The Grissom Gang (1971) on Netflix
R19712h 8m
In 1931 Missouri, heiress Barbara Blandish is kidnapped by small-time robbers, then taken by the Grissom Gang, which demands a million-dollar ransom. Slim Grissom falls for her.
- Netflix2.8/5
- IMDb6.7/101,638 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes46%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1931, outside Kansas City, three small-time criminals rob the heiress Barbara Blandish, and when one of them kills her boyfriend they carry her off. The mobster Eddie Hagan, who saw the crime, and the Grissom Gang take the girl from the trio. Ma Grissom, the gang's matriarch, holds Barbara captive and sends her father, John P. Blandish, a ransom note for a million dollars; Ma's son Slim falls in love with her. Barbara's father hires the private investigator Dave Fenner. The nightclub singer Anna Borg, whose boyfriend was one of the robbers, is told he ran off with another woman.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Grissom Gang (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film originally ended with kidnapped heiress Barbara Blandish committing suicide by jumping in a river, as in the original novel, but after test screenings Robert Aldrich changed it because he felt her life was "lost and useless anyway".
- Kim Darby said every actress in town had been up for her role in the film, with Michelle Phillips and Barbara Hershey among the actresses who tested for it.
- Bruce Dern tested unsuccessfully for the part of the gang leader Slim Grissom, which went to Scott Wilson after he turned down many killer roles following In Cold Blood, because Slim was "much more than just a killer" in a love story.
- Robert Aldrich said The Grissom Gang would not make money for him because it was cross-collateralized back against his lawsuit with ABC, which had canceled a proposed Western of his called Rebellion.
