{"id":12655,"date":"2010-10-01T12:06:38","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T19:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12655"},"modified":"2021-01-27T19:06:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T02:06:22","slug":"gloria-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12655","title":{"rendered":"Gloria (1980)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be stupid. You got no home &#8212; you got me.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster-198x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster-198x300.png 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster-676x1024.png 676w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster-84x128.png 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster-178x270.png 178w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/Gloria-Poster.png 729w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen a mob accountant (Buck Henry) and his family are targeted for assassination, only his son (John Adames) survives, thanks to a feisty ex-gunmoll (Gena Rowlands) who reluctantly takes him under her wing.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cat-and-Mouse<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Gena Rowlands Films<\/li>\n<li>John Cassavetes Films<\/li>\n<li>Lawrence Tierney Films<\/li>\n<li>Strong Females<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;unusual, tough action film&#8221; represents a &#8220;change of pace for director John Cassavetes and his actress wife, Gena Rowlands&#8221;, given that it &#8220;replaces introspective dialogue with flying bullets&#8221;. It&#8217;s primarily notable for the truly &#8220;dynamic performance&#8221; given by Rowlands, who justifiably earned an Oscar nomination; her character &#8212; a &#8220;retired former gun moll&#8221; who &#8220;proves smarter, more resourceful than the killers who chase her and, when necessary, as brutal as they are&#8221; &#8212; is indeed &#8220;unique to cinema&#8221;. As the film begins, Cassavetes sets up an almost unbearably tense scenario (reminiscent of the <em>Godfather<\/em> films), as Buck Henry&#8217;s wife (Julie Carmen) is followed back to her apartment, and we soon realize that she and her young family are going to be murdered in cold blood by vengeful mobsters. When Carmen&#8217;s flinty, child-hating neighbor (Rowlands as &#8220;Gloria Swenson&#8221;) is tasked with hiding Carmen&#8217;s young son (Adames) &#8212; and thus saving him from being killed &#8212; we&#8217;re literally on the edge of our seats, wondering what will become of this unlikely duo.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, for the first hour or so, it&#8217;s quite compelling to watch Rowlands and Adames make their way across the &#8220;gritty&#8221;, &#8220;sordid New York and New Jersey locations&#8221;, as &#8220;Gloria stands her ground and guns down some mobsters in a car&#8221; (a truly shocking sequence), and she and Phil (Adames) establish their tenuous relationship with one another (I love how Rowlands literally swats Adames off the bed in irritation when he starts asking her too many questions). But as whiny Adames is given more and more screentime (and dialogue), things quickly go downhill; as Peary notes, Adames&#8217; &#8220;little boy [who] is supposed to constantly act like a big man will really test your nerves&#8221;. (It&#8217;s interesting to contemplate whether a different, more skilled child actor &#8212; i.e., a Jodie Foster &#8212; could have actually pulled off this very challenging role; I&#8217;m not certain.)<\/p>\n<p>At any rate, I disagree with Peary that &#8220;Buck Henry, in the small part of the boy&#8217;s father, is also miscast&#8221; &#8212; his nebbishy character actually seems perfectly suited as an accountant who stupidly puts his own and his family&#8217;s lives at risk. And while Peary calls this film &#8220;underrated&#8221;, I can&#8217;t say I agree &#8212; though I&#8217;ll concede it&#8217;s must-see viewing simply for Rowlands&#8217; iconic performance. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Adames co-earned a Razzie &#8212; along with Laurence Olivier! &#8212; that year for his performance in this film, and never acted again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Gena Rowlands as Gloria &#8212; nominated for an Alternate Oscar by Peary<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-rowlands.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-rowlands.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12657\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The truly nerve-wracking opening assassination sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-phone-call.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-phone-call.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12658\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Creative direction by Cassavetes<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-killing.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-killing.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12660\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Nice use of authentic locales<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-locations.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/gloria-locations.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12661\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes &#8212; simply for Rowlands&#8217; Oscar-nominated performance. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0080798\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1980\/10\/01\/archives\/film-cassavetess-gloria-moll-and-a-boy-fleeing-the-mob.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/gloria-1998\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdsavant.com\/s754gloria.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slantmagazine.com\/film\/review\/gloria\/548\">Slant Magazine Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/70277\/gloria.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Don&#8217;t be stupid. You got no home &#8212; you got me.&#8221; Synopsis: When a mob accountant (Buck Henry) and his family are targeted for assassination, only his son (John Adames) survives, thanks to a feisty ex-gunmoll (Gena Rowlands) who reluctantly takes him under her wing. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cat-and-Mouse Gangsters Gena Rowlands Films John Cassavetes Films Lawrence Tierney Films Strong Females Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this &#8220;unusual, tough action film&#8221; represents a &#8220;change of pace&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12655\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66455,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12655\/revisions\/66455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}