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| GRACE QUIGLEY (1985) |
A Golan-Globus Production for Northbrook Films
An MGM/UA and Cannon Films Release
MGM Color, 87 / 94 / 102 minutes
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CAST
Grace Quigley: Katharine Hepburn
Seymour Flint: Nick Nolte
Muriel: Kit Le Fever
Dr. Herman: Chip Zien
Mr. Jenkins: William Duell
Emily Watkins: Elizabeth Wilson
Homer Morrison: Walter Abel
Sarah Hodgkins: Francis Pole
Sam Pincus: Truman Gaige
Dorothy Trugert: Paula Trueman
Max Putman: Christopher Murney
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CREDITS
Director: Anthony Harvey
Producers: Menaham Golan, Yoram Globus
Executive Producers: A. Martin Zweiback, Adrienne Zweiback
Associate Producer: Christopher Pearce
Scenarist: A. Martin Zweiback, Adrienne Zweiback
Photographer: Larry Pizer
Editor: Bob Raetano
Musical Score: John Addison
Wardrobe: Ruth Morley
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SYNOPSIS
Grace Quigley, an old lady with original, if somewhat dotty, ideas, decides life is not worth living any more, and hires Seymour Flint, a professional hit man, to put her out of her misery. She had already tried suicide but botched it and lacks the nerve to give it another go. Grace feels that Seymour will solve her problem, having previously admired his swift dispatching of her corrupt and greedy landlord. Seymour, however, is reluctant to kill old people (it seems in some ways - and in some areas - he is a big sentimental slob) so Grace eventually takes him on a tour of nursing homes to convince him that a lot of these folks would welcome his tender angel-of-death mercies. Soon, with clients beseeching her to terminate their unhappy lives, Grace has a booming business going.
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CRITIQUES
"A lot of talented people have laboured long and fruitlessly to make something presentable of Grace Quigley, a movie you might not want to take home to meet the folks, not because it's so rude and unpredictable, which it unhappily isn't, but because it's so thoroughly muddled and unintentionally sad...the incomparable Katharine Hepburn plays Grace Quigley with a kind of indomitability that has as much to do with personal courage - you know she'd be the last person off a sinking ship - as with the creation of a character. Miss Hepburn doesn't make junk movies, but she sometimes gets involved with projects not particularly well thought out and, being a fighter, she sticks by them, come what may."
- Vincent Canby, The New York Times, 1985
"Professional hit man Nolte lacks self-confidence. But when he fetches up against Hepburn, who hires him first to help ease her out of this life, and then to oblige all her old friends, he gains self-esteem from these philanthropic acts of euthanasia, and a mother figure to comfort him. Good black comedies about death are rare, and this certainly proves spry and knowing. But its tough line on sentimentality goes squashy at the three-quarter point, and there is evidence of re-editing to provide a soft-option ending. Originally screened as The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley, running 102 minutes, it was then re-edited, partly re-shot, and re-titled."
- Chris Peachment, Time Out
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COMMENTARY TRACK
"[Hepburn is] a cranky old broad, but a lot of fun."
- Nick Nolte
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HOME VIDEO AVAILABILITY
Links are provided for information only, and are not endorsements. Please ensure that your player is compatible with the region or standard before purchase.
Region 2:
NTSC Standard:
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Katharine Hepburn
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Katharine Hepburn, Nick Nolte
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Nick Nolte, Katharine Hepburn
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Nick Nolte, Katharine Hepburn
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