Director Bryan Singer's
labyrinthine crime drama centers on five career criminals
(played by Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro,
Kevin Pollak, and Stephen Baldwin) who meet after being
rounded up for a standard police line-up. Upon their
release, the men band together to pull off an intricate
heist involving $3 million worth of emeralds. Their success
brings them to the attention of the enigmatic Keyser Soze,
an unseen, nefarious, and mythic underworld crime figure who
coerces them into pulling off an important and highly
dangerous job. The scenes that follow make THE USUAL
SUSPECTS one of the most fascinating crime thrillers in
cinema history. Working from the Oscar-winning screenplay by
Christopher McQuarrie, Singer adroitly tells the complex
story through flashbacks, cross-cutting, and voice-over
narration. Such nimble handling of the intricacies of the
nonlinear narrative adds to the suspense, leaving viewers on
the edge of their seats until the clever, satisfying finale.
Singer’s expertise in the technical aspects of
filmmaking--his use of a dioptic filter to keep two close-up
faces in focus, as well as his inventive use of six-frame
step printing--helped him earn his reputation as a visually
impressive and stylish director. Filled with excellent
performances from veteran actors (Kevin Spacey won his first
Academy Award for his breakthrough role as Verbal Kint), THE
USUAL SUSPECTS placed Singer squarely on the cinematic map.
Theatrical release: August 11, 1995. Shot on location in
New York City and Los Angeles, California. Christopher
McQuarrie wrote the screenplay with actor Kevin Spacey in
mind. THE USUAL SUSPECTS won both Oscars for which it was
nominated: Best Supporting Actor (Kevin Spacey) and Best
Screenplay (Christopher McQuarrie). Kevin Spacey also won
Best Supporting Actor honors from the National Board of
Review, the New York Film Critics Awards, the Boston Society
of Film Critics, the Seattle Film Festival, Broadcast Film
Critics Association, the Dallas-Fort Worth Area Film Critics
Association, the Society of Texas Film Critics, and the
Chicago Film Critics Awards for his work on the film. THE
USUAL SUSPECTS won 3 British Academy Awards for Best Film,
Best Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. THE USUAL SUSPECTS
won 2 Independent Spirit Awards for Best Screenplay and Best
Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro). Bryan Singer won Best
Director honors from the Seattle International Film Festival
and the Tokyo Silver Award. John Ottman won the Saturn Award
for Best Musical Score. Singer and McQuarrie say the
original tagline for the film was: "All of you can go
to hell." Singer and McQuarrie first invisioned the
role of Fenster as a "Harry Dean Stanton" type,
before Singer hired Benicio Del Toro, against McQuarrie's
objections. Kevin Spacey researched his role as Verbal Kint
by visiting the Cerebral Palsy Center. He filed down his
shoes and glued his fingers together to better emulate the
limitations of physical disability. Stephen Baldwin did all
of his own stunts for the film. The scene where Redfoot
(Peter Greene) flicks his cigarette at McManus (Stephen
Baldwin) is real, but unintended. The cigarette accidentally
went into Baldwin's eye--it was aimed at his chest. The
line, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was
convincing the world he didn't exist," is similar to a
line from Charles Baudelaire's short story, THE GENEROUS
GAMBLER, published in 1864. In translation, the original
line reads, "Dearly beloved, never forget, when you
hear anyone vaunt the progress of enlightenment, that the
Devil's finest trick is to persuade you that he does not
exist!" The ending "revelation scene" with
Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) was originally conceived to
have no additional footage or sound. Singer later added the
visual and audio flashbacks when people suggested it was too
confusing. The Hungarian spoken in the film was dubbed in
afterwards. The actors in the scene are speaking English.
Bryan Singer's mother plays the nurse who receives the
drawing of Keyser Soze to fax to the police. The title comes
from the famous line, "Round up the usual
suspects" from the classic film, CASABLANCA. The film
grossed $84,852 in its opening week.
THE USUAL SUSPECTS is an intricately plotted and
suspenseful tale about five very different crime suspects
who meet while in a police line-up. After the quintet's
fortuitous encounter, they decide to band together and
attempt their own big heist by robbing a smuggler of $3
million worth of emeralds. However, the following job proves
much more dangerous....
"...True resonance: It's clever way down
deep..." - Recommended
"...A film of hypnotic and haunting
resonance..."
"...One of the most densely plotted mysteries in
memory..."
"What I want to know is, who's the gimp?"--Hockney
(Kevin Pollak) to McManus (Stephen Baldwin), Fenster (Benicio
Del Toro), and Keaton (Gabriel Byrne) about Kint (Kevin
Spacey) "And that was how it started. The five of us
being brought in on a trumped up charge, to be leaned on by
half wits....What the cops never figured out, and what I
know now, was that these men would never break, never lie
down, never bend over for anybody. Anybody."--Kint to
Agent Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) "That guy is tense.
Tension is a killer. I used to be in a barber shop quartet
in Skokie, Illinois. The baritone was this guy named Kip
Tiskin, big fat guy...and I mean like Orca fat. He was so
stressed in the morning...."--Kint to Kujan "I'm
not a rat."--Kint to Kujan "But you say you saw
Keaton die. I think you're covering his ass and he's still
out there somewhere. I think he's behind that whole circus
at the harbor. My bet is that he's using you because you're
stupid and you think he's your friend."--Kujan to Kint
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was
convincing the world he didn't exist."--Kint to Kujan
"It was Keyser Soze, Agent Kujan. I mean the devil
himself. How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you
miss?"--Kint to Kujan "But why me? Why not Fenster
or McManus or Hockney? Why me? I'm stupid. I'm a cripple.
Why me?"--Kint to Kujan "Because you're a cripple,
Verbal. Because you're stupid, because you're weaker than
them."--Kujan to Kint
"...Showily complex....When you catch on, you may
feel elated..." -- Rating: B
"...An ironic, bang-up thriller about the wages of
crime. A terrific cast of exciting actors socks over this
absorbingly complicated yarn that's been spun in seductively
slick fashion..."
