The Usual Suspects

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The Usual Suspects ★★★½ 1995 (R)

Twisted noirthriller about some crooks, a $91 million heist, and mysterious crime lord Keyser Soze. Customs agent Kujan (Palminteri) tries to get a straight story out of small-time con man “Verbal” Kint (Spacey) about a burning tanker in the San Pedro harbor, 27 dead bodies, and the other four tempermental criminals involved: excopturned thief Keaton (Byrne), explosives expert Hockney (Pollak), and hotheaded partners McManus (Baldwin) and Fenster (Del Toro). Nothing is as it seems, and the ending keeps everyone guessing, right up to the final credits. Terrific performances from all complement the intelligent, humorous script. And yes, the title does come from the famous line in “Casablanca.” 105m/C VHS, DVD, Blu-ray Disc . Louis Lombardi, Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Giancarlo Esposito, Pete Postlethwaite, Dan Hedaya, Suzy Amis, Paul Bartel, Peter Greene; D: Bryan Singer; W: Christo pher McQuarrie; C: Newton Thomas (Tom) Sigel; M: John Ottman. Oscars ‘95: Orig. Screenplay, Support. Actor (Spacey); British Acad. ‘95: Orig. Screenplay; Ind. Spirit ‘96: Screenplay, Support. Actor (Del Toro); Natl. Bd. of Review ‘95: Support. Actor (Spacey); N.Y. Film Critics ‘95: Support. Actor (Spacey); Broadcast Film Critics ‘95: Support. Actor (Spacey).