Jesse Wayne	....	stunts

Other crew
Alex Romero	....	choreographer

Production Companies

• ABC Pictures
• Associates & Aldrich Company, The

Distributors

• Cinerama Releasing Corporation (1971) (USA) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• Centfox (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Transvídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

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

Company:

ABC Pictures

Trivia:

One of the key props in the film is a diamond necklace. Because of Robert Aldrich's insistence on accuracy, this was a real diamond necklace, that came complete with a special female courier, disguised as a secretary, and with an escort of guards on the set. Special arrangements were made with the local bank and sheriff's department in the location of Placerville, California, while the necklace itself was transported by a motorcade of vehicles.

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.

Movie Connections:

Version of No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1948)

A fitful, unpleasant, and uneasy piece of sweat-spotted goods...

Robert Aldrich's brutal, quasi-black comedy "The Grissom Gang", a reworking of the 1948 British film "No Orchids For Miss Blandish", has 1920s heiress Kim Darby kidnapped by a pack of clumsy thieves; soon, that gang is dispatched and poor Kim is then transferred into the clutches of another crooked bunch--third-rate gangster brothers with sweaty, pasty faces and a mother who looks like Buddy Ebsen in drag. At first, Darby (not very plucky, and not very smart) attempts to escape this drooling brood, but they're onto her. Eventually she just gives up trying, and therein lies the trouble with the story. Are we in the audience supposed to sympathize with her? Is her growing concern for the family half-wit supposed to be heartwarming? These are disgusting, cretinous characters, and I wanted to see as little of them as possible. But since the side-stories (the progress of the cops on the case and another one involving floozy-singer Connie Stevens) are rather dull, the director has no choice but to keep foisting those sweaty faces on us. Pretty soon, nervous Darby starts sweating too, although her scene up in the hayloft is sensitively performed and Aldrich's climactic moments are thought-provoking, if disorganized. ** from ****