Usual Suspects (1995)

"Freshest and scariest crime thriller to come along since Pulp Fiction.  Rolling Stone
"Thoroughly engrossing film.  HBO
"A polished exercise in pure virtuoso style!  Los Angeles Times
"...deliciously intricate...  Hal Hinson, Washington Post
"...thoroughly engrossing...  Jim Byerley, HBO On-Line
"A stylish and intricate thriller stocked with powerhouse performers.  Newsweek

Editor's Note 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.

	Benecio Del Toro
	Chazz Palminteri
	Gabriel Byrne
	Kevin Pollack
	Kevin Spacey
	Stephen Baldwin
	Bryan Singer - Director
	Bryan Singer - Producer
	Michael McDonnell - Producer
	Christopher McQuarrie - Screenplay

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....

"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

Premiere
"...True resonance: It's clever way down deep..." - Recommended 02/01/1996 pp.91-2

Rolling Stone
"...A film of hypnotic and haunting resonance..." 09/07/1995 p.75-6

USA Today
"...One of the most densely plotted mysteries in memory..." 08/18/1995 p.11D

Entertainment Weekly
"...Showily complex....When you catch on, you may feel elated..." -- Rating: B 09/22/1995 p.63

Variety
"...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..." 01/30/1995

Los Angeles Times 0 of 10
a maze you'll be happy to get lost in

Rolling Stone 9 of 10
Nothing is remotely usual about The Usual Suspects... rewards multiple viewings because the slippery characters and shifting points of view add up to a film of hypnotic and haunting resonance... the cast carries the emotional ball. The Usual Suspects is acted to sweet perfection. - Peter Travers

Washington Post 9 of 10
Let your concentration flag for an instant during Bryan Singer's deliciously intricate The Usual Suspects, and you're lost forever... this thriller is like a game of life-and-death chess, with quick double-crosses and wild gambits... After the movie you're still trying to connect the dots and make it all fit--and these days, how often can we say that? - Hal Hinson

HBO 0 of 10
thoroughly engrossing film