Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

George Armitage

Writers (WGA):

Tom Jankiewicz (story)
Tom Jankiewicz (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 April 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Even A Hit Man Deserves A Second Shot!

Plot:

Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Reunion | High School Reunion | High School | Hitman

Awards:

2 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

John Cusack	...	Martin Q. Blank
Minnie Driver	...	Debi Newberry
Alan Arkin	...	Dr. Oatman
Dan Aykroyd	...	Grocer
Joan Cusack	...	Marcella
Hank Azaria	...	Steven Lardner
K. Todd Freeman	...	Kenneth McCullers
Jeremy Piven	...	Paul Spericki
Mitch Ryan	...	Mr. Bart Newberry (as Mitchell Ryan)
Michael Cudlitz	...	Bob Destepello
Benny Urquidez	...	Felix La PuBelle
Duffy Taylor	...	Ultimart Carl
Audrey Kissel	...	Arlene
Carlos Jacott	...	Ken
Brian Powell	...	Husky Man

Also Known As:

Tiro al blanco (Argentina) (Mexico) [es]
Ein Mann, ein Mord (Germany) [de]
Grosse Pointe Blank - även en lönnmördare behöver en träff ibland (Sweden) [sv]
Grosse Pointe Blank - Erst der Mord, dann das Vergnügen (Germany) [de]
Grosse Pointe Blank: Ein Mann - Ein Mord (Germany) [de]
Grosse pointe blank - palkkamurhaaja pikkukaupungissa (Finland) [fi]
L'ultimo contratto (Italy) [it]
Le tueur de grosse pointe (Canada: French title) [fr]
O Último Contrato (Portugal) [pt]
Placanec (Slovenia) [sl]
Symvolaio thanatou (Greece) (TV title) [el]
To teleftaio symvolaio thanatou (Greece) [el]
Tueurs à gages (France) [fr]
Tueurs à gages et robes de balles (Canada: French title) [fr]
Un asesino algo especial (Spain) [es]
Zabijanie na sniadanie (Poland) [pl]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, language and some drug content.

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #34841) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (British Columbia) | Canada:14A (Ontario) (video rating: 2004) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (original rating) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 (TV version) | Spain:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ambassador Hotel - 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hollywood Pictures

Trivia:

There are several Bond movie references, including the attempted poisoning by string (You Only Live Twice (1967)), and the Guns N Roses version of the theme from Live and Let Die (1973) which Martin listens to just before enters the Ultimart for the first time (when he enters the Ultimart it changes to a Muzak version of Live and Let Die that picks up exactly where G&R left off). There are also references to Goldfinger (1964)

Goofs:

Continuity: In the cemetery, Martin removes the cork from the whiskey bottle, leaving some of the foil on the neck. When he upends the bottle, whiskey pours unevenly because the foil is blocking part of the bottle opening. In the next shot there is no foil on the bottleneck and the whiskey pours freely.

Quotes:

Martin Q. Blank: Don't you think that maybe you're just upset because I told you what I do for a living, and you got upset and *you're* letting it interfere with *our* dynamic?
Dr. Oatman: Whoa. Martin. You didn't tell me what you did for a living...
Martin Q. Blank: Yes, I did!
Dr. Oatman: You didn't tell me what you did for a living for *four* sessions. *Then* you told me. And I said, "I don't want to work with you any more." And yet, you come back each week at the same time. That's a difficulty for me. On top of that, if you've committed a crime or you're thinking about committing a crime, I have to tell the authorities.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Runaway Jury (2003)

Soundtrack:

Armagideon Time

I'm drawing a complete...

Good movie. Particularly the part where John Cusack is using the frying pan to put his point across to the bad guy on the kitchen floor. It's hard not to belly laugh. I thought it took cues from 'Blue Velvet', with its uncommon blend of humour and ultra-violence.

I read that parts of the dialogue were contributed by Cusack and a couple of [real-life] school friends, though cannot confirm this. It's believeable though - for example when he meets the legal guy propping up the bar at the re-union. His offering of the pen, the aside that Cusack should 'read the cap' and asking to use the funny quip - 'they all seem kinda related' - must have been based on a real person. Too sad to be fiction.

Minnie [cab] Driver, Joan Cusack and Dan Ackroyd personalise their performances very well. The support cast were excellent too. The music was an oddly enjoyable mix and the fight sequence with the pen was the most realistic (and exhausting) I'd seen. It was the attention to small detail which swung it in the end though. Cusack's buddy's coke-fuelled, paranoid banter was spot on ("Jenny Slater, Jenny Slater") as was the burning the fingers on the furnace, to name just two random details. The effect of this, is that they all add up to a movie which you can enjoy watching many times. And that makes it a rare gem.